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A review by wildwolverine
A Christmas Bride / Christmas Beau by Mary Balogh
3.0
These two stories were both so sweet! What I loved most about these stories is that the heroines weren't your typical heroines. They were older and disappointed in both life and love. One even had children, though I realize that's not all that unusual in contemporary romances.
I definitely have a favorite, and it's a Christmas Bride. Helena was such a complex character. She wasn't a good girl, as she'd wronged someone close to her in the past. In my opinion, her sin wasn't unforgivable, but I could see how she viewed it that way. In the hands of a less skilled writers, a heroine's insecurities often come across as wishy-washy and foolish. However, Balogh manages to capture the complexity of Helena's insecurities and show how she powers through them. I really enjoyed reading about her redemption. And, I really enjoyed the hero's perseverance in helping his wife. So romantic!
A Christmas Beau was a huge letdown after that. It actually made me downright uncomfortable at times. The heroine, Judith Easton, is physically uncomfortable and sometimes afraid of the hero for about 2/3 of the book. Reading about her fear of him made it difficult to view his actions as romantic. He literally stalks her, following her around in the park and only going to parties she'll attend. It's super creepy.
Towards the end, it also got very didactic about the power of Christmas, which became nauseating by the end of the book. Because it's Christmas and because everyone loves each other and everything is so wholesome, no one gets angry, not really. No one fights or shouts. By the end of the story, the characters were flat and unrealistically sweet, like in those basic Christian novels where God solves everything and the characters don't even have to lift a finger. Except, instead of God here it was the spirit of Christmas spread by God.
Depending on how saccharine you like your stories, one or the other of these two Christmas stories will appeal to you. Personally, I like a little drama and realism mixed in, and if you're like me, then you'll really like A Christmas Bride.
I definitely have a favorite, and it's a Christmas Bride. Helena was such a complex character. She wasn't a good girl, as she'd wronged someone close to her in the past. In my opinion, her sin wasn't unforgivable, but I could see how she viewed it that way. In the hands of a less skilled writers, a heroine's insecurities often come across as wishy-washy and foolish. However, Balogh manages to capture the complexity of Helena's insecurities and show how she powers through them. I really enjoyed reading about her redemption. And, I really enjoyed the hero's perseverance in helping his wife. So romantic!
A Christmas Beau was a huge letdown after that. It actually made me downright uncomfortable at times. The heroine, Judith Easton, is physically uncomfortable and sometimes afraid of the hero for about 2/3 of the book. Reading about her fear of him made it difficult to view his actions as romantic. He literally stalks her, following her around in the park and only going to parties she'll attend. It's super creepy.
Towards the end, it also got very didactic about the power of Christmas, which became nauseating by the end of the book. Because it's Christmas and because everyone loves each other and everything is so wholesome, no one gets angry, not really. No one fights or shouts. By the end of the story, the characters were flat and unrealistically sweet, like in those basic Christian novels where God solves everything and the characters don't even have to lift a finger. Except, instead of God here it was the spirit of Christmas spread by God.
Depending on how saccharine you like your stories, one or the other of these two Christmas stories will appeal to you. Personally, I like a little drama and realism mixed in, and if you're like me, then you'll really like A Christmas Bride.