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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Pete Thomas’s The Christmas Will, John Roberts Jenkins has spent his life believing his father died in World War I. Then James Thompson, a Missouri attorney, finds proof that his father was John Roberts, the late owner of JR’s Department Store in Poplar Bluff. Brought there under a cover story before a Christmas Day will reading, John enters a town where strangers know his father’s name while he knows almost nothing about the man himself. Sarah Johnson, John Roberts' longtime business partner, is asked to guide him through the store his father built. On the train to Poplar Bluff, John meets Judy Martin, a trained accountant whose first days in town begin alongside his own uncertain place inside the store. As Christmas approaches, John must step into a family, a business, and a legacy that have been waiting for him.
What a Christmas miracle! Pete Thomas’s The Christmas Will introduces a Christmas inheritance family story that is extremely thoughtful and does an excellent job of taking us into the lives of everyone in the story. As much as I appreciate John the younger as a lead, the most fascinating characters for me are the women. As John Roberts dies, it is Sarah Johnson, his longtime store manager and later-life love, who stays beside him, and it's Gail who raises a son alone after wartime reports told her John had died. I love Judy and had a bit of a chuckle when she meets John, and not knowing he is massively wealthy, she speaks plainly to him about how their dating might affect her job. The historical details are pitch-perfect, and being ensconced in early mid-century America was wonderful. Well written and immersive, readers who enjoy holiday family fiction will adore this book, as I certainly have. Very highly recommended.
