Scan barcode
A review by attytheresa
This Christmas by Jane Green, Liz Ireland, Jennifer Coburn
3.0
These three novellas by differing authors were a gentle easing in of my traditional holiday reading, more about recognizing the romance and relationships you have at the holidays than finding love. And let's just say that sexy spicy scenes are not to be found.
Vacation by Jane Green -- Sarah and Eddie have been married for several years. Sarah left her journalism career and became a stay at home mom in the suburbs of NYC. Eddie continued climbing the ladder of success in real estate in NYC. The romance has definitely left the marriage -- so much so that Sarah is unhappy, resentful and angry that Eddie is disengaged so much that all he does the rare hours he is home is sit in front of the tv watching sports and drinking beer. Eddie too is unhappy, but doesn't seem as lost. Suddenly Eddie has to be in Chicago for work for several weeks, and while he thinks it's the jolt the marriage needs to be revitalized, Sarah considers it her chance to ease into the divorce discussion. Of course, Santa has other ideas... pretty good mature story of finding the romance in your marriage again in time for Christmas.
The Second Wife of Reilly by Jennifer Coburn -- One day Reilly's first wife reconnected with her high school boyfriend and decided she wanted out of the marriage, and to accomplish that she set out to find him a new wife. Sarah, the narrator of this story, is the result of this pretty odd and very funny search. Everything for Sarah is perfect as the first Christmas with Reilly approaches. Reilly and her son Hunter have bonded, all should be just perfect -- yet Reilly is convinced that the only way she and Reilly can be secure in their happiness is for Reilly's first wife, Prudence, to find the love of her life. Weird, for sure. But as the story progresses, and Sarah ropes her best friend into helping with her efforts to find Prudence her perfect mate, it becomes the story of a woman finally releasing the pain and grief she had suppressed from her first marriage so that she can embrace the joy and happiness of love, family and even taking a chance on a new career - all over the Christmas holidays just in time for New Year's Eve to mark a new start in her life. This one gets bonus points for the absolutely hilarious scenes where Sarah goes through an online dating service to find Prudence her perfect mate. Oh, and apparently the author wrote a novella called The Wife of Riley which I might need to read.
Mistletoe & Holly by Liz Ireland - I actually realized after the first few pages that I had read this one before -- probably when I first bought the book back in 2005! Holly, a school teacher living in NYC, is taking her new 'perfect' boyfriend Jason home to Arlington, VA for her family's traditional over the top Christmas. For once, Holly has a plus one, no longer the odd-sibling out (brother Ted, the successful CPA, has the perfect wife and 2 daughters, sister Maddie, the successful doctor in Boston, has a new 'perfect' fiance along every year wearing matching dorky holiday sweaters), no longer the one on the side. Things start to go awry before they even leave NYC as her friend Isaac, who also is from Arlington (Holly and Isaac's mothers are friends), hitches along for the ride. On arriving at her parents house, Holly discovers that the old-fashioned over the top Christmas she had led Jason to believe was in his future was not happening. At all. In fact, Holly ultimately realizes her true love is not Jason, and that only she can provide the spirit needed to make the holiday filled with joy.
These are all good writers - and all manage to tell complete stories under 100 pages - ones that touch on the mature emotions many grapple with at Christmas rather than on the fantasy romance.
Vacation by Jane Green -- Sarah and Eddie have been married for several years. Sarah left her journalism career and became a stay at home mom in the suburbs of NYC. Eddie continued climbing the ladder of success in real estate in NYC. The romance has definitely left the marriage -- so much so that Sarah is unhappy, resentful and angry that Eddie is disengaged so much that all he does the rare hours he is home is sit in front of the tv watching sports and drinking beer. Eddie too is unhappy, but doesn't seem as lost. Suddenly Eddie has to be in Chicago for work for several weeks, and while he thinks it's the jolt the marriage needs to be revitalized, Sarah considers it her chance to ease into the divorce discussion. Of course, Santa has other ideas... pretty good mature story of finding the romance in your marriage again in time for Christmas.
The Second Wife of Reilly by Jennifer Coburn -- One day Reilly's first wife reconnected with her high school boyfriend and decided she wanted out of the marriage, and to accomplish that she set out to find him a new wife. Sarah, the narrator of this story, is the result of this pretty odd and very funny search. Everything for Sarah is perfect as the first Christmas with Reilly approaches. Reilly and her son Hunter have bonded, all should be just perfect -- yet Reilly is convinced that the only way she and Reilly can be secure in their happiness is for Reilly's first wife, Prudence, to find the love of her life. Weird, for sure. But as the story progresses, and Sarah ropes her best friend into helping with her efforts to find Prudence her perfect mate, it becomes the story of a woman finally releasing the pain and grief she had suppressed from her first marriage so that she can embrace the joy and happiness of love, family and even taking a chance on a new career - all over the Christmas holidays just in time for New Year's Eve to mark a new start in her life. This one gets bonus points for the absolutely hilarious scenes where Sarah goes through an online dating service to find Prudence her perfect mate. Oh, and apparently the author wrote a novella called The Wife of Riley which I might need to read.
Mistletoe & Holly by Liz Ireland - I actually realized after the first few pages that I had read this one before -- probably when I first bought the book back in 2005! Holly, a school teacher living in NYC, is taking her new 'perfect' boyfriend Jason home to Arlington, VA for her family's traditional over the top Christmas. For once, Holly has a plus one, no longer the odd-sibling out (brother Ted, the successful CPA, has the perfect wife and 2 daughters, sister Maddie, the successful doctor in Boston, has a new 'perfect' fiance along every year wearing matching dorky holiday sweaters), no longer the one on the side. Things start to go awry before they even leave NYC as her friend Isaac, who also is from Arlington (Holly and Isaac's mothers are friends), hitches along for the ride. On arriving at her parents house, Holly discovers that the old-fashioned over the top Christmas she had led Jason to believe was in his future was not happening. At all. In fact, Holly ultimately realizes her true love is not Jason, and that only she can provide the spirit needed to make the holiday filled with joy.
These are all good writers - and all manage to tell complete stories under 100 pages - ones that touch on the mature emotions many grapple with at Christmas rather than on the fantasy romance.