Our main protagonist, Brynn moves to a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's recovering from a bad break up and wants a fresh start as a cheesemaker. Brynn has her hand full taking care of the farm, her three cows, one of whom is grieving the loss of her stillborn calf and making her new business successful. Then her neighbor, Nancy dies in a suspicious fire, and soon after, someone starts harassing her. Brynn is convinced that there is a connection between the two, and she hopes to get to the bottom of it. I loved this book. It was a wonderful start to a new series. It is well-written with likable characters, a beautiful setting, and a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I was very satisfied with the ending and thought the author did a great job keeping the readers in suspense while still providing us with plenty of red herrings. This book has amazing potential and I look forward to seeing what the author has in store for the characters. I highly recommend this series and will be picking up any future books in it.Thanks, Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing me with a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Loved this book. Brynn moves to a farm with her cows petunia, buttercup and marigold. Petunia is depressed after losing her calf. Brynn makes cheese at her farm with the milk from her cows. Willow suggests actupunture for Petunia and it helps for a couple of days. Schuyler comes back to do it again but the dog that comes with her seems to help Petunia. In the meantime there was a fire at the house next door killing the neighbor. Brynn sets out to find the killer which is to close for comfort.

Christmas Cow Bells by Mollie Cox Bryan is a fabulous first in hopefully a long line of books in the new Buttermilk Creek Mystery series. It takes place in a “quiet” little town in the Shenandoah Valley/Blue Ridge Mountains, VA. The main character, Brynn MacAlister is trying to make her dream come true by running her own small artisan cheese company. She has purchased three beyond adorable cows: Petunia, Marigold, and Buttercup.
Brynn has her work cut out for her trying to take care of the mini farm, her sweet and precious cows, milking Petunia and dealing with her sadness after losing her stillborn calf, creating her amazing cheese, and trying to get her budding business off the ground.
Add a fire, a death of a new friend, and then strange and scary occurrences happening to her as well, makes a great multi-layered storyline come to life.
I love Brynn. She is strong (despite what she thinks), is a hard worker, honest, an animal lover, a good friend and family member, and has personality to boot. I love her moral compass and her loyalty. I love the whole host of characters added as well, especially Wes, Willow, Tillie, Freckles the dog, Mike (he needs to be a love interest hello...), and Schuyler.

I loved the plot, the murder/mystery, the location, and the ending was realistic, satisfying, and appropriate.

This series really has a lot of potential and I cannot wait to see how it progresses. There are so many story lines that can be developed from this initial book.

I give this a huge 5/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Kensington, and Ms Cox Bryan for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

This is posted to my GR account immediately and will be posted to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication. I will also post this to several FB groups with like-minded book lovers at that time to further spread the word. Thank you again for the opportunity and privilege to read this gem.

I have been a big fan of Mollie Cox Bryan's previous two series- both the Cora Crafts and the Cumberland Creek series so I was quite interested when i heard about this new series and I think it is absolutely her best. I feel as if I have found a new friend in Brynn McAlister and I loved learning about her method for making cheese, her relationship with her three cows and about community supported agriculture. And, oh yes, there is also a mystery to solve. Brynn has just moved to Shenandoah Springs to develop her cheese making dairy and has become close friends with her neighbor Nancy who has bought the old church in the hopes of developing it into a farm store where the local farmers can sell their produce all year round. But some in the community are not please with change, and when the church is set on fire, leading to Nancy's death, Brynn is determined to find out who would do such a horrible thing. And when Brynn is threatened with someone trying to set a fire on her property as well as other threats, she becomes even more convinced that she needs to find justice for her friend Nancy and Nancy's family. This book is filled with interesting characters, a beautiful setting and all kinds of information on farming as well as a compelling plot. It's a winner!