Book Review: Winter at Cedarwood Lodge by Rebecca Raisin
I had previously read a Rebecca Raisin book (more of a novella really), Celebrations and Confetti at Cedarwood Lodge, and hadn’t really liked it. I thought, however, I’d give her another chance and requested this book from net-galley. The book had good ratings and, let’s be honest, it has a pretty cover that led me into temptation.
A few pages in and everything was sounding oddly familiar. I clicked on Celebrations and Confetti on my ereader and, sure enough, it was the same story. Celebrations and Confetti is a novella, which was a part one of three. A quick check on Goodreads confirmed two parts had been subsequently published (Brides and Bouquets at Cedarwood Lodge and Midnight and Mistletoe at Cedarwood Lodge). It seems that Winter at Cedarwood Lodge is all three parts together.
So, warning for those paying, don’t buy this if you’ve read all three parts as separate editions. (I must note that Goodreads lists it as the fourth installment of the series but it is definitely the other three re-released as one complete novel. It claims to have ‘bonus material’ but to purchase it for that reason alone, you’d have to be a big fan.)
Although I had said in my previous review that I was in no mad rush to find out what happened in the next part, I thought I might as well give it another chance (as I’d planned to give Raisin originally). Some people have noted in their reviews that they’d preferred reading the book in its entirety.
So I figured out where the first part ended and read on. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too far. Pretty much everything that annoyed me about Celebrations and Confetti continued to annoy me, but this time it didn’t have the brevity of a novella to hide behind. The novella’s distinct lack of plot is highlighted even further with the full length version.
Nothing really happens. Well, actually, our heroine thinks about potential new boyfriends (the Australian love interest is somehow the most boring character ever written), wonders at what happened with her mother at Cedarwood Lodge, thinks about how nice her friends are, renovates the lodge, and plans weddings. It’s the last one that is covered the most.
Yes, if you really want to read chapter after chapter devoted to wedding planning, this is the book for you.
After a while, I kept thinking about my TBR pile, and transferred Winter at Cedarwood Lodge into the DNF pile. Sorry, Rebecca.
1 out of 5
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