In the mood for a little Christmas? Yes, I know we haven’t even done Halloween yet, but the publishing industry waits for no man or woman . . . well, maybe Stephen King. 😉 Anyway, as they say, it will be here before you know it and you may as well have a few lovely seasonal reads ready. Annie Rains’ Through the Snow Globe is definitely one of those and it also happens to be the author’s first women’s fiction novel.
Blurb: What if you could have one more day with someone you lost?
Diana Merriman, a physical therapist, is probably the only person in the small town of Snow Haven, North Carolina, who isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé Linus was critically injured when a car hit him as he biked home from the toy store he owns and manages. Watching him open his eyes is the only gift she wants, but she can’t help losing a little more hope every day.
But an unexpected visit from a friendly neighbor and finding a snow globe of Snow Haven—a gift Linus had hidden in the closet—the night before Christmas Eve changes things in ways Diana never would have imagined. Because on Christmas Eve Diana wakes up to find that it’s not—Christmas Eve, that is. Instead, it’s somehow December 4 all over again, the day Linus got hurt, and as mystified as Diana is, she immediately starts a plan to save her partner from his fate.
Nothing is that simple, of course. Instead of a single repeat of that day, Diana finds herself in an endless loop of December 4, experiencing every possible variation of events. Along the way, she uncovers startling truths about herself, her relationship, and even her career that illustrate the ways she’s retreated from her life—and in the face of life’s slights and outright blows, from her deepest feelings. Suddenly hope is second only to joy as Diana opens her heart to the people she loves in every way she can.
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Bookshop.org (support your local bookstore)
By now, you’ve probably seen or read dozens of iterations of Groundhog Day that marvelous Bill Murray/Andie MacDowell movie in which weathercaster, Phil, lives the same day over and over until he finally gets it right. In Annie Rains’ heartfelt new novel, Through the Snow Globe, Diana Merriman, an emotionally contained physical therapist, makes a wish on an enchanted snow globe to spend one last day with her fiancé, Linus, who is not expected to recover after being struck while on his bike. Unexpectedly for Diana, that one day, the day that Linus gets injured, begins to play on repeat with Diana evolving with each new passing.
Facts about my reading this novel:
- I read it in one evening. I couldn’t put it down.
- I initially disliked Diana who couldn’t see how closed off she was from everyone else nor how abrupt.
- I wondered what Linus saw in Diana.
- I smiled.
- I loved the magic.
- I loved how Diana changed and moved into her emotions, the good and the bad.
- I imagined Linus as Ted from Schitt’s Creek, the affable sweet vet.
- I cried. Literally.
- When I finished, I thought what a wonderful read this was and how Annie Rains had put her own spin on the trope of the repeated day and how well it had worked in allowing Diana to change and become a realized person.
- Magic is all around, if we just let it in.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for sending me a copy.
