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Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Book Review: Cozy Up to Christmas by Colin Conway (Cozy Up #5)

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Fun situations, okay story
Cons: Thin characters
The Bottom Line:
Playing mall Santa
Still facing police questions
Watch Ed solve the case



Being a Mall Santa Turns Complicated

I keep coming back to the Cozy Up series.  I find the main character intriguing, and I want to see what will happen to him next.  And, considering the set up for Cozy Up to Christmas, I couldn’t resist this adventure.

If you are new to the series, it features Beau Smith, a former motorcycle gang member and now part of witness protection after he turned on his former friends.  He’s had a very hard time settling into his new life, however, and often finds himself fleeing with the gang hot on his trail looking for revenge.

In fact, as this book opens, it might be the longest he’s been in one place since we met him.  As Ed Belmont, his latest alias, he’s playing Santa at a run-down mall in Pennsylvania.  He’s been doing it for several weeks and keeping a low profile, just as he’s supposed to.  However, someone in a Santa suit is robbing convenience stores in the area.  Then the mall is robbed after it closes one night, and Ed finds himself once again under police scrutiny.  Can he figure out what is really happening?

As I said, Ed is the draw for this series, which is a good thing since he is really the only recurring character.  He’s trying to make the most of his new life and change his behavior.  I really can’t help but root for him.

And the idea of him playing Santa was so funny, I couldn’t wait to see how that would play out.  Fortunately, I was rewarded with some great laughs as he interacted with the kids.  A subplot involving a woman who has a crush on Ed was also intended to be humorous, but I didn’t find it that funny, unfortunately.

The story was good, overall.  It wandered a time or two and got a bit distracted, but I appreciated how it was resolved.  Ed is great at piecing together what is going on, and I enjoy seeing how things come together at the end.

Once again, witness protection was a minor part of the story, which is a good thing since I felt like how it’s been portrayed in the past was a bit unrealistic.

What you need to know to follow the story is all here.  It helps that we are meeting most of the characters in this book for the first time.  I do wish the new characters were a bit more fleshed out, but they serve their purpose in the story.

Despite Ed’s past, these books still fall in the cozy sub-genre with no language or sex and minimal violence.

As always, this book was a fast read.  I breezed through it in a couple of days instead of my typical three days per book.

If you are looking for something a little different, you might enjoy checking this series out.  Fans will enjoy Cozy Up to Christmas since it finds the main character in a fun (for us) position.

Cozy up to the rest of the Cozy Up series.

3 comments:

  1. That is interesting that Ed is in the Witness Protection Program.

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  2. The fact that Ed is a mall Santa AND in the Witness Protection Program sounds seriously interesting. I think I'll check this one out even though it had its issues.

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  3. I really need to pick up this series.

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