"Blame It On The Mistletoe" by Joyce Magnin

Blame It On the Mistletoe

A Novel of Bright’s Pond

By Joyce Magnin

Is There Really a Fountain of Youth in Paradise?

Welcome back to Bright 's Pond, where strange happenings are afoot at the Greenbrier Nursing Home. Strange even for Bright 's Pond. The residents suddenly act like kids again riding trikes, climbing trees, and of all things falling in love. Some of the townsfolk blame it on the crooked new gazebo, or its builder, a quirky little man who quotes Don Quixote, collects water from the fountain at the Paradise trailer park, and disappears on a regular basis.

While Chief of Police Mildred Blessing investigates the mystery, Griselda and her friends deal with a luau Thanksgiving, preparations for the Christmas pageant, and maybe even an upcoming wedding. Only, in Bright 's Pond, nothing ever really goes as planned . . .

To read an excerpt go here:  http://bit.ly/18r60al 

Interview Questions:

1.       Will you tell us your favorite Christmas traditions?

I enjoy Christmas lights. Cuckoo for them. So stringing as many lights as possible is always a goal. And of course going out and driving around town to see other displays. They crack me up sometimes, especially when folks mingle the religious with the secular traditions. Frosty visits the Holy Family--those are my favorite.Of course in my home, someone always manages to sneak an elf or a giraffe into the creche. But that's okay, everyone is welcome to see the baby Jesus.

2.        What is your favorite Christmas memory?

It would have to be the Christmas my brother came home from Viet Nam. He was due home a couple days before the holiday but got detained and didn't make it home until January. We kept everything up for him and had a great celebration.

3.        What is your favorite least memory of a certain Christmas?

I think it was the first time I realized that my family was scattered across the country and we wouldn't all be together. Thank goodness for Skype now.

“Blame It On the Mistletoe” by Joyce Magnin gets 4 stars from me. This book is a long story, and it did seem to drag on at times. But with that said I did like the book! This novel is the fourth novel in the  “Bright's Pond Series”, it is a stand alone but I might have been able to give it five stars if I had read the other books in this series.

This story is about the strange happenings at Greenbrier Nursing Home. It is also about  Griselda Sparrow and how her sister’s needs and other issues keep coming between her and her boyfriend Zeb.  Add the new pilot and his airplane to the plot and Zeb’s jealously and you have a little love story in the middle of the strange happenings.

This book is written in first person’s point of view, that of Griselda Sparrow.

What is causing the nursing home residents to start acting ten years younger. They are holding hands and kissing and climbing trees and riding tricycles through the hallways ( I know I thought the same thing, why would they allow tricycles inside the nursing home). There is even a wedding among the residents.

Is this happening because the residents are being drugged or is it something more simple, like the Fountain of Youth has really been found?  Is Leon Fontaine who he says he is or is he a con artist? The police detective of the town, Mildred Blessing is determined to find out   and arrests Leon and he escaped and the evidence grows against him.

There are funny scenes in this novel, such as Ruth’s Hawaiian Tropical Thanksgiving that goes awry. There is even a chase to catch a runaway camel.

Christmas Eve was a joyous occasion and also a sad ending to the book!  I never imagining it ending that way but am glad that if the sad part had to happened, the good part happened involving a little girl named Mercy and her brother!

The ending left me wondering if there is another Bright’s Pond novel coming!

I was given a free copy of this book by Abingdon Press Fiction  for my honest review to be in the 2013 Christmas Blog Tour!