Underneath The Christmas Tree – Heidi Swain [SPOILERS]

Our Twelth and final #TsundokuSquad book of the year was ‘Underneath The Christmas Tree’ by Heidi Swain. As usual we split the book into parts and discussed as a group on Saturday evenings.

Synopsis:

Wynter’s Trees is the home of Christmas. For the people of Wynmouth it’s where they get their family Christmas tree, and where Christmas truly comes to life. 

But for Liza Wynter, it’s a millstone around her neck. It was her father’s pride and joy but now he’s gone, she can’t have anything to do with it. Until her father’s business partner decides to retire and she must go back to handle the transition to his son Ned. 

When Liza arrives, she discovers a much-loved business that’s flourishing under Ned’s stewardship. And she’s happy to stay and help for the Christmas season, but then she has other plans. But will the place where she grew up make her change her mind? And can it weave its Christmas cheer around her heart…? 

Underneath the Christmas Tree is the perfect festive read, promising snowfall, warm fires and breath-taking seasonal romance. Perfect for fans of Milly Johnson, Carole Matthews and Cathy Bramley.

Week 1

So for the ones of us who have read the first book, we loved re-meeting the characters from first book again, particularly Hope.

But for anyone who hasn’t read the first one, it doesn’t take away from the experience of this one.

I love that we kinda what will happen, that’s the beauty of these types of books, but we enjoy the journey of getting there.

We are intrigued to know what Liza’s running away from, other than the memories of her dad. The memories must be hard.

We have noticed lovely little cameos from previous characters. The communities/settings she creates are so idyllic and cosy!

We are loving the sound of the Christmas tree plantation and the inevitable chemistry

Our ratings for this week are all 5/5, and our words are as below

Week 2

We are all enjoying this one still. It has heaps of emotion with the decorations and we feel truly awful for Liza carrying around that guilt of her dads death.

We think there’ll be more to the tree switch than it first appeared.

We don’t want Ned to be with Maya, she sounds nice but I’m not sure.

We are all 5/5 ratings still this week except for one person at a 4/5. Our words for this week are as below.

Week 3/Final Week

Most of us (all but two) absolutely loved it and gave it a 5/5.

We felt it was the perfect cosy Christmas read, with a hefty amount of emotion. We loved all the characters, specifically Liza and Ned as a pair and are so pleased they ended up together (as we thought they would).

As always with Heidi’s books there is a great community sprit and the solstice celebration was so magical. What a perfect way to spend Christmas in Wynmouth.

The two that didn’t enjoy it as much were the two who don’t normally necessarily enjoy this type of genre but gave it a good go. They both ended up rating a 3/5.

So to recap we have two people on a 3/5 and the rest (7 of us) on a 5/5. Our words are as below.

Our overall group rating: 4.5/5

My individual rating: 5/5

You may love this book, you may hate this book – the only way to find out is to read it (if you want!).

We hope you check out our 2022 book club picks!