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Christmas Bump
Winona has been sheltered her entire life. Raised by a protective single father and overshadowed by her high-achieving, older half-sister, she is suddenly feeling the need to break free and pave her own way. When she discovers she is pregnant, she moves to a small town, the sort of place she has always dreamed of with quaint shops and neighbors that stop in for a cup of tea… and town festivals, including the ever-popular Christmas Festival. The only snag in her dream move is the irritatingly handsome, independent Cooper, the same guy who owns the house she is renting. Struggling to overcome her spoiled ways and prepare for the upcoming baby, Winona knows she has to ignore the charm of this man or possibly risk falling into the same trap she worked so hard to escape.
217 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
About the author
Trisha Ridinger McKee
27 books117 followersTrisha Ridinger McKee resides in a small town in Pennsylvania where there is not much to do ... except write. When she is not twisting words into stories, she enjoys fishing, reading, binge-watching true crime or cheesy horror, hanging out with her bulldogs, and finding new hobbies. She shares her world with a patient hubby and an amazing daughter. She finally gained enough courage to send out her writing in April 2019. Since then, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 50 publications, including Tablet Magazine, The Oddville Press, Crab Fat Magazine, Kzine, Commuterlit, J.J. Outre Review, ParABnormal Magazine, 4Star Stories, Black Hare Press, Thirteen Press, and more. She won Story of the Month from 50-Word Stories. Her short story Where We Meet has been nominated for Best of the Net Anthology 2019. Her debut novel Beyond the Surface is now available on Amazon.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 9, 2021
Omgosh, what a cute story! The story was sweet, and the characters were perfect! I loved it!
January 12, 2023
Would've benefited greatly from being 100 pages shorter. As it stands, it was just too repetitive; Winona is unsure of herself, she gets encouragement; she and Cooper fight over a misunderstanding and they make up; Winona and her dad fight and things become strained. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Also, things went a little too perfectly for Winona. She finds a real nice place to live right off the bat, she's somehow a master cook, and her pregnancy has no real side effects other than slowness, tiredness, and the inopportune kick. If I was the author, I'd have the pregnancy side effects play a role in the humor, like, for instance, when she's trying to get romantic with Cooper and she has to stop several times to pee? That'd at least prevent the repetition.
Lastly, despite the fact that the main character is a copy editor (who gets a lot of freelance work, despite minimal experience), the book could've had a little more done for it. I get that it's self-published but at one point, the main character is called Josie. Not to mention the inconsistent spelling of one character, Nicholas/Nicholaus. That, and it repeatedly refers to Winona's stomach. Hello, babies aren't kept in the stomach! I'm a guy and I know that!
Anyway, I don't recommend this book but the author is talented. I hope she writes something that I WILL enjoy.
Also, things went a little too perfectly for Winona. She finds a real nice place to live right off the bat, she's somehow a master cook, and her pregnancy has no real side effects other than slowness, tiredness, and the inopportune kick. If I was the author, I'd have the pregnancy side effects play a role in the humor, like, for instance, when she's trying to get romantic with Cooper and she has to stop several times to pee? That'd at least prevent the repetition.
Lastly, despite the fact that the main character is a copy editor (who gets a lot of freelance work, despite minimal experience), the book could've had a little more done for it. I get that it's self-published but at one point, the main character is called Josie. Not to mention the inconsistent spelling of one character, Nicholas/Nicholaus. That, and it repeatedly refers to Winona's stomach. Hello, babies aren't kept in the stomach! I'm a guy and I know that!
Anyway, I don't recommend this book but the author is talented. I hope she writes something that I WILL enjoy.
December 4, 2023
Sometimes, you come across a book that you feel doesn't get the attention it deserves. For me, this was one of these books.
Christmas Bump has been on my list of KU Christmas books for 2 years and never made the cut. I keep adding more books and then read completely different ones. This year, I decided to work through my list from oldest to newest, and this was the first one I read. I added it because I thought the cover looked cute, and that was all I knew about it.
It has only 34 ratings on Goodreads. I honestly think it deserves a lot more. I thought it would be a cute little Christmas rom-com. Instead, I was surprised to find so much more in this book.
It's about a young woman who was raised by her overprotective single dad and suddenly finds herself pregnant and the baby's father wanting nothing to do with it. Instead of doing what she's always done, letting other people decide for her and take care of everything, she chooses to move out of her dad's house, to a small town where she doesn't know anyone, and get a fresh start. It's an empowering story about growing up, standing up for yourself, being independent, taking responsibility, and realizing that all of that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be alone.
I'm not a big fan of romance novels with the only plot being the love story. This one was focusing on enough other topics to make it a really good read for me. In a different review someone complained that the characters were too immature, but that was the whole point of the book.
4 stars from me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a recommendation to give it a try if you're interested in this type of story.
Happy holiday reading!
Christmas Bump has been on my list of KU Christmas books for 2 years and never made the cut. I keep adding more books and then read completely different ones. This year, I decided to work through my list from oldest to newest, and this was the first one I read. I added it because I thought the cover looked cute, and that was all I knew about it.
It has only 34 ratings on Goodreads. I honestly think it deserves a lot more. I thought it would be a cute little Christmas rom-com. Instead, I was surprised to find so much more in this book.
It's about a young woman who was raised by her overprotective single dad and suddenly finds herself pregnant and the baby's father wanting nothing to do with it. Instead of doing what she's always done, letting other people decide for her and take care of everything, she chooses to move out of her dad's house, to a small town where she doesn't know anyone, and get a fresh start. It's an empowering story about growing up, standing up for yourself, being independent, taking responsibility, and realizing that all of that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be alone.
I'm not a big fan of romance novels with the only plot being the love story. This one was focusing on enough other topics to make it a really good read for me. In a different review someone complained that the characters were too immature, but that was the whole point of the book.
4 stars from me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a recommendation to give it a try if you're interested in this type of story.
Happy holiday reading!
December 17, 2023
The first comment that comes to my mind is: this book has all the wrong things right. Cheesy but cozy, enraging but fun. The plot works, keeping you on your toes eager for more. I honestly couldn’t put it down. It was easy to empathise with Winona, the protagonist, and fall for the charming Cooper.
Unfortunately, it has some major slips that should’ve been looked through more thoroughly:
1) the ebook has some typos and mistakes, especially in terms of punctuation, the most evident being hyphens used in place of em dashes.
2) It’s funny how the main character is an editor, but you feel like this novel hasn’t been edited or even proof-read. At one point Winona becomes Jodie!
3) Syntax is sometimes a little sketchy, but this might be me being more used to British books or simply not acquainted with the author’s lingo.
4) I’m all for crossed wires in a romantic story, but here we have a little too many, for very trivial reasons and just lack of communication.
This being said, this novel is a good read for Christmas time, different from the usual love stories that set the mood for this time of the year, but are way more predictable and all alike.
Unfortunately, it has some major slips that should’ve been looked through more thoroughly:
1) the ebook has some typos and mistakes, especially in terms of punctuation, the most evident being hyphens used in place of em dashes.
2) It’s funny how the main character is an editor, but you feel like this novel hasn’t been edited or even proof-read. At one point Winona becomes Jodie!
3) Syntax is sometimes a little sketchy, but this might be me being more used to British books or simply not acquainted with the author’s lingo.
4) I’m all for crossed wires in a romantic story, but here we have a little too many, for very trivial reasons and just lack of communication.
This being said, this novel is a good read for Christmas time, different from the usual love stories that set the mood for this time of the year, but are way more predictable and all alike.
January 4, 2022
I got bored
Halfway thru and the main characters were still acting like kids, I couldn't even call them teenagers. Then I realized that I didn't want to go through another hundred plus pages for them to get their ish together. Fast forward to the final chapter and they are still on that same ish. So glad I gave up when I did, definitely not worth continuing to read.
Halfway thru and the main characters were still acting like kids, I couldn't even call them teenagers. Then I realized that I didn't want to go through another hundred plus pages for them to get their ish together. Fast forward to the final chapter and they are still on that same ish. So glad I gave up when I did, definitely not worth continuing to read.
January 27, 2022
the story flowed and it was a quick good read. Read it in two days.
November 25, 2022
Great story !
Very easy to relate to the characters. Kept me glued to reading til the end. Loved the comedy of Christmas goofs.
Very easy to relate to the characters. Kept me glued to reading til the end. Loved the comedy of Christmas goofs.
November 29, 2022
Such a cute story. Couldn’t put it down. Couple of times, I got a little choked up. Such a fast read and perfect for the holiday season
December 25, 2023
Cute Christmasy book. The whole book isn't set around Christmas as it covers the entire pregnancy but the big things happen around Christmas so I'll allow it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews