Review: 'Tis the Season

It's 12 days until Christmas, so I thought today would be a good day to share a holiday book with you. There's still time to read it before Christmas.

Genre: Contemporary Women, Holiday

Published November 17, 2016 by Three Amigas Press

Lauren has a dream. It's a typical dream where she marries the love of her life, has a great job, and wants to start her family. However, her in-laws, specifically her mother-in-law, tend to make life extra difficult, her work situation is down right stressful, and she received news that could be devastating to her dream of every having children. She struggles with life as things get harder and harder, yes she wears the happy mask in hopes that no one realizes how miserable she's really feeling. Suddenly, things turn from bad to worse. Will a Christmas miracle happen and Lauren's life turn right sight up again?

I had to take a few hours to recover emotionally from this story. It's very real. I have no been through the infertility issues mentioned in this book, but I have had my own child-bearing problems and eventually turned to adoption. The heart ache and bitterness described in this book is all very real. If you're sensitive to that, just know this book may tug on your heart strings a bit.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. Lauren was very real and relatable. She turned to social media a lot for self-validation and I feel a lot of people today do that as well. She had trouble relating to her friends because she couldn't help but to feel bitter towards everyone having children, especially those who complain about them. She and her husband have a normal relationship that involves up and down moments. I love that the author doesn't make the husband this unreal dream guy. I mean, he's still a great guy but with normal human flaws that everyone can see in their own significant others. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary women genre.

I give it four stars. ****

Author Bio: Olivia Folmar Ard began writing creatively at eight years old. During middle and high school, she attended several writing conferences and submitted poems and short stories to various writing contests. She finished her first long work of fiction, a novella entitled Heaven’s Song, in the tenth grade. Her short story “By Its Cover” placed first in its division in the 2008 District III ​Alabama Penman Creative Writing Contest. She took a reprieve from writing during her years at the University of Montevallo, where she earned a degree in history in 2012. She finished and published her first novel, The Partition of Africa​, in 2014.

Olivia currently lives in central Alabama with her husband of three years and their cat, Buddy. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching quality television—The Office (US), Parenthood, 30 Rock, and Friends are her favorites—and teaching herself how to cook. Along with working full-time at her alma mater, she is busy working on her next literary adventure.

To learn more about this author, please visit her website: http://oliviafolmarard.weebly.com/

If you're interested in purchasing your own copy of this book, click here: http://amzn.to/2gmEw09