Title:  Calendar Girl:  December
Author: Audrey Carlan
Publisher/Year:  Waterhouse Press 8/3/15
Length:  110 pages
Series:  Calendar Girl Series #12

Overview

Mountains, miracles, and marriage.

I had no idea what to expect when the producers of Dr. Hoffman sent me to the pristine white mountains of Aspen, Colorado. As the town of Aspen is known for being a winter haven for uber-rich Americans, I knew this desert cactus was going to be way out of her element. The ace up my sleeve however, was a high-class movie-making surfer whose family owned a cabin in those snowy hills. With him by my side, I’d make the most out of the experience.

The job was assigned under unusual circumstances. An anonymous mountain man paid a hefty fee to persuade the producers of my show to send me out for a segment on local artisans. Suited up in my parka and Ugg boots, I put the warmth of the California sun in the rearview mirror and headed to a winter wonderland.

With my newfound family in tow, I was prepared to celebrate the best month the year had to offer…until the one woman who drastically changed my life all those years ago appeared like a shadow out of pure frosted air, shattering my soul all over again.

***
In the twelfth and final book in the Calendar Girl serial, Mia is off to Aspen, Colorado to film a segment on local artists. Prepare to be wowed as Mia’s journey merges into the ending everyone has been waiting for.

My Thoughts

Well, we all knew that this was going to come to an end, and it’s really a shame as it was a nice series, with all of the character’s stories woven into one another.  In this final installment, we get much of what was to be expected, resolutions for most, introductions for some, and a realization of what you actually wanted in life from others.

We see this last month taking Mia and crew to Aspen to work on segments for her new role on the Dr Hoffman show.  It’s of course under the guise of Mia NEEDING to go becuase an artist pays her a lot of money to be there, but when she arrives, she deems ti to be under different circumstances and is about to leave.  Ironically, it’s day one when they set foot in town that Mia feels like she sees a woman that she recognizes – as her mother.  then the woman disappears, and the story begins to unfold.

We learn that YES it’s her mother, and well, that means that Max and Maddy are en route much faster than expected to get to the bottom of things.  It’s also interesting to me to see how the siblings embrace (or not) this new information.  there’s a split house, one who’s more than happy to get the story, one who’s willing to be ok with it and one who wants NOTHING to do with her.

Well, of course it’s Mia who’s got the anger, and it’s served well since she’s the one that actually had the longest time with her mom, and now that’s all gone.  So the journey that we go on in this story is one of finally finding family, and deciding if you want it, and then getting closer with your NEW family, the one that you actually want.  I think that the mix of how this all plays out is really nice – especially with the undercurrent of the holidays and what that should mean.

Add to that, we have the wedding planning for Mia and Wes which actually seems to be going ok, once Wes gets past his recent bouts of jealousy and the idea that some of her past clients are going to come.  Then we also get to see how Gin’s story plays out too.  She’s certainly got her hands full with Tao – Tai’s brother – but what does that really mean since he’s a Hawaii guy and she’s not.

We have a nice closure to the story – with the appropriate levels of passion and heat that we’ve come to appreciate throughout the series.  There are often times when Mia reflects on whether they will always share that same level of interest in each other, and i think that it’s safe to say that YES they will.

In addition to the epilogue (which is from Wes’s perspective) we get a ‘far far future’ glimpse of all of the other folks that we’ve met throughout the series.  It’s nice to see where they all end up, even for some of the characters that we cared less for.  At least there are no strings hanging after all this.  although i would have been ok with the idea of a spin off series.  So…now i’m left to wonder what to read next since this took up a nice 2 weeks of my time to read.  have a good night (or morning) all!!!