A Wish for Winter is a cozy story and the perfect book to read during the holidays. It is full of hope, friendship and family. Do yourself a favor and cuddle up with this book and a cup of tea on a cold snowy night!!

A heartwarming Christmas story, but also a humorous take on hope, small town people, and a women looking for her Santa love! I love the location, Petoskey< Michigan, I love that she owns a bookshop. Cute Christmas read!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Viola Shipman knows how to write books, and I liked this title about a woman who lost it all and is taken care of by her grandparents. Some parts were a lot longer than needed, but overall it was a good read.

This is a really fun, sweet story taking place in Michigan, where the author lives. It's a love letter to Christmas, a love letter to books, to the importance of family and friends, to the act of forgiveness and healing after loss, and also to falling in love, even when one thinks its too late. There are some fun, diverse characters and so many sweet moments between the main character and her grandparents, who raised her after her parents were killed when she was young. Bittersweet but also very hopeful. Much of it takes place in the family's bookstore in Petoskey, Michigan. I love books about bookstores!

I just love reading Christmas stories. And I absolutely love Viola Shipman's books. Put the two together and I found myself in heaven!

Susan Norcross lost both of her parents at an early age and was raised by her grandparents. She has big expectations for love as both her mom and her grandma found the loves of their lives while he was wearing a Santa hat. Susan is just waiting for her Santa to appear, but is it too late for her romantic meet-up?

Her good friends gather around her to try to make it happen. That's when the fun begins. As everyone is on the quest to find that mysterious Santa, Susan learns a lot about herself, her friends and family, and what real love means.

I loved A Wish for Winter, as I have loved all of Shipman's stories. I know I'm in for a heartwarming, beautiful story when I start reading one of her books. This one did not disappoint. It is the perfect holiday read for the season right now. I highly recommend it if you love a feel-good Christmas story this time of year.

A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman takes us to Petoskey, Michigan, a lakeside community where we meet Susan, her grandparents and their employees at the family bookstore, Sleigh By the Bay. Susan’s grandparents have a unique love story, and Susan has been searching for her own Kris Kringle. The tale that unfolds will delight you….

Viola Shipman has been on my radar thanks to blogger friends, so I grabbed A Wish For Winter for the Ho-Ho-Ho readathon as a winter selection, but it has a strong holiday theme as well. Susan’s life has been filled with tragedy, love, books and a childhood wish to meet her own Kris Kringle.

This is very much a women’s fiction selection, and I loved the small-town charm, rich, colorful characters and character growth. Susan has a tightknit group of friends and family. I loved the bookstore from events to celebrations.

The central storyline surrounds a Santa race where Susan meets a man in a Santa suite who might just be the one. Only he fails to meet her after. Her friends help with the hunt to find this Kris Kringle and along the way we see character growth, healing and more. The tale takes us through the major holidays, health emergencies, blind dates, and book events as the search hits the media. I could see the story as a Hallmark movie or motion picture.

A touching story from beginning to end, all set with a bookstore as the backdrop. While romance is central, the story is more about friendship, family and personal happiness. I loved the cozy independent bookstore and small-town in a big city charm. I highly recommend to fans of holiday chick-lit with well-developed characters and depth.

Susan Norcross' parents were killed in a car accident when she was only fourteen. She has blamed herself for their death all these years. Luckily for her, she was raised by her paternal grandparents and they were wonderful, keeping her memory of her parents alive. Both Susan's grandmother and mother, met their husbands while they were dressed as Santa Claus, and Susan's poem as a young child about finding her Kringle, had mapped out her love life. She is still single and her friends are determined to help her find her "Single Kringle" this year. Susan is the owner of her family's bookstore, Sleigh By the Bay, that embraces Christmas fully, with her grandparents dressing as Santa and Mrs. Claus. Susan and her best friend, Holly, enter Chicago's Santa run and she meets another runner dressed as Santa. They seem to hit it off and make plans to meet after the race, but he doesn't show. The rest of the story has Susan and her friends trying to find the Santa Susan met over the next year.

This was such a delightful story. There is a lot of humour, but also some heartwarming moments. Susan has a lot to overcome that she doesn't even realize. She needs to let go of her guilt over her parents' death, stop trying so hard and just accept the good things coming her way. Her grandparents and her "Santas" all help her to let go and move on throughout this book. Susan realizes that there is more than one Santa out there, and she meets three wonderful men, but none of them are her "Santa". Although she doesn't find her "Single Kringle" she finds herself along the way. I really liked the characters in this book. Susan, her family and friends as well as her "Santas" were all wonderfully caring people, who I would love to be friends with. With another Santa Run coming up, Susan decides it will be her last one, but will a miracle strike? Viola Shipman is an auto-read author for me and this book reminds me of why. With wonderful characters, great writing, self-reflection that everyone can identify with to a degree and a happily ever after, I can't recommend this Christmas book more.

Thanks to Graydon House and HTP for an advanced copy of A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman.

Viola Shipman books are the most heartwarming and A Wish for Winter is no exception. This book is about the magic of Christmas, family, small towns and missed connections.

I thought the family destiny for Susan to meet her love when he's dressed as Santa as both her mother and grandmother had was such a unique storyline! When she's at a holiday run in Chicago she chats with a funny Santa prior to the race, but when he doesn't show up at the bar after she's disappointed, When her best friends set up a social media search for her missing Santa it's a sweet and funny story set in a small Michigan lakeside community as she goes on some bad dates to learn what it means to have a well lived and loved life.

This was a great book to listen to and while it got a little repetitive, the dating stories were funny and this was an enjoyable women's fiction with a sweet Christmas/Santa storyline.

Wintry breathtaking northern Michigan small town beauty and festivities, a family-run bookstore, and a family tradition of finding THE ONE in a Santa costume as backdrop for a forty-year old woman’s journey of healing from grief and guilt to new-found happiness. A Wish for Winter is my second Viola Shipman tale and had all the feels, humor, friends and family, and winter festivities I adored in The Secret of Snow. 

In the pursuit of her “Single Kringle”- as advised by bestie influencer Holly, Susan Norcross had some dating disappointments and the humor this brings right from the get-go had me chuckling aloud and settling in for a comfy, heartwarming read. Her whole town of Petoskey, a little town on the shore of Lake Michigan, has holiday hope that Susan, named for the little girl in Miracle on 34th Street no less, will be the third generation Norcross to find her match in a Santa suit. Her girlfriends, shop friends, and grandparents are all there for her and she thought it was finally happening when she was in a Santa run and had a date planned with a certain Santa-costumed guy only to be stood up. The hunt is on with Holly vetting the three best possibles.

But, it wouldn’t be a Viola Shipman story if all the mischief and holiday festivities were not balanced by a person who has some sadness and unresolved past to deal with. In this case, Susan lost both her parents at a young age during the holidays when they were hit by a drunk driver. But, instead of seeing it as just one of those bad things that happen, Susan blames herself and spends all her life from then on living by her guilt-imposed code of what she decides would have made her parents happy rather than setting her own course through life. Now she’s the age her mom was when she died and it’s a wakeup call of sorts.

The romantic mystery of who she will be with is actually not hard to spot, but I also enjoyed seeing everyone trying to figure it out. The romance is not the central element. Susan’s personal growth, her relationships with grandparents, found family, and friends- even the vibrant town of Petoskey- are all central which is why I consider this women’s fiction more than romance. However, it is all rather holiday romantic in tone so one doesn’t feel anything missing.  

Incidentally, loved the short at the end and the author’s note to readers.

It does have slow spots, but all in all, this was a sweetheart of a story and made me wish I could visit the bookshop and the world of A Wish for Winter for the holidays.

This year Susan Norcross is turning forty. Her whole life she has been waiting patiently to meet her 'Santa Claus'. Her grandparents and parents both have played the role of Santa and Mrs. Claus during the holiday season. Both her grandfather and father met their spouses while sporting a Santa cap.

Before her fourteenth birthday, Susan lost both of her parents to a drunk driver. After their deaths, Susan's grandparents took her in and raised her. After graduating college Susan returned to her small town in Michigan to take over the management of the family bookstore.

During the annual Santa Run in Chicago, dressed as Mrs. Claus, Susan makes an instant connection with another runner who is dressed as Old St. Nick. Both runners agree to meet up at the end of the race but for whatever reason, Mr. Claus was a no show. When her close knit group of close friends find out about Susan's mystery man they make a pact to locate him and force Susan to agree to a series of blind dates until she finds Mr. Right.

Susan's story is one of great loss and need to find forgiveness. After losing both of her parents in a car accident, Susan finds herself struggling to forgive the man who caused their tragic deaths. Her parents deaths have instilled a fear in Susan to fall in love and care for another individual. Susan fears that whomever she grows close to will leave her just like her parents did.

'A Wish for Winter' is a unique holiday story. Shipman brings to the book a lot of wonderful trivia and information about the area Susan and her family lives in. Susan and her family have a well developed and thought out back story. I loved all of Susan's friends and their quirky personalities. Everything about this story and the characters felt like true to life experiences. 'A Wish for Winter' was a great holiday read.

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This was my first Viola Shipman read and I will 100% be back tracking to read the ones I've missed. I have such a special place in my heart for Santa, created by my own grandpa and his love of Christmas and Santa. He's been gone many years, but I still feel him here, especially at Christmas. Maybe that's why I fell so hard into the pages of this book, or maybe it's because the writing was truly wonderful. I loved everything about it - the characters, the nods to Christmas, the facts thrown in about bookselling and writing. It was such an amazing Christmas blend.

I'm a sucker for a good romance, but especially a Christmas one. When Susan meets a Santa stranger at a Santa Run and then gets separated from him, only to have him not show up at a bar he yelled for her to meet him at, I was all in. I wanted so badly to see where the story would take her and I had to know if their paths crossed again. Never did I grow bored at any point, I kept hoping that the next chapter would bring all the Single Kringle answers. And the friends and family in her life were such an amazing compliment to the story.

I cannot wait to read more by Viola Shipman, who seems to so eloquently write about characters with emotions and memories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ebook in exchange for my honest review.

How I love this book ❤️. This is my tenth book by Viola Shipman (Wade Rouse). His words are so uplifting and inspiring. A read that gives you so much. Many words of wisdom that will stay with you way after your done reading.

This story of Susan Norcross in search of the Santa that she meets at the annual Santa Run is so much fun. She feels a connection to this man that she unfortunately doesn't get his name. With the help of her friends, her grandparents, and the town of Petoskey, MI, the search is on to find him. Her BFF Holly, has narrowed it down to three men that might be that Santa. They are, Jamie a financial planner, Micah an attorney, and Tristan a minister, let "The Dating Game" begin.

Throughout your reading there are heartfelt memories of the past of her grandparents, her parents, and Susan younger years. Loved seeing how things came to be.

Enjoyed Santa in July. I wonder if this is done anywhere. Santa decided to visit Petoskey on his vacation, so cool. The kids with the sprinkler. I like what the little boy tells Susan, "Adults are so weird. They make all the easy stuff hard. Just do it. I promise it will make you feel better." He's talking about Susan going through the sprinkler. I think it's also about life.

The pick up lines that the Santa use are so good. I just have to mention my favorite one, "Can you hold my gloves 🧤for a second?" "I usually warm them up by the fireplace, but you're way hotter." (Great line.) 😂 It cracked me up.

Will Susan find love like her friends
Noah with Fred, Leah with Luka, and the (Jonas Brothers). Enjoy the journey and the search for love in this forever wonderful 💞 story.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read the Advance Reader Copy on ebook for my honest review.
The publishers, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House
Thanks Wade Rouse for a beautiful story.
All opinions are my own.

#AWishforWinter
#ViolaShipman
#WadeRouse
#NetGalley
#HarlequinTradePublishing
#GraydonHouse

A Wish for Winter, Viola Shipman, 11/22/22

Susan is forty years old, the same age as her mother when she died in a car accident. At the time, Susan was only fourteen and this tragic loss caused Susan to turn inward to protect herself from further heartache and disappointment.

Susan’s grandparents, Betty and Nicholas Norcross, raised Susan and continued to be her northern stars. They founded a family bookstore, and after three generations, Sleigh by the Bay continued to be the heart of Petoskey, Michigan. The bookstore was Susan’s love and life. But was there a special someone out there for her? Susan’s grandmother and mother found their life mates unexpectantly dressed as Mr. Claus himself. Will the trend carry on with Susan? Will she find her Mr. Claus? Can she open her heart an accept such a blessing?

I loved this book! It was a heartwarming holiday story of love, loss, forgiveness, and moving forward through challenges. The quirky characters were well developed and fun to get to know. I felt the emotions of each of them as the story unfolded.

Viola Shipman/Wade Rouse is my favorite author. I’ve read each of his books and anxiously await his next novel in the spring.
HIs books always make me laugh and cry. They reach to the very depths of my heart and soul and allow me to apply the lesson within.

I received this advanced reader’s copy from author Viola Shipman, Publisher Graydon House Books, and NetGalley.
All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

This one I'll admit, wasn't my favorite from Viola Shipman. I loved the Edge of Summer, and this one just felt off a bit; not sure why. But I'm still a big fan of his work and will continue to share and support it. That being said, my mom loved this one and listened to it on audio. I think it just wasn't for me. I won't share anything negative anywhere. Excited for the next one!

Author Viola Shipman / Wade Rouse is my go-to for comfort reads. Another beautiful story in another beautiful setting. A Wish For Winter will make great stocking stuffers for my aunt & cousin.

Susan is facing fourty the same age her mother passed and it seems everyone is trying to set her up with someone. She wants to meet a man like her mother and family before her in a santa suit. When she happens to meet that man they have a deep connection but things happened and she couldn't get ahold of him. Now with some meddling of close ones she's not searching for her santa.

This was such a heartwarming book, perfect for this holiday season! I loved getting to know Susan, her friends and family. Susan had a lot of healing to do since the death of her parents and feeling guilty like their death was her fault. Then there was her meddling friends and family who were so well meaning trying to set her up on blind dates with who they think that santa she had a deep connection with might be. Then there was a brief back and fourth of past and present of how the parents and grandparents met their santa dressed loves it was pretty cute. This was a pretty great book I really enjoyed it. Highly Recommend.

A tug at your heart, magical Christmas story.
The story is about Susan and her journey to find her special Santa. Her parents and grandparents have done this. Why can’t she find her Santa just like they did?
This is a beautiful story full family, friends, loss, forgiveness but, most of all, LOVE.
The perfect book to cuddle up with a cup of hot chocolate and roaring fire on a snowy night.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was most incredibly touching book I have ever read. There were elements of humor, romance, grief, faith, love and friendship. It was uplifting and poignant. I can't recommend this book enough! The characters are well developed and It also has wonderful descriptions of some of the most magical things about the shores of Lake Michigan. A wonderful book!

This book surprised me in a good way. It’s more than a romance but a book about a woman grieving the loss of her parents when she was a child. Susan is almost 40 and still single waiting for her Santa. I loved the relationship with her friends as they help her to find her mysterious Santa. We spend time with Susan and her friends and family over a year. Her memories of her parents and a childhood friend run through the story. It’s a beautiful story about loss, forgiveness, love, friends and family, and the choices we make in life that can lead us on a path we don’t expect. Highly recommend

Susan Norcross has turned forty but is still mourning the loss of her parents to a drunk driver when she was a child. Her mother and grandmother both met their husbands who were dressed as Santa Claus. Susan is destines to also. This is the story of her journey to happiness. I really liked the characters in this book. I liked the storyline also but it took too long to her to Susan's happy ending so that diminished my enjoyment of this book.