THE CHRISTMAS NOTE

THE CHRISTMAS NOTE by Donna VanLiere

From the book jacket:

Gretchen Daniels has recently moved into a condo with her two children to be closer to her mother, Miriam.  She and her children are building a life together in a new community.  A mysterious young woman, Melissa McCreary, lives next door to them.  She has few possessions, little personality, and keeps to herself.  One day a local landlord who is looking for Melissa knocks on Gretchen's door for assistance.  Melissa's mother has died and in the coming weeks the landlord needs Melissa to empty her mother's apartment.  Gretchen reaches out and offers to help Melissa, but the apartment is a gut-wrenching shambles of a home.  There is little worth saving except for a few photos and a note that is discovered on the crate beside the bed.  It is unfinished, but in the two scribbled lines Melissa discovers secrets about her family that she never could have imagined.  Can two very different women embark on a journey that explores a long-buried need for forgiveness, hope, and redemption?

I usually love these little Christmas books but this one just didn't do it for me.  I've read Ms. VanLiere's other Christmas books and felt that this one wasn't up to her usual standard.  I really did not like the character of Melissa and thought that her changes in personality were too abrupt and not very believable.  There were too many coincidences in the story.

I'll put this one back on the bookshelf and wait for Ms. VanLiere's next Christmas book and hope that I enjoy it more.