Customer Reviews

A Berry Merry Christmas (Thorndike Romance)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the back cover:

Seasons Greetings from Misty Harbour, Maine! The snowy coastal village is as pretty as a postcard, decked out for the holidays in its winter finery. It's the ideal place to celebrate a picture-perfect Christmas, as its hometown warmth melts the coldest of hearts...

Recently widowed Amber McAllister has left the hustle and bustle of Boston to help run her aunt's berry shop on Main Street. But the new ad campaign by Ian McNeal, her late husband's business partner, has made the store's jams and jellies the hottest gift in town. Amber is frazzled. Visions of unfulfilled orders dance in her head, until Ian comes to town to buy her out of the ad agency.

He falls instantly in love with Misty Harbor's quiet charm--and his long-time crush on Amber is rekindled. Ice skating and sledding together puts a twinkle in his eye--and makes Amber see the quiet, creative man in a whole new light. Though wrapped up in kisses, their fragile love is tainted by memories of her husband. Will ghosts of Christmas past haunt her Christmas present--and future?

And my review:

Well, I'm a sucker for Christmas romances, so I'll buy just about any book that fits the profile, whether I'm familiar with the author or not. And this was an author I'd tried only once before, when her Christmas novella A MISTY HARBOR CHRISTMAS was included in the LET IT SNOW anthology with Fern Michaels, amoung others. (you can see a pattern here about the Christmas-themed books, can't you? :) I hadn't been exactly in love with her work then, and A BERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS did nothing to change my mind.

I was looking forward to reading about a grieving widow finding love again (with her late husband's best friend and business partner, no less). What really captured me in the beginning was how the heroine had had a good marriage with her late husband, how she had truly loved him. Very few authors seem willing to tackle this theme in this way. Most of the time, they make the deceased spouse secretly a horrible person. I was looking forward to a break from this tradition.

But the author started to let me down after the halfway mark. The heroine began to realize that maybe her marriage hadn't been so great after all. Sigh. I've read this theme over and over. Why did the author had to change directions midstream? Why couldn't the heroine have loved her husband, but put him in the past and just moved on? Why did she have to suddenly no longer cherish his memory anymore, because she realized that he wasn't all that great? I felt that the author was afraid to have the heroine move on any other way, so she had to muddy up the heroine's first marriage in order to make that happen, and I felt very let-down.

I understood Ian's reluctance to "move in" on what he saw as his best friend's territory, even if it had been almost two years since his death. But it didn't fit with the way he almost instantly pursued the heroine, or with the way he was willing to fall into bed with her. So he can sleep with her all he wants, but a serious relationship is out of the question? Okay....

Once these two fell into bed, I pretty much lost interest in the story. I kind of felt like the characters were just spinning their wheels without really getting anywhere. I want characters to grow and change over the course of the story, and that just wasn't happening here.

Also, this book is part of Marcia Evanick's "Misty Harbor" series, and I hadn't read any of the other linked books. So while the "small town" thing was pretty well done, I didn't know any of the characters that I probably would have recognized from previous books, and that might have something to do with my not really enjoying the book all that much.

I would only recommend this if you are already a fan of the author, and / or want to complete your "Misty Harbor" collection. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

I like Christmas romances. There, I've said it. I love to curl up with a Christmas-themed romance next to the tree and read for hours.

This book is another set in Misty Harbor. The protagonist is Amber, a woman who moved in with her aunt in the sleepy town after the death of her young husband. Along comes an old friend, and there's a Christmas romance.

I got this book because I liked Christmas on Conrad Street so well. This story didn't disappoint me. It's simple, sweet, and enjoyable. If you like Christmas romances, you'll like this one too.

The only negative about the book is the atrocious editing and proofreading. Really terrible! This book should have been cleaned up a great deal before hitting the presses. Nonetheless, it's a good read.

A light hearted romanantic caper with comic overtones.
That is my description of Marica Evanick's books which I absolutely love. They are well written and something I would share with my mother and/or my daughter without any reservations. Her books are ageless and not written for the very young or for "Adults Only". This is a book you will want to hide in a corner (to keep from being bothered) and giggle over. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Dottie

I really loved this series. I can't wait til Marica Evanick comes out with another one. I bought "Catch of the Day" and had to buy all the rest in the series. I hope she comes out with more. Im already rereading them.