Twelve Slays of Christmas - Christmas Cozy Review

Goodreads:  Twelve Slays of Christmas (A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #1) by Jacqueline Frost

Rating:  Really Liked It!
Source:   Library

Description:  When Holly White's fiance cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime--exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society Margaret Fenwick is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly's family tree farm.

When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly's father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn't help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father, and is determined to exonerate him.The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn't watch out, she'll end up on Santa's naughty list.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:   I've been wanting to read a Christmas cozy and I've heard great things about this series.

My Impression: This was such a fun start to a cozy series!  It's hard to get more Christmas-y then a Christmas tree farm in December in a town named Mistletoe.  Holly is a likable main character.  Her curiosity and her concern for her family's financial well being felt very natural.  As well, her reaction to finding a dead body and her concern when she was threatened both for herself and for her family feel realistic without tipping into melodramatic.  I loved Reindeer Games and all the staff - especially Cookie and Holly's parents.  Though all the treats mentioned had me craving holiday themed sweets!

This is the first in the series and Holly is going through some major life changes so there is a lot of setup and explanation but it never felt bulky or slow paced.  In fact, in fact like I was getting to know a delightful group of people and the town they live in as well as getting to learn all the traditions of Mistletoe.  If this was a real place I would absolutely love to visit it during the Christmas season though I'm not sure how well I would dealt with all the snow.  

My only minor issue was that because there are a number of characters that we are being introduced to it took me a minute sometime to remember who a particular character was.  This only happened a time or two and I don't expect it to be an issue in future books.  I'm so excited to see where this series goes and to spend more time with the characters.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I'm already looking forward to reading the 2nd book.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you enjoy holiday cozies this is a series I think you'd enjoy!  The audio was absolutely fantastic if you'd prefer to go audio book.