Christmas Time is Here: Mama Dated Santa Review

Christmas time is here! At least, it is in my reading. I know we still have Thanksgiving, and I don’t want to overlook that. But I find way more books about Christmas than I do about Thanksgiving. Though if you know of any great Christian fiction books set around Thanksgiving, you can drop them in the comments. I’m always in the market for a good Christian fiction set around a holiday. They’re so much fun.

But until your recommendations start pouring in, Christmas time is here! I’ll be watching all the holiday movies on tv, and I’m sure I’ll post my top new movies at some point. So far, I’m waiting for a standout, either from Hallmark or Great American Christmas. And I’m going to kick off my Christmas book reviews today with Mama Dated Santa by Amy R. Anguish.

Mama Dated Santa is the newest release from Amy R. Anguish and is published through Scrivenings Press. (Just a heads up, over the last month, Scrivenings Press released several Christmas related books. Mama Dated Santa is joined by A Gift for All Time novella collection, Chiseled on the Heart novella collection, True Blue Christmas (a Christmas mystery), and Reflecting on Christmas Past (my devotional and memory journal).You can find out more about these books on the Scrivenings Press website under new releases. Here, I’ll make it easy for you: SCRIVENINGS PRESS NEW RELEASES

Now, my review of Mama Dated Santa. For those who might be concerned that the book treats Santa as a living, breathing human, you can relax. The Santa in this story is a store Santa, not a magical being with flying reindeer. In fact this Santa is in a family run toy store which is a lot of fun. And from what takes place in this toy store, it sounds HUGE. I would’ve loved a toy store like that growing up.

But the store has seen better days. Trudy notices that immediately when taking her nephew to see their Santa. But Nick, the store manager, doesn’t see the issue. He’s too busy worrying about the bigger issue of finances and doesn’t understand one may impact the other. When the store Santa hears her name, he immediately recognizes it. Come to find out, he dated her mom before her mom met her (now deceased) father.

I’d say fate makes Nick and Trudy workmates over the next few weeks, but that wouldn’t be true. It’s a meddling mom and uncle. They determine Trudy is the perfect person to help revitalize the store and save it from closing forever. Nick is not so sure.

Trudy and Nick have different ways of looking at things, but there’s also attraction. They disagree often, and each is concerned for what they see as the other’s lack. They’re also equally determined to help the other overcome their deficit.

I absolutely loved Nick and his uncle. They aren’t perfect people, but I could see them running a local store in my hometown and being friends with everyone they meet. I also loved Trudy’s can-do attitude. She’s creative and quickly see the store’s issues and intuitively know what is going to fix them. Is she arrogant about that? No. She has her doubts like any of us would, but she’s not afraid to work to see her ideas come to life.

Though I know we all grieve differently, her grief over the loss of her father is great, and at times, it pushes her to react in ways I found childish. This is the only thing that kept me from loving her as unreservedly as I do Nick, but it did add layers of conflict to the story that would not be there otherwise. It also didn’t keep me from fully enjoying this story.

In the end, Trudy and Nick want to see each other freed from the things holding them back from completely enjoying Christmas and life in general. But they don’t force each other. They lovingly provide opportunities for growth, and I think that’s great. While I wouldn’t call this an enemies to lovers story, I would call it an almost-enemies to lovers story. And because it’s a fun, quick Christmas read that puts readers in the Christmas mood, I give Mama Dated Santa five stars.

Get your copy here: Mama Dated Santa on Amazon

My next Christmas Time is Here book: My True Love Gave to Me by Karen Witemeyer (unless life changes my plans).