Genre: Romance

If you love a Hallmark Christmas movie, then Lisa Hepner’s, The Christmas Checklist is for you. Hepner, a Christmas movie screenwriter, taps into her own personal experience to craft this novel. Emily had moved home temporarily to care for her dying mother and is mourning her loss while dreading the approach of Christmas at the novel’s beginning. She finds a checklist that her mom has created of 12 items that she should complete before the holiday’s arrival. She is not at all thrilled at the prospect but out of love and grief, she feels she must try. Cue the meet cute with local journalist Noah. He becomes quite involved in her quest and the ripples her actions are making in their community and would love to write about it for the local paper. Let the Christmas season work its magic.

I do love Hallmark movies, and I really enjoyed this book. (Which has, in fact, been made into a movie for this holiday season - see Amazon Prime. I’ll be streaming it soon!) I could relate to Emily’s grief having lost my mom very close to the Christmas holiday. The author’s own experience with this is clear, and the book is sincere and lovely. While Christmas movies can be somewhat…predictable, Hepner does an excellent job of providing some twists and turns, maintaining my interest while capturing so many of the traditional Christmas experiences that the reader wants in a novel like this.

The checklist is very inspirational to anyone experiencing a change from grief to job changes. The list includes donating jackets and clothes, decorating, sending handwritten cards, getting to know your neighbors, and much more. (A complete list is available at The Christmas Checklist) The completion of any of these items clearly will create a ripple effect. I love how Emily grew and changed and found hope and in doing so created hope for others. I love the illustration of a mother’s wisdom. I think we all wish to leave our kids with a hope that outlasts us. If you need a bit of joyfilled hope this season - Check out The Christmas Checklist by Lisa Hepner - and maybe fulfill some items on the list yourself.