The Brightest Star

A special treat to warm your heart, just in time for the holidays - a sparkling new novel from New York Times best-selling author Fern Michaels....

Christmas is more than just a celebration for Lauren Montgomery. For generations, it’s been her family’s livelihood. Their Christmas shop, Razzle Dazzle Décor, has seen seasonal fads come and go, but there’s one trend they can’t escape. Online superstores are swallowing their sales, and this Christmas season will need to be their best ever if the store is to stay in business.

To help keep the shop afloat, Lauren also has a sideline, writing biographies for business figures. She’s thrilled when her literary agent contacts her with a new proposal - before learning that the subject will be none other than John Gerald Giompalo. He’s the titan behind Globalgoods.com, the online retailer that has spelled doom for hundreds of small businesses just like Razzle Dazzle Décor. Despite her misgivings, Lauren travels to Seattle to confer with the mogul, and is caught off guard when his son, John Jr., attends the meeting too. Handsome, intelligent, and deeply kind, he’s perfect - apart from the fact that he’s part of the company threatening everything Lauren loves.

As her deadline, and Christmas, draw closer, Lauren knows that there’s more than her family’s shop at stake. Her heart is, too. But there’s no better time than the holidays to make a secret wish on the brightest star you see - and let the season’s magic take hold.

©2020 Fern Michaels (P)2020 Recorded Books

very good and quick

Before I knew it I was at the end of this book. It was well written. And I enjoyed all of it.

Bright and unbelievable at times

Loved the narrator. I'm a gal who reads for escapism, but this book at times took it a little far. Love Fern Michael's novels though.

Strangely paced

This book could have been half as long as it is. Way too much time and detail were spent in the first half of the book about the store and Lauren’s relationship with her parents and too little in the second half about her relationship with John and his family. It was strange, as I know Fern Michaels is a successful author. I thought this was poorly done. The narration was just ok. The voice sounds like an old lady, not the youthful 35 of the character.

Sweet, compelling, soothing voice of Susan Bennett

….makes this Fern Michaels story a treat. The theme of a professional woman returning home to oversee her parents is all too real and carefully crafted. The devoted daughter is ready to face life as a cat lady but bumps into fate and love suddenly and all at once…..

What a fun listen!

I wanted a fun holiday read and The Brightest Star was perfect. I normally do not like romance books and even though this has a sweet (and totally unbelievable) love story, 85% of the book was about Lauren and her work with saving Razzle Dazzle, a Christmas store owned by her parents. Anyone would love to have Lauren as their best friend so listening to the novel was like spending time in girl talk. In fact, very little of the story was believable, but somehow, it didn't matter. Michaels writes real characters and the relationship between Lauren and her parents was the one very believable part of the book, that tension between love and respect, and frustration. There was just the right amount of detail and the novel never became tedious. It was just what I was looking for this holiday season.