Just Finished:



Why I Read It: Because it’s Debbie Macomber and Christmas.

From the Back Cover: That summer -- more than ten years ago, while they were still in high school -- Noelle McDowell and Thomas Sutton fell secretly in love. Secretly because their mothers had been locked in a bitter feud for decades. But despite the animosity between Sarah McDowell and Mary Sutton, Noelle planned to elope with Thom. Until he jilted her.

This Christmas Noelle McDowell is home to celebrate the holidays with her family. (After all, December 25 is also her birthday.) Unfortunately, Noelle's feelings about home -- or rather, her hometown of Rose, Oregon -- were changed forever the day Thomas Sutton broke her heart.

This Christmas the feuding mothers find themselves working together to fill Christmas baskets for charity. What irony! And what an opportunity for reconciliation . . . if only they could see it.

This Christmas Noelle and Thom discover they're still in love. Regardless of their mothers' reactions, they want to be together. Is that possible? Can old rivalries be set aside? Will Sarah's Christmas daughter have a second chance with Mary's charming son?

Maybe she will . . . this Christmas!

My Thoughts: Well, if you haven’t read a Debbie Macomber Christmas story, don’t start with this one. I was disappointed with this story. There are two conflicts to the story ~ essentially Thom and Noelle were supposed to elope. She thinks he stood her up. He thinks she stood her up. He thought the time they were supposed to meet was 3pm. She thought it was 8pm. Guess what ~ it was a misunderstanding. So, they haven’t spoken in 10 years. They figure out it’s a misunderstanding and the 10 years are erased with a snap of the finger. Suddenly, it’s “I’ve always loved you.” And “I’ve always loved you.” “Marry me.” “I want your babies.”………Um ~ where’s the conflict? Where’s the story? Seemed to be taken care of and wrapped in a pretty red bow way too soon.

Then there’s their mothers. They used to be best friends. Sarah (Noelle’s mother) borrowed a tea set from Mary (Thom’s mother). The tea set was stolen. So, they haven’t spoken in over 10 years. They get thrown together to make Christmas baskets for the Salvation Army. Yes, a few funny things happened when these two got together. But, one night Mary’s car breaks down ~ Sarah goes to help her. Sarah’s car breaks down. Conveniently, there is a flask of scotch in the trunk. They drink, they get drunk, they confess they miss each other and “Let’s be best friends again”. Okay …….. huh? Again, conflict solved way too soon and wrapped up in a pretty red bow.

This story was somewhere between Okay and Disappointing. Debbie Macomber writes much better stories than this one ~ although the idea of the story was cute, the story fell flat. The conclusion was rushed and the conflict solved way too quickly.

Labels: Debbie Macomber, Holiday Romance, Okay