Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners by Gretchen Anthony @granthony ~ a @harlequinbooks Review

by Susan Roberts

This is a humorous look at the strong matriarch who views her family as perfect and wants to make sure that the rest of the world is aware of their perfection. Each section is tied together by the Christmas letter that she wrote that year - boasting of all of the achievements of her husband and daughter and their perfect lives. As the novel begins, she is planning her husband's retirement party with only the best food to impress their guests. Due to a surprise announcement at the party, Violet's world comes tumbling down around her. She knows that there is no way that the shock of finding out that her unmarried daughter is both pregnant and a lesbian will allow her to keep up the facade of her perfect life. So she decides that she will take over control of her daughter's life and pregnancy so that she can be the best grandmother in the world and make everyone else envious of her again.