The story itself is very heavy on the narration, light on dialogue and action. As a result, it's hard to develop a connection to the characters and the plot drags on pretty unnecessarily. Yes, there are some heavy elements in the story, but the lighthearted Christmas season and emerging relationships are overshadowed with the narration, which is a shame because there was potential here.

Overall: 2 stars (It was fine)

I'll tell my students about: parental death (past tense), language, violence, alcohol. LGBT+

**Thank you to NetGalley & HarperVia for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

I love cozy mysteries, but this didn’t come off as one for me. There’s lots of detailed descriptions and not enough plot. The first 100 pages is introducing a bunch of people and I had a hard time following who each person was after a while.
What was Pia Ps purpose? I spent a lot of time wondering is Vegard was swindling money. I felt there were too many people and I never felt a connection to any of them.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I just could not get into this one. Part of me just didn’t care about the lodge/setting/characters. It was very slow and quite monotonous

Thank you to NetGalley and to HarperVia publishing for the ARC of Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge by Kjersti Herland Johnsen.

Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. I saw it listed under Mystery & Thrillers & Romance and thought the description lent itself to an active story but at 20% of the way through still nothing had happened in the book. And it was the same at 50% and 80%...it was more or less about the daily running of a struggling inn in the Norwegian mountains. The mystery, the accident, secrets, confessions, etc. none of them are real - the characters tell you about them upfront or the strands of each piece are waved in front of the reader to the point where you can immediately infer what happened - the larger thing is just when characters choose to communicate them to other people, which they do after reflection and with thoughtfulness. The romance aspect is non-existent - yes, Ingrid has two men visit her in this time, but one she has no interest in, and the other feels so cookie-cutter/cardboard that it didn't really register for me. When I think "utlimate feel-good holiday treat" I can respect the Hallmark-esque storyline but this was even more watered down than Hallmark plots. At no point do the stakes seem high - Ingrid fully acknowledges people want to buy the hotel and she has job offers on three continents. The complications happening with the aging hotel and cancelled reservations can easily be thwarted by having musicians and influencers featuring the hotel for non-locals. I mean...no one even realized there was anyone trying to sabotage people coming to the hotel, they just thought the hotel was old. Just, everything has a very reasonable answer or explanation to it so there never feels like there is a conflict or issue at any point in the story.

Maybe there were just too many strands and too much of a commitment to the advent calendar 24 chapter bit? I think something simplified like Ingrid facing her fears for climbing and falling in love would have stood much stronger than the current iteration.

Oh my gosh! I loved this so much! Hallmark Christmas movies are my favorite and this was like reading one. So cute. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge is a low stakes, cheesy, cozy Hallmark movie. It's more descriptions and setting and background than it is plot, so it moves slowly. But set up in an interesting way where you could read one chapter per day up until Christmas. That might be the best way to go about it, actually. I can appreciate a little mystery without the typical horror/thriller vibes, but I still need a little more plot to keep me interested. Bonus points for the recipes at the end because all the talk of food made me hungry and now I not only know what these Norwegian dishes are, but also how to make them.

Not even the backdrop of a snowy Norwegian lodge could help this book be more than mediocre for me. Very Hallmark movie-esque, with too much lengthy description, not enough plot.

Thank you to Harpervia and Kjersti Herland Johnsen for the opportunity to read this ARC**

I loved the lay out of the book, with 24 chapters, each a different day leading up to Christmas. If you love Hallmark Christmas movies this story is for you. It’s a cute mystery without all the gore and crime.

If you’re looking for a book with dialogue and action, this is not the book for you. I personally could not finish it… it was pages and pages of backstory and description with nothing much actually happening. I was intrigued by the unique chapter divisions by date and the premise— I love a good cheesy Hallmark movie— but I felt like more needed to happen.