The Witch of the North Pole (Snow)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
Looking for books to get me into a Christmas mood, I went looking for free Christmas-themed ebooks (that weren't "bodice-rippers"). There seem to be plenty of "cozy" mysteries with witches, elves or whichever. The funny thing is from the thumbnail, I thought she was sitting on a chimney, not a bag of toys. Also, I didn't realize right away that the author's name was "Eden Snow" -- I thought it was a subtitle for the book!
The book is also listed as Cinnamon Mercy Claus 1. The main character doesn't like to be called Cinnamon, because she used to be teased that it was a spice name. Mercy was somehow better.
Mercy, a strong, indepedent woman, who works in an office with lots of spreadsheets but little interaction with people, is ill-prepared for a visit to her grandparents, whom she doesn't know. Her parents are away for the holidays, leaving her no place else to go. She's farther North than she's ever been. In fact, she's at the North Pole. And her grandfather is Santa, the actual Santa Claus.
The problem is that her grandmother isn't happy with the whole "Santa" situation and is leaving him. She's also leaving running the entire operation in the hands of Mercy.
Oh, and Mrs. Claus is a witch.
And, by the way, so is Mercy, even if she doesn't know it.
The entire "Santa" business, how old he is, the family line, the replacement Santas, can all be accepted as part of the narrative. That's the setup for the story and it's internally consistent. It gets a little problematic with Mrs. Claus, angry as she is, bailing out and leaving her granddaughter in charge without any training whatsoever. Or telling her about her witchy background and not helping there either.
There is some help in the form of a single spell, which a helpful elf, Ginger, tells her should be cast away from everyone, but indoors, so no one else is affected by it. Unfortunately, the elves captured a human who saw them and was holding him in the same warehouse where Mercy read the spell. He is affected with the same Christmas cheer, and agrees to help Mercy break into the Christmas Command Center and access the computer with the Naughty List. (Those on the Naughty List get a special present that gives them a chance to turn their lives around. The list includes the man's daughter.)
Unlike a Hallmark movie, the two do NOT become a couple by the end. However, it's a book series, so it might be something to expect in the next few books.
It was a cute book. If there's one drawback, it ended abruptly. The story's told but there's not denouement, no day after, nothing. On the other hand, there was the first chapter of Book 2. I don't normally read those, but in this case, I made an exception and read far enough to see how the ending would have played out. And then stopped because I don't normally read these.
Update: In the time it took me to write this up, Amazon sent an email that included the second book for free, so I downloaded it. It probably won't be read until after Christmas. I'm reading something else right now and then I have a Book Club book to get to.
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