As a dedicated fan of the series, I eagerly anticipated diving into Holly's World , but unfortunately, this installment fell short of my expectations.

The story revolves around innkeeper Holly White, whose cozy Christmas plans in Mistletoe, Maine, take a dark turn when the lead ballerina of the state's ballet company is found dead during the annual parade. As Holly delves into the mystery, uncovering secrets and potential suspects, she finds herself in a race against time to solve the case before Christmas and her upcoming wedding.

While the festive setting and familiar characters were enjoyable, certain aspects of the plot were disappointingly obvious. The main character's tendency to take unnecessary risks, especially considering her impending marriage, felt out of place and detracted from the suspense. This, coupled with some predictable elements, left me wanting more depth and complexity in the storyline.

As a fan, I also couldn't help but worry about the direction of the series. The resolution of this mystery fell flat, and Holly's decisions at the end left me concerned about the future dynamics of the books. With many cozy mysteries concluding or losing their charm after the main character's marriage, I hope future installments will maintain the series' appeal and see Holly taking her investigations more seriously.

Despite these criticisms, "Mistletoe Murder" still earns four stars for its festive atmosphere, engaging writing style, and the potential it holds for future developments. Here's hoping that the next book brings back the magic and intrigue that initially drew me to this cozy mystery series.

Awesome narrator did the perfect pitch and tone for each character making this story even more enjoyable!

Book four finds Holly White, innkeeper, jewelry artisan, and bride to be, in the thick of the Christmas season and knee deep in wedding plans, so surely she can find time to squeeze in a little sleuthing on the side when an Inn guest dies. The town is hopping this holiday season, in addition to the usual overwhelming influx of visitors, the mayor has arranged for a ballet company to perform the Nutcracker, stretching the police force even thinner than usual. This means that Holly’s finance Evan, aka the sheriff, is on crowd control in addition to getting prepped for the wedding and then1st there’s a murder. Everyone knows that Holly can’t resist a mystery, especially when Tiffany the dead prima ballerina, was a guest at her Inn so it is no secret that Holly is asking questions. Questions for the ballet coach, questions for the other ballerinas, questions for an elusive blogger named Courtney, she is even asking elusive Libby, Evan’s sister questions (not related to the murder). Libby is acting strange, wearing wigs, being skittish, she even broke up with her boyfriend. What is that all about? Holly has her hands full and will need to enlist the help of her friends if she is going to get Christmas cards mailed, donated gifts wrapped, reception decorations made, and murder solved. As with the previous Christmas Tree Farm mysteries, this is a stand-alone that stands out not only because of the expertly crafted plot but because these characters are genuine and draw you in as you turn each page. The other thing that draws me in with this series are the amazing sweets. Holly tells Libby that all you need is slice of peppermint pie to get people to talk, after finding a recipe and making one for myself, I have to agree that I would spill the tea for a piece of that pie. Looking forward to book five!

This is such a fun and well written series!! I love the setting of Mistletoe, Maine, and I love following Holly White. The mystery was so fun and well paced. I can't recommend this cozy series enough!

Great world building and a fun pair of mysteries. Visiting Mistletoe was a lot of fun. I thought the investigation into the murder went on a bit too long. I got a little bored in the middle when it seemed like we were looking into everyone in town, but the reindeer games and the wedding planning kept me interested enough to finish. I listened to this and Allyson Ryan's narration was ok, but not my favorite. Her reading pace seemed very slow and her words almost overly annunciated. I would recommend listening to a sample before purchasing or speeding up the narration to 1.5 or so.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listener's copy.

I want to start off by thanking Netgalley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the wonderful opportunity of ARC reading this book, with that being said this review is my honest opinion:

Stalking Around the Christmas Tree was a book I was excited to read until I started reading it. The concept of the book was really good but the execution fell flat for me. I am rating this 2 stars because while I did not enjoy it, i didnt hate it either and would definitely still reccomend for others.

As the 4th installment in this series, I was not disappointed in this addition. The format of the book follows those previous in the series. A murder and Holly feels the need to investigate. Resulting in her receiving threats from the murderer to attempt to scare her away from finding the truth. I liked the way this wrapped up and the ending! Overall, a great cozy mystery for the holidays! The narrator did great as usual!

This was a sweet, cozy mystery. I did enjoy the little town and the setting in general. I liked listening to this on audio. I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen and which ballet dancer to trust. I didn’t find this one memorable and it was far fetched at times. I didn’t read the first book in the series. Not sure if I would have enjoyed it a bit more if I did. It still fulfilled a holiday mystery that I was craving all in all.

3.5⭐️

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my copy of Stalking Around the Christmas Tree by Jacqueline Frost Narrated by Allyson Ryan in exchange for an honest review. It published October 17, 2023.
As always, Allyson Ryan does a wonderful job narrating this series!
Another great installment in this series, I just have to say that I love how the characters develop and that their lives change and progress, rather than stay stagnant in their relationships. I love the Reindeer Games, and Cookie is a hoot! I'll be waiting for the next one!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a fun holiday mystery! Loved the setting. I haven't read anything else in this series before and while I was ok reading it as a standalone, it piqued my interest and I will probably be going back to read the others. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing in this one. The narrator did a great job as well.

For the fourth consecutive year, the holidays in Mistletoe, Maine don't just bring snow and cheer. Instead, they come with a side of suspense and murder, as Jacqueline Frost delivers a new seasonal “whodunit” in “Stalking Around the Christmas Tree”, weaving a tale of yuletide crimes set amidst the cozy charm of Reindeer Games Inn and the enchanting spirit of Christmas.

In this new installment, innkeeper Holly White finds herself once again at the center of a seasonal crime scene. With Christmas in full swing at Reindeer Games Inn and her wedding to Sheriff Evan Gray around the corner, Holly's jolly spirits take a nosedive when the lead ballerina, Tiffany, is discovered dead on a parade float, donning the Rat King's mask. The town's holiday cheer is marred by this tragedy, and Holly takes it upon herself to unveil the killer before Christmas loses its sparkle. Allyson Ryan’s narration goes to amplify the story's charm, adding an extra layer of enjoyment, perfectly capturing the festive essence and pacing the narrative flawlessly. All in all, "Stalking Around the Christmas Tree" continues the tradition of Frost's Christmas Tree Farm mystery series, offering a delightful holiday-themed seasonal murder mystery.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads! #StalkingAroundtheChristmasTree #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning

I enjoy this series. The mystery kept me guessing and I like the characters. Things move forward in each book.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, the narrator and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review

The Christmas Tree Farm Mystery series is one of my favorite cozy series. Mistletoe, Maine is such a wonderful small town, which an unfortunate holiday murder in each of the last 4 years. As with the other ones in this series there are some mishaps and of course Holly can't help herself and has to get involved. I love her relationship with the sheriff and how he doesn't completely shut her down.

There are two mysteries in this one, the dead ballet dancer, and what is going on with Evan's sister. They were woven together nicely. The setting is fantastic and I cannot recommend this cozy series enough!

Holly White is back and there is a new murder in Mistletoe. This year is special because Holly is finally marrying her long time boyfriend Evan. We as the reader have been there from the beginning so this is a long time coming.

This year a visiting ballerina is killed and all signs point to a stalker. As always Holly sticks her nose where it doesn't belong and becomes obsessed with solving this crime. Thankfully she does, because if not for Holly, none of these murders from the past few years would have been solved.

I loved this book.I loved the audio- the narrator brings Mistletoe and all its fun characters to life.

I read the initial book in this series, Twelve Slays of Christmas, and was not a fan. We still reference the "a woman couldn't carry 4 8 lb sticks so a man has to be the murderer" line all the time. I thought I'd give the series another try with the 4th book.

Unfortunately, Holly is still rude and obnoxious. She interrupts both a live television taping and a performance of The Nutcracker by exiting the venues in the middle of the performances. She's a bull in a china shop when it comes to her "investigating." She even tells a suspect that she needs to get to the bottom of things so it can be wrapped up before her wedding. Because you know, she's the fiancée of the sheriff so that totally gives her jurisdiction.

On the plus side, there is a lot of Christmas.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, Dreamscape Media, and NetGallery for the advanced reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

If you want something that is somehow cozy, sweet, suspenseful, and leaves you chomping at the bit for more, then grab this one! I listened to the audio version and loved the narration. A great switch-up from the usual Christmas rom-coms.
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This series never fails to put me in the Christmas mood! I love these characters and the setting and thought the setup of the mystery in this book was interesting. However, there were quite a few comments about not wanting to eat pie or something in order to fit into a wedding dress and that just felt unnecessary. Also, there was one part of the mystery that was so obvious from the beginner and I was just waiting for Holly to come to the right conclusion. The fact that the idea never even crossed her mind was frustrating as the reader. In the end, this was fun and I love all of the romances!

A good little Christmas mystery, I only realized after I had started this one that I read the first book in this series back in 2020 but we all know how our memories of that year were.

I enjoyed this one I would like to go back and read the previous books again just to remember who everyone was.

I would recommend this series but start at the beginning!

Narrated by Allyson Ryan who did a good job at the narration.

3 1/2 stars

I received this audiobook from the publisher Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

I'm really sorry, but I tried listening to this audioARC on three separate occasions, and I just found the narrator's voice like nails on a blackboard when she was reading about the interactions between several characters. It was fine when just reading the text neutrally, but as soon as she started to try to differentiate between two or three characters in a passage of dialogue it sounded very loud and discordant.

I'm really sorry. I couldn't finish listening to the audioARC as a result.

"Stalking Around the Christmas Tree" is the fourth novel in the Christmas Tree Farms mystery series by Jacqueline Frost. I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook version of this novel, as I did for two of the previous three in the series. As in the other books, this novel is set in Mistletoe, Maine, a very Christmas-y town, that seems to have a murder happen every recent Christmas. Holly White, who runs the inn on her parents' Christmas Tree Farm in Mistletoe, once again finds herself close to the scene of the crime and looking into potential suspects.

This novel, like the others in the series, is well written and has a charming cast of main characters. Also like the other books in the series, I did not find the secondary characters to be very well developed. I also found the "plot twists" of this novel fairly easy to predict, and I was waiting for a twist-to-a-twist to really surprise me, but that did not happen.

This series combines the genres of cozy mystery and romance, so if you are a fan of either or both of these genres, you will probably love this book. I do adore novels about interesting characters in small, quirky towns, so I enjoyed those aspects of this series. This particular novel had a lot of fairytale-wedding discussions, which I found a bit lengthy and slow-paced, but again, fans of romance novels will likely appreciate the details.

Once again, the audiobook was expertly narrated by Allyson Ryan. She has a great command of these characters and kept the story flowing well.

Overall, I give this novel a rating of 3.25 out of 5 stars, but it would probably be closer to 4 stars on the Romance Genra chart.

Thank you to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for the complimentary audio book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this fourth return to Mistletoe, Maine and it's wonderfully charming inhabitants especially sheriff Evan Grey and his resident sleuth and fiancée Holly White. I have loved this cozy mystery series by Jacqueline Frost, a christmassy pseudonym for mystery writer @julieannelindsey . This year there are not just reindeer games, parades and Christmas themed goodies - there is also a Christmas wedding on the horizon but than one of the ballerinas from the nutcracker ballet winds up dead on the parade float in her very own snowglobe. The competitive world of ballet ensembles takes center stage as Holly and her sheriff try to solve the murder before their Christmas wedding.
The plot was well done and the writing was fun and snappy. The book has all the Christmas elements that make books like this one so fun, there are yummy sounding Christmas treats, Christmas crafts and games, Christmas songs, lots of snow and of course Christmas trees !