Christmas is more than just a celebration for Lauren Montgomery. For generations, it’s been her family’s livelihood. Their Christmas shop, Razzle Dazzle Décor, has seen seasonal fads come and go, but there’s one trend they can’t escape. Online superstores are swallowing their sales, and this Christmas season will need to be their best ever if the store is to stay in business.
To help keep the shop afloat, Lauren also has a sideline, writing biographies for business figures. She’s thrilled when her literary agent contacts her with a new proposal—before learning that the subject will be none other than John Gerald Giompalo. He’s the titan behind Globalgoods.com, the online retailer that has spelled doom for hundreds of small businesses just like Razzle Dazzle Décor. Despite her misgivings, Lauren travels to Seattle to confer with the mogul and is caught off guard when his son, John Jr., attends the meeting too. Handsome, intelligent, and deeply kind, he’s perfect—apart from the fact that he’s part of the company threatening everything Lauren loves.
As her deadline, and Christmas, draw closer, Lauren knows that there’s more than her family’s shop at stake. Her heart is, too. But there’s no better time than the holidays to make a secret wish on the brightest star you see—and let the season’s magic take hold.
Title: The Brightest Star
Series:
Author: Fern Michaels
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Published: September 29, 2020
Publisher: Kensington Books
My Rating: 3 stars
The Brightest Star mixes today’s shopping/selling technology with those small independent shops that, for one reason or another, have not hopped onto the online purchase bandwagon and are paying the price for that decision is lowered sales and an uncertain business future.
Lauren writes biographies, and she’s quite good at it. She’s been offered the chance to write a very famous businessman’s story, yet that man and his online shopping dynasty are the very reason she left Florida to return home to help her parents in their small specialty shop when her father became unable to run the shop. It’s hard to turn down the offer for several reasons, yet Lauren eventually goes to the meeting and discovers that love strikes unexpectedly when she meets the man’s son and an almost instant attraction sparks between them.
The Brightest Star is a good book. There were parts where I had some serious (for me) issues – yet to go into those issues would definitely involve spoilers so I’m simply going to leave it alone. It’s one of those times when I enjoyed most of a story but those sticky issues often took me so far out of the story that it became annoying. Yet what one person simply likes another person would love, so the final decision should be up to you. I’ve read Fern Michaels’ work for years, so I’ll look forward to the next book.
*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Kensington Books via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*
Available in hardcover, audio, or your favorite e-reader, mine is the Kindle.
