An extremely heartwarming and captivating story of finding family and second chances over Christmas.

Ivy is newly divorced and makes a rash decision to buy an old farmhouse where she discovers a santa suit and a childs letter. She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the child and her family, and her quest has her making new friends and memories, including with her neighbor and real estate agent Ezra.

I read this all in one sitting, it was short and I couldnt wait to see what happened. My only complaint- no epilogue! I want to know what happens to all these characters after the events of the book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this novella for my honest opinion.

Lighthearted Christmas story and exactly what you are looking for in a sweet Christmas read. Not very deep or detailed but probably just the pallet cleanser of a book someone needs during this sometimes stressful time of the year.

I recommend for someone who is looking for one last easy book to round out your end of the year reading.

Very cute book, and quick read. It’s a novella. MKA did a good job with the characters and the storyline and wrapping it all up in a tight little bow. If you’re looking for a story to get you into the holiday spirit, this might just be the one. I was given this book as an ARC from netgalley.com in trade for my honest review.

This was a cute story! It was a quick read and light-hearted. Overall a feel good story that was perfect for the holidays.

Loved this book so much! Mary Kay Andrews is truly the Queen of Christmas Romance. I always think that I can't like a book more than her previous one, but then I do! Perfect book to put you in the holiday spirit!

Perfect Christmas book...It's as sweet as a candy cane, warm as a mug of hot cocoa, cute as that doll under the tree, and as cozy as those footie PJs. It's a quick read for a busy time of year.

Such a cute Christmas story! I really love everything that Mary Kay Andrews writes and this one didn't disappoint. I really liked all the characters, they seemed so realistic. I laughed out loud during a few moments. I would highly recommend for an enjoyable weekend read by the fire.

A #BOOKSGIVING RECOMMENDED READ ON MY BLOG

Author Andrews is an established force in romantic-fiction publishing, with thirty-ish successes on her credits. You know, therefore, that you're not going to feel duped or cheated when you read her work. There is no realistic chance you're getting some hyped-up yet unsatisfying work, something you'd look at with frustration as you wondered how to get back those three hours.

What's on offer here is a sweet, unsteamy romantic story about a house, its secrets, and a town full of the kind of people you wouldn't look at twice unless you Believe, like Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. After all, who's to say who's who? The fact that everyone, literally everyone, comes out of this short read with exactly what they need and what the want, well...it's a category romance with a Christmas theme and its title is The Santa Suit. You're getting what you signed up for!

The w-bomb was dropped on my unwilling reader's head three times, but with a twist: the w-bomber was in all three cases a woman doing that at another woman! So that had the virtue of novelty. It did not make it more pleasant.

There are the expected numbers of miracles, aka coincidences, in the course of the film, I mean novella! There are people doing the right thing grudgingly. but doing it; there are a lot of reminders that this isn't the Big City and everyone knows everyone else. That, mes vieux, is again what you signed up for. And you're going to get your HEA with a heaping tablespoon of sentimentality, too. I can't help myself...I lapped it up, I gurgled with disgust when w-bombed and I squirmed a wee tiny bit when gender politics made me uncomfortable (the Bechdel Test score here is not zero...it's negative). But I lapped it up.

One big reason is that Author Andrews is a seriously experienced wordsmith. I can't quote you any special lines, they're all perfectly adequate and none are lumpenly out of place; they aren't memorable. I didn't go in expecting them to be, so another check in the met-expectations box. I wasn't planning to write a whole review, only a Burgoine, but the presence of the dog Punkin and the four hens (a-calling!, in this case) and the overwhelming presence of Shiny Brite and C9 decorations...well...I was weak.

I love the verve and gusto of people who decorate their fool heads off for the Solstice Holiday, call it Yule or Saturnalia or Christmas. It's a dark, long night and we need the blessèd relief of bright colors and shiny surfaces. In our reads, too. Enjoy this one. Happy Holiday!

Looking for a Hallmark Christmas movie in a book form? This is the book for you. Cozy, happiness, and warm-fuzzies all in these pages. This book could easily be read in one sitting. I didn’t get much time to read this week, but I read the first half on the day I started it. It’s short and sweet. Just what you need to grab during the busy holiday season. My only complaint is how quickly the romance progressed between the characters, but I don’t think I would’ve wanted the book longer either.

The Santa Suit is a sweet holiday treat that is a delightful read that is a mere 224 pages long.
Ivey Perkins is recovering from a broken heart and fresh from her divorce.
Ivey decides to take a leap of faith and purchases a quaint little farmhouse, complete with a chicken coop and barn. This farmhouse is The Christmas House, in a small country town in North Carolina. She never saw this farm or house before purchasing it. So, when Ivey and her adorable rescue pup, Punkin, and her chickens arrive the mishaps ensue. Ezra, her real estate agent feels bad about selling a home site unseen with the repairs an old farmhouse needs. Ivey begins finding a second chance in her life, love, and home. The relationships in this story were sweet and the setting was perfect for the Hallmark movie marathon break you needed to escape to a book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (St. Martin's Press) &/or the author (Mary Kay Andrews) via NetGalley for an honest review of the book.

~~~ I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

I adore Mary Kay Andrews' books, she is such a gifted storyteller. The Santa Suit is the first of her holiday books that I have read, and I really enjoyed it! This book tells the romantic story of Ivy and Ezra after Ivy takes a huge leap of faith and flees Atlanta and moves during the holidays to North Carolina. In her new farmhouse, Ivy finds an old Santa suit with a mysterious letter tucked in the pocket. Ivy and Ezra work to uncover the mystery and fall in love. This is a nice, original storyline with engaging characters. I definitely recommend that The Santa Suit be added to everyone's holiday season to-read list, you won't regret it!

If you're looking for one more holiday book to sneak in before Christmas, make it the Santa Suit. This was a delightfully charming and quick novel with a fresh second-chance plot that gave me the good kind of goosebumps.

This was a sweet, feel-good Christmas book that relies heavily on the reader loving a Hallmark-movie vibe. The story centers around a newly-divorced young woman who buys a farm house sight unseen, and soon discovers friendship, romance and the magic of Christmas in a small town. I loved the description of the various candies-so intriguing! Did it feel rushed? Yes-but I feel that way with all novellas.

I loved this book. Perfect for the Christmas season.It was sweet story reminiscent of a Hallmark movie. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC. The story was short, and sort of predictable, totally Hallmark-y...... and I didn't really hate it, but I didn't really like it either. I felt like the characters had no personality and were getting on my nerves at certain points in the story. I did like the old man and how the story ends up circling around his family, which I did see coming but it was cute. Overall I gave this two stars on Goodreads. I would recommend it for people who enjoy short holiday reads.

I did not have high expectations for this going in, even though everyone seems to love it. Hyped books always fall flat for me, but not this one. It’s kind of a short, quick read. Every character in this I loved. It was a little odd reading about the main guy named Ezra, because that’s my sons name. But he was lovely and I was rooting for him. Ivy was likable and so believable as a person. I totally saw the online dating boo-boo happening with just the first mention of it. The setting was perfection and I absolutely adored Lawrence. Also….I now need some pepperymint chocolates in my life. This book could be a Hallmark Christmas movie. Seriously.

Cute, quick little Christmas novella that is very much a Hallmark movie! There is a bit of everything, with the city gril moving to the run down farm house, handsome neighbor becomes the fix all dude, a found family relic and the hunt for the owner of a long ago letter from Santa. This book is the perfect afternoon read by the tree!

The Santa Suit is relatively short and, in my opinion, suffers for it. Our love interest appears in the first few pages and seems instantly fixated on doing nice things for our heroine (not to mention kind of forcing Christmas upon her in the form of a massive tree she didn’t ask for).

The titular Santa suit appears equally quickly, as does the requisite quirky best friend who thinks she needs to lose 10 pounds, and the sad lonely old guy that the protagonist befriends to prove how tender hearted she is. Oh, and the down on her luck candy store owner who’s going to have to close shop because she just can’t get enough people to buy her secretly phenomenal candy.

This would all be fine if we ever got to know any of these characters any better, but… because the book has so much plot to do in so few pages, they’re all a bit flat and stay in their stereotypical lanes. I didn’t even feel like I knew Ivy, the main character, much better at the book’s end and I sometimes struggled to understand her motivations.

There are a lot of moving pieces, plot wise, and a lot of characters for such a quick read. So, it makes sense that character development fell to the wayside. It just made it hard for me to care what happened to any of them or invest in their stories.

I will say I did enjoy the twist towards the end, which I wasn’t expecting in spite of how formulaic much of the book felt.

In the end, though, this book didn’t translate those Hallmark movie vibes onto the page for me. I need a bit more time to care about and invest in the relationships I was supposed to root for, and it just wasn’t there.

If you enjoy a quick read and don’t mind a more plot driven book that moves quickly through to the merrily ever after, I’d definitely suggest this one for you! There’s also small town, learning to love again vibes along with the magic of Christmas element, so if that’s your jam, go forth and read!

I saved this book to read during the Christmas season to get the full effect, and I’m so glad I did. The story is as warm as hot cocoa and a hallmark movie, while snuggling under a soft blanket on a snowy day. Ivy, a recently divorced woman, decides to buy a fixer-upper farmhouse in North Carolina. The house needs several repairs, but her handsome real estate agent, Ezra, is happy to help. While cleaning out the items left behind by the previous owners, Ivy finds a Santa suit with a note in the pocket. It’s from a little girl asking Santa to bring home her father who is off fighting in a war. The note intrigues Ivy, who decides to make it her mission to find out if the father made it home.

2 1/2 stars

This book felt really hyped up this year and sadly, for me, it just didn't deliver. BUT! I can appreciate it for what it is... A sweet and sappy, entirely unrealistic Hallmark type book for the holiday season. I think I've just learned that these kinds of books are not for me. And that's OK! I still like to read them from time to time for lighter reads to break up heavier ones and because everyone's talking about them and I want in on it! Plus, the cover on this one is SO much fun!

Newly divorced Ivy Perkins has just bought an old farmhouse in a small town and discovers that the previous owners left a lot of their furniture and other belongings in the house for her to do with as she wishes. She finds an old Santa suit with a note in the pocket from a little girl asking Santa to being her dad home. She instantly decides she needs to find out what happened to the girl. In the meantime, she develops a bit of a crush on her super helpful realtor and additionally, struggles with where to go with her career.

I think I just didn't fully understand Ivy's obsession with the note and the ultimate conclusion felt totally unrealistic and weird to me. I also didn't understand the Jewish angle at all. In any event, I can totally see this book as a Hallmark movie, but one that feels formulaic and not memorable. But clearly, lots of people are loving it and maybe my heart is just too black and I'm becoming a Grinch...