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cdjdhj's review
3.0
This is a pretty typical Richard Paul Evans book - lots of clean romance and generally uplifting and thought-provoking. A quick and easy Christmas read.
alidottie's review
4.0
A few years ago I started reading Christmas books around Christmas time and this may be the only "Christmas" book I will have a chance to read this season and I'm really glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have found that many "Christmas" books are seldom really about Christmas, but more often take place at that time of year. This book is more this kind of book, though I think something special is added at the end by placing it at Christmas time .
I enjoyed all the characters and even got emotional a few times. I'm glad my book group chose to read this book this year.
I enjoyed all the characters and even got emotional a few times. I'm glad my book group chose to read this book this year.
thethirdcrouch's review
3.0
I was not expecting a love story from this book. I was thinking it would be a little adventure finding the spirit of Christmas. I have no issues with love stories but they tend to be cheesy and worse cringey. Unfortunately, this little book is an example. Some conversations and interactions, especially during the first meeting of the two protagonists, were cliche but not the good romantic cliche. Here and there dialogues and even the narration were unnecessarily long. It is not their personality of someone likes eating a lot of chocolate. It adds to the cringe if every character took note of this as if it explains a person. YA stories—I'm not sure if this is categorized as such—tend to put interjections highlighting this character's preference but this is lazy and off-putting. I would say though that I enjoyed the part of the plot when Mark performed in the cafe. The best bit of interaction that felt genuine was when Mark and his ex-girlfriend met again.
Ultimately, the story was filled with selfish characters. Macy who was just thinking about her desire to reconnect with her sister, Mark who proposed to someone he knew for just a few weeks, Macy's father who didn't step up to care for his children, Mark's father who wanted to get the love he deserve. It was all unfortunate, piled on another unfortunate situation wrong place wrong time. All they wanted was connection. The author made a conclusion about how we all were looking for something, looking for the familiar. It was a stretch—connecting it to Christ and the nativity—but it does have a point how mainly we're just looking for connection.
Ultimately, the story was filled with selfish characters. Macy who was just thinking about her desire to reconnect with her sister, Mark who proposed to someone he knew for just a few weeks, Macy's father who didn't step up to care for his children, Mark's father who wanted to get the love he deserve. It was all unfortunate, piled on another unfortunate situation wrong place wrong time. All they wanted was connection. The author made a conclusion about how we all were looking for something, looking for the familiar. It was a stretch—connecting it to Christ and the nativity—but it does have a point how mainly we're just looking for connection.
aburgess15's review
5.0
I love Richard Paul Evans. This book was like a Hallmark movie and I loved it...especially during Christmas.
judithdcollins's review
4.0
A great story teller – Evans always brings a novel to life. As the Christmas season approaches Mark has to drop out of college due to finances and has just learned his mother has died and on one snowy night in November when he car dies, he stumbles upon a girl Macy who has had a horrible childhood and living with a lady who took her in. She has little memory of her birth parents and a horrible adopted family. Her one hope is to find her sister “Noel” as they were separated when they were children and kept apart by the system. Macy and Mark are meant for each other and fate has something in motion, as when one door closes, God places someone there for you. An amazing story – loved it!!!
papidoc's review
4.0
This was the first of Evan's books that I ever read. Now I understand whay my wife and kids liked some of the others so much. Evans has a way of drawing the reader into the lives, hurts, and healing of the people in his stories. In every one that I have read, love is the undercurrent, the tie that binds it all together. Finding Noel was no exception. Two damaged young strangers meet, and together find the healing power of love and hope for each other and the future. This heart warming story is worth the two to three hours it takes to read.
julieb118's review
3.0
this was a nice Christmas read. It wasn't my favorite Richard Paul Evans novel - but still a nice feel-good for Christmas.
wonderwoman619's review
5.0
Awesome! Great to read around the holidays but good any time. Touching story. Very complete. My favorite Richard Paul Evans books so far (3/2008).
kimmyp11's review
5.0
I love his stories. This has become my own Christmas tradition: reading one of his novels. This did not disappoint. This is my favorite line from Finding Noel: “I’ve come to know that our families are a canvas on which we paint our greatest hopes—imperfect and sloppy, for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn that it’s not the beauty of the image that warrants gratitude—it’s the chance to paint.”