This was a really sweet story and a delight to read. Kerry goes to New York to help her brother sell Christmas trees from their family farm. She grew up with their mom while her brother grew up on the tree farm with their father so they aren’t especially close. They are staying in an old motor home affectionately named Spammy. As Kerry starts to get to know the residents of this area, she feels like she belongs. She becomes especially close with a young boy, his attractive father, and an older gentleman in the neighborhood.

This was a fun, low-conflict story filled with Christmas cheer and wonderful characters. I liked getting to know Kerry, her brother, and the other characters. I appreciated the fact that there was a bit of mystery worked into the story in addition to just the right amount of romance. Kerry seemed like she just belonged in the neighborhood and I hoped that she would figure out how to make her visit more permanent.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Kathleen McInerney did a great job with the story. I thought that the voices she used for the various characters did a great job of helping to bring the story to life. I found her voice to be very pleasant and am certain that her narration added to my enjoyment of this book. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to others. I found this to be a very well-done holiday story that kept me hooked until the very end.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press.

I'm always excited to hear that Mary Kay Andrews has a new book coming out. And even better? This latest is a Christmas tale - Bright Lights, Big Christmas!

MKA gives us a great lead in Kerry Tolliver. She's thoughtful, caring and is someone you'd love to have in your friends circle. She and her brother Murphy are heading to Greenwich Village in New York City to sell their Christmas trees. Her family been doing this since the 1950's and the neighborhood always welcomes them back. But there's competition this year...

I love the setting. Having a Christmas tree stand as a focal point is fun and different. As is Spammy - the trailer that Murphy and Kerry are living in.

There's a wealth of supporting characters in the neighborhood and local businesses. All of them are kind, good people. (And I kind of wished I had an apartment in the neighborhood.) Austin is one of the key players - he's six years old and steals the show more than once. And at the other end is Mr. Heinz, a cantankerous older gentleman. In between are some candidates for the romance plot line that MKA always weaves into her books. Oh, and a dog named Queenie as well.

Relationships of all kinds are explored in Bright Lights, Big Christmas. Difficult issues, questions, situations and more are resolved by the final pages. And that's what I expect and love about MKA's writing. Feel good fiction that tugs at the heartstrings. And fills you with the holiday spirit!

Some may say that New York City is not a very friendly place and people don't even know their neighbors there, but that is definitely not true in this novel. It is full of heartwarming found family vibes. It's like a steaming cup of cocoa to the soul.

True, the story doesn't really break any new ground. It's all pretty formulaic. However, it's just what you would expect and want from Mary Kay Andrews: a fun story, a cute romance, and a happy ending. It's a great way to kick off your holiday reading season.

Thank you thanks to St. Martin's Press, Mary Kay Andrews & NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Big Lights, Big Christmas". The expected pub date of this book is September 2023 and would make a perfect stocking stuffer or holiday book club read.


Mary Kay Andrews Christmas 2023 new release "Big Lights, Big Christmas" was such a fun, get in the holiday spirit, read. My only complain is that I wish I read it during the holiday season!!!

Four Generations of The Tollivers Family have maintained and run the Tollivers Tree Farm in North Carolina and every christmas they sell their home grown trees on the same corner in Greenwich Village NYC for as long as they can remember. After dad Jock Tolliver has a heart attach and is unable to assist his son Murphy with sales in NYC, his daughter Kerry steps up and pitches in to help. With the tree business suffering from competition and barely making the bottom line, Kerry is able to mix old ways of business with new ways of business to drive an increase of sales and even further loyalty to the Tollivers Trees. Its old school sales vs new school (instagram influencer, changing the business model (light decorating, personalized wreaths made out of the dropping of the trees) Kerry is able to sell every tree on the lot and then some.
The storyline that tugs at the heart is the brother sister relationship between Murphy and Kerry, the love attraction between Patrick, Kerry and Patricks son Austin, the family that is made up of the local businesses and the relationship and caring for Heinz.

Overall a quick, easy and heartfelt read.

4.0 stars overall.

5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.

Five stars for the perfect Christmas romance novel. Yes, I am a total sucker for cheesy, fluffy romance novels around the holidays!Guaranteed this one will be a Christmas movie soon!

Kerri lost her job, her boyfriend, her apartment and moved back in with her mom in Tarburton, NC. Her dad and brother Murphy run a tree farm up in the mountains. Her mom Birdie lives in a small cottage in town. Kerri wants no part of dealing with her dad or the tree farm, but when her father has a heart attack, Kerri is stuck taking her dad’s place selling trees in New York City.

Living out of a very old travel trailer called Spammy, Kerri will have to manage a month in the city away from the comforts of home. The last time she did this, she was a child and her family was together. Now it’s going to be Kerri and her brother Murphy.

But the City at the holidays is magical and perhaps it can cast a spell over Kerri’s glum attitude. Maybe the charm of Abingdon Square will help Kerri find her way to a new life, love and happiness once again. Perhaps a little bit of that charm will trickle over into other’s lives as well.

When I say the perfect Christmas romance novel, I do not lie. This one makes you want to curl up by the fire with hot cocoa and enjoy. Add it to your holiday bookshelf!!

Bright Lights, Big Christmas is the perfect holiday read. I enjoyed the story and really became invested in all of the characters. It was a light-hearted read with plenty of heart. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

A light-hearted, feel good cozy holiday read. Wonderful story of found family with romance, makes you want to cuddle up in the couch with a hot beverage and your favorite blanket

Such a sweet, joyful story that was exactly what I needed in my reading life right now. I appreciated that this story had enough plot to keep things interesting while also being easy to read and enjoy. A couple of things felt a bit neat, but not enough to detract - highly recommend this one!

I love MKA's stories and I love when the holiday books start popping up in my reading queue. Reading Bright Lights, Big Christmas was the perfect way to kick off my Christmas reading. A beloved author's wonderful holiday story. Win, win!

Kerry has to go help the family's Christmas tree farm business in the big city. Not what she was really wanting to do with her life but her family needs her, so she does it. Her meeting and making friends with all of the quirky people of the neighborhood is what made me love this story so much. She discovers that there are people who truly care for each other in this big, scary place.

I loved the relationships that developed within the story, so much love and friendship found among strangers. As always with a MKA story, I become totally engrossed with the storyline and the wonderful, caring characters. I loved this story and know I will be thinking about it long after I finished it. This was the perfect start to what I hope is more enjoyable Christmas reading for me. I highly recommend Bright Lights, Big Christmas!

A magical tale of family and love. I loved this book, I loved the characters, the setting, the storyline! It was filled with holiday magic, and a sweet love story. I couldn't turn the page fast enough! You must add this to your holiday reading list.

This is a sweet and heartwarming novel to get you in the Christmas spirit. Kerry Tolliver is from a Christmas tree farm in North Carolina. She travels with her brother to sell Christmas trees in New York City. While there she makes connections to the people in the neighborhood. New friendships, new romance, and caring characters make this an enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Special thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. The story was super predictable, but also really cute and heartwarming. .

Kerry comes home hoping to regroup before looking for a new job in the new year. Unexpectedly, she's helping her brother sell Christmas trees in New York, which she hasn't done since childhood. It's a time of the siblings getting to know each other again, and a way to save the family farm--Christmas trees are their main business.

The camper has a special spot for the tree lot, and the community is faithful to the Tollivers. Kerry adds in decorated wreaths, and more. Kerry has a possible love interest, and she has befriended his young son, and they create an illustrated story. An older gentleman from the neighborhood enhances the drawings with a flair which betrays his outside appearance.

As the selling season goes on, the community becomes like family, especially for Kerry, and she dreams of a future in NY. While one neighbor goes through a health crisis, the community steps in. Kerry unearths secrets which could lead to a career change.

This story of a community becoming family is a wonderful tale perfect for the holiday season and beyond. Heartwarming at its core, it reminds us to grab unexpected chances, and the heartfelt meaning of Christmas is giving to others.

received a netgalley from the publisher

In Bright Lights, Big Christmas, Kerry heads to NYC to help her brother Murph with the family Christmas tree stand because their father is ill. Begrudgingly she arrives to a stand that that has seen more profitable days and with good intention to turn it around. However, as luck would have it, obstacles begin to appear from basic living to competition. The surrounding businesses and neighbors offer relief and friendship. Insert a timely winter snow, goodwill, and a little romance and I have just wrapped up the perfect Christmas novel.

Mary Kay Andrews writes relatable characters and relationships that I care about. I was tickled to read a reference to a previous novel.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I love Mary Kay Andrews’ books! I will admit, this one is not my favorite. That being said, I loved the hallmark-movie-like plot of the girl and her brother who’s family owns a Christmas tree farm come to NYC to sell trees, meets locals (including a handsome man of course…), and the storyline ensues. All of the characters were likable, and I felt like I could picture the street where they sell their trees! However, the romance fell a little flat for me… I think because it felt so rushed. Our FMC was only in NYC a few weeks total, and the time spent with the love interest felt minimal to support that plot point. Regardless, Mary Kay Andrews is still an automatic buy for me! I love her books and her characters!

This was a cute, fluffy Christmas read!

After her father suffers a heart attack, Kerry is sent to New York with her brother, Murray, to help her family's Christmas Tree stand sell their trees. Kerry begins to meet all of the people who can make Christmas magical, including single father, Patrick, with his son, Austin; and blustering old man, Heinz. When the tree selling season is over, Kerry is left to wonder if North Carolina or New York is really where her heart is.

I honestly couldn't tell you much that happened in this story. It felt like every chapter was mostly the same thing: sell trees, sleep in a ratty trailer, talk to people about making sales, deal with horrible brother. I wish there would have been a little more of a plot or more drama. The ending of the chapters also felt abrupt and off at times, which would throw me off.

I did enjoy Kerry's character progression and her thought processes and how she dealt with everything (such as sleeping in an old trailer with no heat/toilet). The relationship between Kerry/Austin/Heinz was absolutely adorable and made the book in my opinion.

Overall, wasn't my favorite but still a cute Christmas read!
This was my first book by Mary Andrews and I can't wait to pick up another!

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this book .All opinions are my own!

I love Mary Kay Andrews' books and this one did not disappoint! This is a wholesome Christmas time read - it has everything - a struggling family Christmas tree farm, romance, community and Christmas spirit.

I loved the dynamic between the brother sister duo from Tovieller Tree Farm. Murph and his younger sister, Kerry, didn't grow up together. After their parents divorced Murph lived with his father and ran the tree farm and Kerry moved with her Mom. Prior to the divorce, the family would travel to NYC for a month to sell their Christmas Trees.

This year, their father is sick and cannot make the trip so Kerry fills in after years of being away. She reconnects with her brother and the community around where their family tree stand is set up in NYC. She becomes part of their community and through all of this she finds her passion and a new direction for her life.

This was the perfect way to start my holiday reads this year.

Kerry Tolliver isn't really enthusiastic about going to New York City for the weeks leading up to Christmas. But her father's heart attack has put the family Christmas tree farm in peril--they've already lost a week of the lucrative short season and with her mother caring for her father, someone needs to help her mountain-man brother. Someone willing to share the tiny vintage camper they park alongside the Greenwich Village tree lot.

But Kerry soon finds herself drawn into the quirky neighborhood and its residents. Undeniably, divorced Patrick and his young son, Austin, are the most appealing, but the grouchy, seemingly unhoused Heinz, with his strong opinions about Kerry's art, is a close second. As Christmas quickly approaches, and the Tollivers face one setback after another (particularly at the hands of rival Christmas tree sellers), Kerry begins to dread leaving as much as she one dreaded coming.

Total escape reading, but with such wonderful characters and an impeccable setting (with more December snow than New York has seen recently, I wager), Bright Lights, Big Christmas is vintage MKA. Speaking of vintage, along with the trailer, there's some vintage clothing and decor. #BrightLightsBigChristmas #NetGalley

Any new novel by author Mary Kay Andrews is cause for excitement, but a holiday story is extra special and always magical. Bright Lights, Big Christmas is your perfect start to holiday reading.

Kerry Tolliver is from Tarburton, North Carolina (remember the Santa Suit?? Yay!) but until recently lived and worked in Charlotte. After her job was downsized, her co-worker boyfriend and all her work friends downsized her also and ghosted her. She eventually gave up and moved back home to her family’s Christmas tree farm. Not where she really wants to be, but no job means no money and she needs somewhere to stay while she figures out next steps. Figures out her life.

In the meantime, her mom does what moms do best and guilt trips her into going with her older brother Murphy to New York City for a couple of months to sell Christmas trees. It’s a family tradition. Or was a family tradition until her parents divorced. Kerry stayed with her mother, Murphy stayed with their father, Jock. For years now Murphy and Jock have made the trip. They need the money the sales in New York bring in, especially this year when the farm is struggling. So even though Jock’s had a heart attack and can’t go, it’s imperative they make those sales. Kerry is there, Kerry has nothing else to do, so Kerry must go.

She’s not happy about it. She has good memories from the trips the four of them made, but those memories are from long ago. Their little trailer Spammy (because it resembles a canned ham) used to be cozy but is now falling apart. No working bathroom, no heat except for a little space heater – and as she discovers when she ventures inside, no recent housekeeping. Her traveling companion isn’t ideal, either. Her brother is a very cranky, impatient man, often rude. They’ve never been close; he’s always acted as if she irritated him. So even though he needs the help he’s not happy about it either, and wants her to do what she’s told, stop complaining, don’t make any suggestions for Pete’s sake because what does she know about it. Doesn’t exactly sound like a dream vacation, does it?

They pull up to their usual spot in a little neighborhood where they always set up and a Mercedes is parked there for two days. Not a good start. Then it gets worse when the Brody brothers set up a cut-rate inferior quality lot right across the street from them. The trailer is dusty, musty, cold. If she leaves the lot for more than a few minutes Murphy is all over her and she has to count on the kindness of strangers to even take a shower. Wow. But Kerry has fortitude and stamina and digs deep to look on the bright side. She starts making wreaths to add to their product line, custom decorating trees . . . all while Murphy is grumbling about any time she spends away to get supplies or any money she spends to get them. This man needs an attitude adjustment.

But lots of funny little things start happening and this is where author Andrews does her thing and the magic begins. Their lot is not in the big, unfriendly, cold New York we usually think of. This is a microcosm, a little neighborhood with quirky, inquisitive, friendly people who are just, well, neighborly. Except of course for those Brody brothers whose competitive mischief is more like vandalism. This neighborhood is made up of a variety of diverse, interesting folks who have the holiday spirit, a sense of community and want to help Kerry and Murphy. She’s still cold most of the time, Murphy is often a disgruntled handful and sleeping comfort is non-existent, but Kerry is beginning to enjoy her daily interactions with the people she’s just met. Everybody in this little neighborhood knows Murphy and actually likes him. To say he becomes charming would be an overstatement, but he is different at times. He’s made arrangements for food and showers and Kerry falls into the routine.

And the inconsiderate Mercedes driver? Turns out he’s a very attractive, very nice, recently divorced man with a six-year-old son. Both father and son are smitten with Kerry from the start. She’s powerfully attracted to Patrick as well, and Austin is sweet, precocious and adorable. Everything about this place feels good, is starting to feel so comfortable, like home. Or a home she would like to have. Her good memories from the past are resurfacing and she’s making wonderful new memories. People who feel like old friends, not people she’s just met. Patrick and Austin, of course, but also Claudia and Taryn and Heinz, an old, mysterious man who is private and aloof, doesn’t hold back his opinions about Kerry’s artistic talent and many others – the draw to stay here is strong. But she can’t just set up an easel on the corner and start painting. Where will she live? Work? This is New York City after all.

In Bright Lights, Big Christmas Mary Kay Andrews does again what she does best: gives us a charming, enchanting well-written, perfectly paced, satisfying story. In her books things almost always work out, and that’s the beauty of it. You can’t predict how it’s going to happen but you get a warm feeling from the start that just continues until the last page, where you sigh contentedly, and then immediately look for another book from this fabulous author to soothe your heart.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Bright Lights, Big Christmas via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. A definite pleasure that I recommend. I leave this review voluntarily; all opinions are my own.

Oh how I wish I read this one closer to the holidays it was the perfect escape. Heartwarming and a little slow burn . I’m never disappointed in MKA.