Christmas At Cedarwood Lodge such an enjoyable read.

Clio comes back home to make over the old Cedarwood Lodge and to try to reconnect with her mother. Even if her project suffered some setbacks, it was nice to see her friends and employees to rally around her to help her.

The story kept my attention from start to end, the smooth writing makes the reading pleasant even if the novel is a little longer than usual.

Unfortunately, I was slow in downloading this story and it was archived before I had the chance. Really gutted, as Rebecca is a favourite author of mine, so I will be sure to read this story nevertheless when I have the time.

First, Americans don't speak like they are written in this book. We don't celebrate Boxing Day or use the word "jumper" when we talk about sweaters. Second, this would make a great Hallmark Christmas movie! But there were so many spots that were a struggle to get through. I don't think I'll be reading anything by this author again.

This was a great read and I adored it.
I liked the writing style and the character.
It is such cute read and I am looking forward to reading more.

Winter at Cedarwood Lodge was such a lovely read, I was so attracted to the beautiful book cover and was so excited to read it, I would highly recommend.

The cover for this book is very attractive. It really drew me to it. This book has previously been published as three novellas, Celebrations & Confetti, Brides & Bouquets, Midnight & Mistletoe. They are now combined as one book. Being that I hadn't read any of the previous novellas it was fabulous to read them all at once. Clio,since she was a child has had a life long dream of buying the Cedarwood Lodge that has been closed for many years and restoring it to it's former beauty and reopening it. There is a mystery going on here as none of the town's people will talk about the lodge or why it closed and the owners moved far away from it. She has plenty of help restoring the lodge including her childhood friend Micah and a hunky Australian. She knows it'll be the perfect venue for party hosting. Full of plenty of laughter,fun times,a sweet dog and romance you're sure to want to read this.
Pub Date 01 Dec 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

So I got this, thinking it was a book about Clio and Kai. Only it really isn't. This is a book about Renovations at Cedarwood Lodge, and a few other random couples. And a mystery that is not very interesting.

Tbh, it just felt never ending and nothing seemed to be happening between what was supposed to the the heroine and the hero. Then I discover it was originally split up into 3 separate novella, which made sense, as that is what it reads like, a book of 3 long parts.

I found the heroine rather unsympathetic. She knew her mom had issues and did not want to hear about things, yet insisted on going on about it all the time. Went on and on about how her ex had marries only a "mere twelve" months after SHE had left with no intention to return.

By the time I got to the end, I felt like Kai had barely been in the book and I just was not feeling it.

It was ok, but I am not inspired to read anything else by the author.

Sprache: Englisch

Meinung zu "Winter at Cedarwood Lodge":

Meine Meinung zu dem Cover:

Ich liebe Rebeccas originale Buch Cover. Sie wird in Cartooniger Art dargestellt (Typisch für Chick Lit Covers) und auf dem Cover sieht man das winterliche Cedarwood Lodge. Schneeflocken und Weihnachtslichter die von oben herabfallen, versetzten einen schon in winterlicher Stimmung. Dieser romantische dunkle lila-blauer Nachthimmel bedeckt quasi das ganze Cover und der Titel des Buches in Schneeweißen hübschen Schriftart, verschönert das Ganze noch einen Hauch mehr. Ich finde es total süß!

Meinung zu den Charakteren:

- Als erstes wollte ich Clios Mutter, Annabelle, erwähnen. Auch wenn sie ihre Gründe hatte kalt zu ihrer Tochter zu sein, ist es jedoch Schade, dass sich Clios Tante Bessie all diese Jahre um sie gekümmert hat. Da ist diese eine Szene: eines der ersten Szenarien als Annabelle mit ihrer Tochter gekocht hat. Clio hat über das Cedarwood Lodge geredet und ihre Mutter war total Kalt zu ihr. Diese Verhaltensweise zwischen Mutter und Tochter, hat mich irgendwie ein wenig an die Serie Gilmore Girls erinnert. In dieser TV Serie, hat der Hauptcharakter Lorelai Gilmores ebenfalls das Problem, dass ihre Mutter Emily Gilmore kalt ihr gegenüber ist.
- Isle und Micah sind wunderbare Charaktere. Ich finde es wunderschön wie sie sich gefunden haben. Beide haben es verdient glücklich zu sein.
- Kai ist mein absoluter Favorit. Seine lockere und lässige Art ist zum beneiden und er tut Clio einfach nur gut.
- Timothy habe ich eigentlich nicht so gemocht. Der Grund dafür ist, dass er kurz nach Clios Abreise ihre Erzfeindin geheiratet hat. Kaum ist Clio wieder in the town, datet er sie wieder, aber auch nur weil er geschieden war. Jugend Lieben sollten Jugend Lieben bleiben. Meiner Meinung nach sollte man immer nach vorne schauen und auf der Suche nach neuem Glück sein. Aufgewärmter Kuchen schmeckt eh nicht.
- Amory war mir Anfangs auch unsympathisch. Sie wirkte sehr eingebildet und tussihaft. Erst wo sie Cruz wieder an ihrer Seite hat und beide bei Clio arbeiten, macht sie wieder menschlich und erträglich. Cruz hat sich Amorys Reaktion auf seinen Antrag nicht verdient. Sie hatte Glück, dass er ihr hinterher gereist ist und sie unendlich liebt.
- Clio ist fantastisch. Sie hat sehr viel Courage bewiesen und etwas sehr großes und Wunderschönes erschaffen. Das hat sie sich ehrlich verdient, vor allem nachdem was in Manhattan vorgefallen war.

Meine Meinung zum Inhalt und die evtl.en Messages der Autorin:
(Achtung Spoiler)

- Micah erwähnt Anfangs, dass Clio bereits im Alter von 10 Jahren den Traum hatte, irgendwann Besitzerin des Cedarwood Lodge zu werden. So tat sie es auch. Clio verlässt sogar das wundervolle Manhattan um ihren Traum wahr werden zu lassen. Fazit: TRÄUME NICHT DEINE TRÄUME, LEBE SIE!
- Eine weitere Stelle die mir bereits Anfangs des Buches gefallen hat, war die warmherzige Geschichte von Imelda und Edgar. Der Gedanke, dass die beiden an dem Ort eine Feier veranstalten wollen wo alles für sie begann, finde ich einfach nur romantisch. Das ist genau das was mir an dem Schreibstil der Autorin gefällt und zwar die Darstellung einer perfekten und romantischen Liebe. Auch der Hauptcharakter des Buches Clio glaubt an wahre Liebe und an den einen oder keinen. Genau aus diesem Grund hat sie sich bei ihrem letzten Job als Party/Wedding Planerin in New York ihre Reputation ruiniert, nur weil sie ihrer panisch gewordenen Kundin/Braut dazu geraten hat zu rennen und aufgefordert hat nach dem Richtigen zu suchen. Ich finde diese Message der wahren Liebe, ist einer der wichtigsten Dinge die uns die Autorin vermitteln will: dass da draußen für jeden von uns, die einzig wahre Liebe existiert und auf uns wartet. Wahre Liebe! Fazit: ROMANTIK UND DIE WAHRE LIEBE EXISTIEREN! FINDE SIE...
- Clio ist oftmals wegen ihrer letzten Kundin am Boden zerstört, vor allem weil diese Person sie auch ihre Reputation in den Ruin stürzt. Clios beste Freundin Amory, macht ihr jedoch immer Mut und heitert sie mit aufpeppenden Worten wieder auf. Was Amorys Aufmunternden Worte natürlich zu bedeuten haben, ist einfach: hiermit wird dank dieser Message darauf hingewiesen, dass wenn wir zu Boden stürzen, wir uns aufrappeln sollen und das Beste daraus machen müssen. Das Leben geht weiter und wir bekommen immer eine zweite Chance im Leben. Fazit: SEI STARK, KÄMPFE WEITER UND VERWIRKLICHE DICH SELBST!
- Amory will ihrer Freundin klarmachen, dass sie eine Ablenkung von all ihrem Stress braucht und drängt sie quasi dazu, sich mit ihrem Ex Freund aus Teenie Zeiten zu treffen. Hier werden wir darauf hingewiesen, dass wir in unseren niedergeschlagenen Zeiten immer ein wenig Liebe und Zuneigung brauchen. Das ist Natürlich und Menschlich. Fazit: ALLES IM LEBEN DREHT SICH UM DIE LIEBE. EGAL AUF WELCHE ART UND WEISE SICH DIE LIEBE ZEIGT... LIEBE IST DAS WAS UNS AM LEBEN HÄLT... EGAL VON WEM, EGAL WANN. Aber manchmal trifft man sich auch aus anderen Gründen mit seinem Ex und zwar um den "Boom! In ya Face" an ihm oder ihr auszuüben! Vielleicht mag Amory auch das, an zweiter Stelle, zu bewirken und zwar, dass Clio die Möglichkeit haben wird, ihrem Ex zu zeigen was für eine wundervolle Frau aus ihr geworden ist. Fazit: RACHE KANN MANCHMAL SÜSS SEIN!
- Diese Szenen, in denen sich Clio in ihren traurigen Momenten ""Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the heart" anhört, erinnert mich immer an die Szene in Bridget Jones: Wenn Bridget jedes Mal traurig und niedergeschlagen war, hat sie sich immer den Song "All By Myself" angehört und hat immer weinend mitgesungen. Sehr amüsante Szene und bei "Winter at Cedarwood Lodge" gefällt mir das auch sehr... da musste ich natürlich lachen.

Lieblings Buchzitate:

Hier Klicken =>> http://rockmaniacsbuecherwelt.blogspot.it/2017/12/zitate-aus-winter-at-cedarwood-lodge.html

Zur Autorin:

Bereits bei dem Buch "Mein zauberhafter Buchladen am Ufer der Seine", war ich von ihrem Schreibstil fasziniert. Ich habe dort so viele Messages herausgelesen, die uns die Autorin bestimmt darin und damit vermitteln wollte. In diesem Buch, "Winter at Cedarwood Lodge", habe ich ebenfalls ein oder zwei Messages herausgelesen und oben aufgelistet. Diese Botschaften sind einfach nur herzerwärmend und ich finde es wunderschön, dass sie uns weiterhin Botschaften weitervermittelt und zwar in einem Stilvollen Schreibstil, den ich wirklich liebe. Man merkt sofort, dass Rebecca Raisin mit Herz schreibt. Ich als Leser bin unendlich davon begeistert und deswegen liebe ich es, ihre Bücher zu lesen. Da ich dieses Buch auf Originalsprache (English) gelesen habe, hatte ich sogar irgendwie das Gefühl, dass ihre Zeilen noch intensiver und wertvoller sind. In der Original Sprache steckt die ganze Magie und ihr Herzblut.

Danksagung:

Ich bedanke mich unendlich bei der Autorin Rebecca Raisin, dass sie es mir ermöglicht hat, dieses Rezensionsexemplar Lesen zu können. Danke von Herzen!!! Ich bedanke mich auch bei NetGalley.com dafür, dass sie das Rezensionsexemplar zur Verfügung gestellt haben.

Fazit:

Ich habe dieses Buch im Dezember gelesen. Genau die richtige Zeit für ein solch schöne Weihnachtsbuch. Es hat mich die ganze Weihnachtszeit begleitet und in mich sogar ein wenig in Weihnachtlichter Stimmung gebracht. Es war wirklich schön! Da ich also, wie bereits oben schon beschrieben, von Rebeccas Schreibstil und von der gesamten Geschichte fasziniert bin, gebe ich diesem Buch volle 5 Sterne.

Bewertung:
★★★★★ von ★★★★★


* All Material Written on and from the Rockmaniacs Bücher Welt site and posted on different Sites like: Amazon.de, Youtube, Goodreads, Whatchareadin.de, Vorablesen.de, Facebook, Twitter, Lovelybooks, etc., is Copyright © by the Owner "Lee-T81" (Rockmaniac)*

This was such a sweet Christmastime story. I’ve purchased it for my library and I’m sure people will love it. The characters are very likeable and realistic and the setting is very evocative of the holidays. Overall, great book. Thank you so much for letting me read it!

An enjoyable escape to start off my year. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and setting in this book. And, would happily read anything by Rebecca Raisin again and suggest it to anyone who enjoys these types of books.
My two drawbacks were it felt really long. At least to me, but after reading the other reviews on here and seeing it was originally 3 novellas that makes sense. I sort of wish it had been broken up in the book as three novellas so I didn't feel like it was dragging so.
Second drawback was I'm an American reading a book set in America. The main character is supposed to be American, yet it read just like all the British books I read. So many phrases and words that unless you read a steady stream of British books a regular American just wouldn't understand. I haven't looked into where Rebecca Raisin is from.

Because I read so many books by British authors and set overseas it didn't bother me. I was just often confused when a city name or something here in the US came up because I really thought most of the time that Evergreen and Cedarwood Lodge were somewhere in the UK.

1 star | 08/20.

Unfortunately, if I'm being honest I didn't like this book. I was very eager to read it and I was waiting for something really romantic and funny and cute.... but it was not. Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is more about weddings organisation and renovation of the lodge than romance and all. It was even too much about weddings!
Not to mention, I felt very detached to all the characters except maybe for Amory.

I do believe it would have been quite an overwhelming story where lots of women would have enjoyed it. I certainly would have enjoyed it, if I didnt thought the story was so slow paced. Furthermore, I read it on my laptop because I dont have a kindle reader. The story had most of all lots of blank spaces. Lots of sentences had their own paragraph,

When I read half of the book I didnt thought the story was that interesting anymore to read everything of it. So i skipped till the end and read the last four chapters, I do believe this was the perfect ending of the story. Even though I skipped some part of the book, I still knee wherethe story was about and nothing was knew. Therefore I do believe there are too many details written into the story.

Overall, I do think this story has a romantic touch. But you need the feeling to 'feel' the story.
But thank you for letting me read this story!

I had previously read a Rebecca Raisin book (more of a novella really), Celebrations and Confetti at Cedarwood Lodge, and hadn’t really liked it. I thought, however, I’d give her another chance and requested this book from net-galley. The book had good ratings and, let’s be honest, it has a pretty cover that led me into temptation.

A few pages in and everything was sounding oddly familiar. I clicked on Celebrations and Confetti on my ereader and, sure enough, it was the same story. Celebrations and Confetti is a novella, which was a part one of three. A quick check on Goodreads confirmed two parts had been subsequently published (Brides and Bouquets at Cedarwood Lodge and Midnight and Mistletoe at Cedarwood Lodge). It seems that Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is all three parts together.

So, warning for those paying, don’t buy this if you’ve read all three parts as separate editions. (I must note that Goodreads lists it as the fourth installment of the series but it is definitely the other three re-released as one complete novel. It claims to have 'bonus material' but to purchase it for that reason alone, you'd have to be a big fan.)

Although I had said in my previous <a href="https://readwritewish.wordpress.com/2016/10/29/celebrations-and-confetti-at-cedarwood-lodge/"> review</a> that I was in no mad rush to find out what happened in the next part, I thought I might as well give it another chance (as I’d planned to give Raisin originally). Some people have noted in their reviews that they’d preferred reading the book in its entirety.

So I figured out where the first part ended and read on. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too far. Pretty much everything that annoyed me about Celebrations and Confetti continued to annoy me, but this time it didn’t have the brevity of a novella to hide behind. The novella’s distinct lack of plot is highlighted even further with the full length version.

Nothing really happens. Well, actually, our heroine thinks about potential new boyfriends (the Australian love interest is somehow the most boring character ever written), wonders at what happened with her mother at Cedarwood Lodge, thinks about how nice her friends are, renovates the lodge, and plans weddings. It’s the last one that is covered the most.

Yes, if you really want to read chapter after chapter devoted to wedding planning, this is the book for you.

After a while, I kept thinking about my TBR pile, and transferred Winter at Cedarwood Lodge into the DNF pile. Sorry, Rebecca.

1 out of 5

I fell in love with this book by the cover. But sadly the book didnt live up to the description. I felt the book dragged on to much and was tedious in places. It just sadly wasn;t the book for me

Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is a very lovely and heartwarming story. Clio is sweet, kind and friendly. She will do anything for her friends and family and the lodge is such a lovely place I want to go there! This was a completely adorable story and perfect for the wintertime.. The author definitely has a wonderful way with words and knows how to set up her descriptions and characters well.

This is the first time I have read a book by this author and unfortunately it will be the last. I loved the premise of the book with restoring an old lodge to it's former glory and the romances that went along with it but to me the author really struggled to keep the story moving along. She threw in some mystery, emotional issues all over the place with all the characters, and romance but to me it just slogged along. I never felt really involved with any of the characters and a book that would normally take me a day to read took over a week of forcing myself to sit down to finish it in the hopes of the story improving. It didn't.

This book is adorable, filled with warmth and personality which is something I am definitely looking for at this time of year, when you need a little bit of romance to keep you warm. (Especially if you’re single like me 😉 )

Clio, the interestingly named main character is a force. She doesn’t allow herself to be knocked down, no matter what it is that has happened. She is trying to rebuild her own life, in the process of refurbishing a historical property in her town, but I don’t believe she has any idea of what exactly it is that she’s in for.

This book was originally released, if I recall correctly, in three different volumes and if I had to wait that long to find out what’s going on, especially when it comes to Clio’s mother.

In addition to Clio there are a rather interesting, and wonderful cast of characters surrounding her, including her best friend Micah because imagine that, men and women can be friends! It’s a Christmas miracle. And the girl who likes him doesn’t get jealous? It’s almost like the author actually knows people. Amazing, isn’t it?

It’s a good, solid read. This is a book that will keep you warm, and dreaming of doughnuts on those cold winter nights.

Winter at Cedarwood Lodge, by Rebecca Raisin is a new contemporary romance story.

With serious secrets forcing her away from New York, Clio Winters returned to her hometown of Evergreen and decided to fulfill her childhood dream of renovating the old Cedarwood Lodge. Clio is excited to be in the same town as her childhood best friend and attracted to the handsome contractor, yet hesitant to be near her distant mother. Plus, there are more secrets unknown to Clio surrounding the building she's renovating. In addition to Clio, this story focuses on several characters, particularly her family and friends. Even though there are plenty of secrets and drama, it's a mostly lighthearted book.

Since it's the fourth book in the At Cedarwood Lodge series, it's ideal to start with the first book. However, this is a stand-alone story, so it's not necessary to read the books in order.

Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is geared towards those who enjoy reading contemporary romances.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I have well and truly fallen in love with Cedarwood Lodge and I want to stay there for real. Oh and don't get me started on the library at the lodge, the thought of book clubs, author events & readers retreats all taking place at the lodge just sounded like my idea of heaven. Complete bliss.

I also loved the sound of Bessie's mouth watering donuts, some of them just sounded devine especially the cookies and cream one. Not sure if would do my weight any good though.

Oh and little Scotty, he is so adorable, and I just want to pick him up and give him lots of cuddles. If you want to know who Scotty is, you'll just have to read the book.

I loved the bonds that existed between certain characters and then the new bonds that formed with new characters. All of which were so believable and well written. I truly loved getting to know each and every character.

Throughout the book, you become aware that there are secrets to be discovered, and so you spend majority of the book wondering when you'll discover the those secrets and wondering what they are, well I certainly did. It certainly kept me turning the pages.

I loved how it all ended, almost didn't want it to end, as I will dearly miss the characters.