The Night Before Christmas

Butternut Lake #2.5

by Mary McNear

You're invited to Christmas at Butternut Lake! New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary McNear, author of Up at Butternut Lake and Butternut Summer, takes us home for the holidays in this joyful novella.

Butternut Lake is so beautiful at Christmas—from the delightfully decorated shops, to the cozy homes with their twinkling lights outside, to the lake itself. And this year so much is happening!

A Caroline meticulously plans her perfect Christmastime dream wedding to Jack, remarrying him after many years apart.

A Allie and Walker are expecting the best Christmas gift of all—their first baby together.

A Daisy, Caroline and Jack's daughter, is returning home after a long semester away at college.

But what's Christmas without complications? Walker smothers Allie with worry; Daisy pines for her true love, Will, away in the army. And then the unthinkable happens—and Caroline's wedding plans are ruined.

And just when it seems all is lost, the people of Butternut Lake come together to give their friends the greatest gifts of all. . . .

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Holiday, Romance, Contemporary

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2014

About the author

Mary McNear is the author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Up at Butternut Lake, published by HarperCollins. Up at Butternut Lake was the first book in the Butternut Lake series. The second Book, Butternut Summer, is now available. The third novel in the Butternut Lake trilogy, Moonlight on Butternut Lake, will be published in May 2015. A novella, Butternut Lake: The Night Before Christmas, was available in ebook form on December 9, 2014. The third book in the series, Moonlight on Butternut Lake, was published in May 2015. The fourth Butternut Lake novel, The Space Between Sisters, is due out June 2016.

Mary McNear lives in San Francisco with her husband, two teenage children, and a high-strung minuscule white dog named Macaroon. She writes her novels at a local doughnut shop, where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life, and tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly made doughnuts. She bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a lake in the northern Midwest.

She can be found on Facebook at MaryMcNearAuthor

Reviews

[Mary Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took about 15 minutes to read this very little book. Think it should have been included as an epilogue chapter in Butternut Summer instead of being a separate volume.

[Katy O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely novella that gave me more of the characters I love. Short and sweet!

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute

But not long enough! Nice to see that everyone can get their HEA. Hopefully we'll see more of daisy and will.

[January · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butternut Lake: The Night Before Christmas by Mary McNear 112 pages Kindle
Butternut Lake #2.5

Genre: Holiday > Christmas; Romance > Contemporary Romance

Featuring: Minnesota, Turkey Wattle, Wedding Planning, Harry Potter, Pregnancy, Stoneybrook Drama

Rating as a movie:

Songs for the soundtrack: "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole,

My rating: ⭐️⭐️½

My thoughts: 🔖43% Ch.5 - You can easily read this story in one sitting, I'm only stopping to make lunch. The timeline is off again but I'm going to ignore it. This book features all of the characters from the last 2 books and it seems to be ultralight as none of the issues are deep. I beginning to think I just don't like Daisy. This is another ebook without page numbers, Location 588 of 1379 🙄😒

Meh. I will say I'm not happy about this book ending at 78% it's already short so I felt gypped. The story itself was missing a lot of parts, even for a novella. I was promised a baby and she half delivered on that. I'm happy to note I will be ending the series with the next book, this was supposed to be a trilogy and it turned into 6.5 books, so far the first book is the only one I've enjoyed. I considered stopping here but the next book features Walker's brother Reid and I've been waiting for that coupling so I'll finish what I started.

Recommend to others?: IDK. It's not exactly skippable since important stuff happens but since the entire plot of this book can be wrapped up in a sentence, I'm betting it is within the next book.

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet little Christmas themed novella.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - looking forward to the next book in the Butternut Lake series!

[Ilse · Rating 5 out of 5]

de 2 eerste delen van deze serie, zijn in het nederlands vertaald. Helaas zijn er geen plannen om ook de andere boeken te vertalen. Dus dan maar even beslist om deze in het Engels te lezen.
En daar heb ik geen spijt van.
Lezen in het Engels vraagt net iets meer concentratie en rust om mijn hoofd, maar dit boek was het zeker en vast waard. Voordien bleef ik toch wat op mijn honger zitten over wat er nu verder nog gebeurde.

Ga ik de andere delen ook lezen in het Engels? voorlopig alvast niet. Voor mij is een deel van dit verhaal nu afgerond, verder lezen zou een nieuw deel zijn, met nieuwe peronages in een bekende streek. En ik wil nog zoveel mooie boeken lezen. dus misschien ooit (maar dan liefst in het nederlands ;) )

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sweet, short, heartwarming story. I might be biased because I just love the Butternut Lake series but I just fall more in awe of the place with each book I read in the series. I loved this story; second chances are wonderful when they turn out like this. It is nice to lose yourself in a book and that is what I did with this novella. I read it in one sitting, could not put it down. It was so nice to have all the characters from the first book featured. Everything wasn't peaches and cream, there were a few little twists that had to be overcome. Nice Christmas story and it left me smiling.

[Claire Mc Partlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read the rest of this series, but I really enjoyed this short story and the characters and will now be going back to read the rest of the series.

This is set right before Christmas and involved a wedding, a baby and a reunion. All the characters sounded like ones I'd like to read more about, and Butternut Lake sounded a lovely place, especially around Christmas.

A very enjoyable short read.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great addition to the Butternut Lake Series! It is always a pleasure to get a little story from the characters that we are introduced to throughout a series. This book only adds to the story and you would benefit the best reading from the beginning of the series. Quick novella that adds a little more love to the series.

[Genna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another cute story in the Butternut Lake series. This one lacked depth to what I think could have been a much more detailed love story. A quick read, doesn't refer to Christmas much other than the wedding is taking place on Christmas Eve.

[Robert Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

BUTTERNUT LAKE: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

EVERYONE GETS TOGETHER AT BUTTERNUT LAKE AND NO ONE KNOWS THE FINAL OUTCOME. IT'S AS BIG AS A LAKE. I ENJOYED READING MARY MCNEAR'S NOVELLA BUTTERNUT: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS BECAUSE NO ONE EVER EXPLAINED A BETTER NIGHT.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but good

Great catching up with my favorite characters.
This was a ute book to get you in the holiday spirit just too short for my taste.

[Bookwormx2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant read

It was cozy light reading. Not much substance but sometimes cozy light is just fine. Love seeing more of the characters.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is quite a bit packed into this little book. If you're reading the Butternut Lake series, be sure not to skip this one.

[Deann Doolittle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good little read. Love my Butternut Lake friends!

[angela yargus · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd Chances are rare!

The author knows how to make her readers hold their breath...
Love this story too!
Gotta run! Got the next book to start!

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lite småmysig, med typiska julinslag (bebis, bröllop, kärlek och mat). Alldeles lagom lång med sina 80 sidor 😂

[Joann M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminder of all the lovely people in this cute lake town

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little interlude.

[Marilyn Renaudin · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful story

This is a warm heartfelt tale that you can take with you after you finish reading. Truly a delightful love story.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cozy & quick read, perfect for December.

[Deborah R Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good beginning

To short love to read more of this trilogy. Will look for more. Intriguing story! Hope to see the whole set.

[Ruth McEachern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read but just a novella to join the other books together

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Christmas story. An easy read during the busy holiday season.

[Libby Millar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet though maybe not super memorable book to read during the holidays.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

This particular night before Christmas is a holiday story about sharing the joy of the season with the family you make. It's also a love story that is mostly about what happens after the happily ever after.

In the first two books of the Butternut Lake series (Up at Butternut Lake and Butternut Summer) we saw the women who formed a Girl's Night Out group all find, or cement, or re-forge, the relationships with the men in their lives.

Although the side-stories are about Jax and Jeremy finding a way to continue their marriage past the revelation of a long-past lie, the focus in the series has been on Allie and Caroline.

In Up at Butternut Lake, Allie returns to her childhood home at Butternut with her young son in order to start a new life for herself after the death in combat of her husband. She finds a new life and new love with Walker Ford, the new owner of the local customized boat (and sometimes yacht) store. By this particular Christmas, Allie and Walker are expecting their first child together. But as much as Walker longs for this child, he can't get past the tragedy of his first wife's miscarriage and the subsequent death of their marriage. He is smothering Allie out of fear that if he doesn't take care of each tiny detail, something will happen to the baby - again.

In Butternut Summer (reviewed here), Caroline discovers that her ex-husband is not the gambling, cheating alcoholic that she divorced 18 years ago. Jack has stopped gambling, he's certain that he will never cheat again, and he's been clean and sober for two years. He comes back to Butternut in the hopes of establishing a new relationship with their daughter Daisy, and with a tentative prayer that he has a chance with Caroline again. At this particular Christmas, Jack and Caroline are planning to marry each other - again. But this time Caroline gets to plan the wedding she wants, and she's nervous but having the time of her life.

Jack and Caroline's daughter Daisy is home from college for the holidays, and to be her parents' maid of honor and best woman. It's not every child of divorced parents that is able to realize the dream of her parents getting back together. In many cases, it's a downright bad idea, but for Jack and Caroline, it is finally right.

But in the midst of all this love and happiness, Daisy is pining for her own love, away in the Army.

In this holiday season, everything finally manages to work itself out the way it should, but not until after Murphy's Law throws a big monkey wrench into everyone's plans for a festive holiday and wedding celebration.

Escape Rating B+: I enjoyed this holiday story so much because I read the first two books and was familiar with all the characters - and all the reasons why their particular love stories were so deserving of happy endings. I don't think that coming into this one cold (so to speak) would get half as much pleasure out of the resolutions to the various issues.

The story is wrapped around Caroline planning for her wedding. While she is not obsessed, and certainly never strays into BrideZilla territory, she really does have her heart set on a real ceremony and reception with all their friends and getting everything just so, even if a bit scaled down for a small town AND the second-time around with the same guy. Their first wedding was a registry ceremony and no family. She's determined that this one be better - that it feel permanent because this time it is.

When the hall they have reserved suffers fire damage the day before the wedding, Caroline is slightly crushed, but plans to soldier on. Jack is the one who brings the whole town together to give her the reception she wanted, even if it isn't the way she planned. It's actually better this way.

Jack shows how far he has come from the jerk who left her 18 years ago by surprising both Caroline and Daisy with exactly what they wanted for Christmas, even if it was something they believed was out of reach.

All in all, a delightful holiday story with just the right sprinkling of romantic and family love.

[Tammy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed more! Not a novella- a whole book to wrap up Caroline and Jack and especially Daisy and Will! I enjoyed this but would have been much happier to have had a full book on these stories....

[Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

The Butternut Lake series is a series that can be read out of order as each book centers around a different resident whether they be new to the lake or not, so as this book is technically 2.5 in the series, I have read the whole series minus #3 and may have to remedy that soon!

Set during the holiday season this novella centers around Caroline and Jack who have reconnected after decades apart and have decided to marry again and start new. Their daughter comes home to celebrate and there are a few secrets and surprises in store for this short and sweet book.

[BJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of those short novellas, part of an ongoing series. This story took place at Christmas, Ally and Walker are having a baby, Jack and Caroline are getting remarried and Daisy and Will, who has been away at Army boot camp and training are having a reunion. As was the case here, most of the time, these stories are too short to really have much of a story line, but it adds to the series as a whole.