Customer Reviews

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor is a short, slow, sweet and heartwarming romance perfect for the holiday season.

It is a light romance about 3 brothers who live on an island. The Nolan men have had a troubled young life. Christmas for them is just another day. But tragedy strikes when their only sister dies in a car accident and she gives legal guardianship to her brother Mark. A single guy in his prime Mark doesn't know what to do. He persuades his brother Sam to share responsibility. But their niece Holly has been traumatized and can't or won't speak since the accident. That is until the owner of a new toy shop named Maggie Collins gives Holly a magical shell. Holly seems to bond with Maggie immediately. Maggie and Mark find an undeniable attraction but Mark already has a girlfriend named Shelby and Maggie is recovering from her husband's recent death from cancer. Their emotions are conflicted. Shelby would be the perfect mother for Holly. Maggie feels guilt over finding another man attractive. Both are in a transitional period but can't seem to stop thinking about each other. Will they overcome their obstacles?

This was a soft and sweet romance. There was once sex scene and it was very tame. Although short the 2 characters do have a real connection. I loved how they flirted and their conversations together were fun to read. Both are decent people who are unsure and don't want to cause the other person pain. I really liked how they respected each other and were good people from the beginning. However, I have enjoyed the author's other contemporary books a bit more probably because she has more time to develop the couple's relationship. So the only problem for me is that this book's price is rather high for one that is ~ 200 pages long.

This is a story fans of Christmas and those who like Debbie Macomber books will enjoy. Heartfelt and joyous, it definitely brings holiday magic!

I love Lisa Kleypas. I love her historicals and her Texas series. But this book was disappointing.

To start with, it's way too expensive for how short it is. If I was paying $5 for a category romance from Harlequin, it would have been a 5 star read. At almost $16 for the full price hardcover, it's just simply not worth the price. It's barely over 200 pages of larger type. There's just not enough to it.

The story has merit, true, but it read way to rushed at the end. There's build up, but then suddenly it all wraps up and it's over. For the majority of the book (more than 1/2 the pages) the hero isn't even available! He's dating someone else. Then all of a sudden he's not and they're together. It felt rushed to me.

If this had another 100 pages to it, the story might have been more believably developed. As it is, I was disappointed to pay so much to get so little. Even for a holiday book, it's just not up to Lisa Kleypas's usual best.

I love Lisa Kleypas' writing and have read many of her books, mostly her historical novels. This one is a contemporary, set in the Seattle area.

It's the story of Mark Nolan who becomes guardian of his niece Holly after his sister dies in a car accident and Maggie, a widow, who has moved to the island after the death of her husband.

I must have teared up at least three or four times while reading this and I absolutely loved it. What I've always loved about Lisa's books are how real and alive her characters are, I was pulled right in to the story and couldn't put this down until I had finished it. My fingers are crossed that Mark's brothers get their own stories, I think this is going to be a series.

It's a sweet and wonderful story, full of joy, magic and happy tears. Highly recommended!

I love Lisa Kleypas. She is my favorite author, I have read all of her books and I was so looking forward to the Friday Harbor series. I was so disappointed in this book. My first complaint was the length. I felt cheated in a way. I'm used to her books being longer and more fulfilling but this one was just lacking. The worst part is, this book had so much potential! She is a great writer and her description of Friday Harbor were great you felt like you were there. However, the characters and the plots were extremely underdeveloped. I felt almost as though Mark's relationship with Shelby was more developed than the main relationship. The romance in the story was really underdeveloped as well. I could buy them being really good friends, but I didn't feel that the romance or relationship was developed well. The ending was rushed, it felt that about 150 pages were missing. I think there should have been a huge chunk to be filled in after Mark breaks up with Shelby and before the end. Also, the sex scence was definitely lacking. She usually writes more convincing scenes where you can believe that they people are in love and passionate about each other and this one really did not convince me at all. I won't be buying the next book in the series. I'll wait until my local library has it. This one really wasn't worth the money.

Two and a half stars. I have two favorite authors: Lisa Kleypas and Liz Carlyle. That said, while this book had huge potential, it did not meet my expectations at all.

Many others reviewers have remarked on the low page count, large font, blank pages, and exorbitant price (in Puerto Rico this book can only be bought at Border's for the full price of $16.99 + tax). I think that the problem is due precisely to the length of the book. It is too short to satisfactorily develop the plot and characters.

The romance is very slow to start, which would not be a problem if the book was long enough to allow the relationship to grow and develop. As it is, once the romance is "established" it is rushed and the story seems unfinished and incomplete. The one intimate scene is very superficial and tame. There is nothing wrong with the setting, the characters, or the plot, the book just needed two hundred additional pages to be fully developed.

One minor detail: on Thanksgiving morning Maggie flatirons her hair and later that day Mark touches her riotous curls. I expect and deserve careful editing at this price point. For the next books in the series, I'll wait for the paperbacks.

I love Lisa Kleypas books. So much so that I was expecting to see more of her same style in her most recent little story. I was so sad. Not nearly long enough, not nearly enough character development and no real physicality between characters. I love Mark and I love the character of Maggie, but they never really grew as people. Everything happened so quickly, people met, people broke up, and problems were solved. I do appreciate the description of the San Juan Islands, makes me want to be there. I guess Lisa has just spoiled her faithful readers. I'm still hoping to find a story of Joe Travis, and the rest of the Texas gang. But I'm getting a bit leery of raising my expectations after this effort. Very disappointed.

I ran to the bookstore and paid full price for this book on the very day it came out. I took a half day off of work just so I could rush home and devour it. What a waste of both my time and money!!! It read just like a short story which aren't my favorite types of books. No real character development - I never felt connected to any of the characters except for, maybe, the little girl. There was no real conflict, no angst at all whatsoever. Just overall a boring, very short book. I can't believe Lisa wrote it.

A nice story that I'm surprised I didn't like more. There were a lot of scenes in the book that I really liked. Sweet, funny, and romantic moments that I still recall a few days later which isn't usually the case with books that don't work for me. Typical Kleypas writing really, so I'm not sure why I didn't like it more because all of the elements were there. But I'll chalk up my indifference to the novella length and the decided lack of passion between the characters.

So to sum it up, a nice story but nothing special. I'm sure all Lisa Kleypas fans will want to at least read, if not own, this book but I wouldn't break the bank to do it.

(mild spoiler) LK is one of my all time favorite authors. She has two shelves devoted to her in my living room. This book will not need a place on those shelves bc it is getting resold asap. Way toooooo much time was spent on the setting description and while she does that beautifully and I usually love it, I resented it in this book bc the characters issues were simply brushed over. Mark was not even that interesting. Maggie was lovable and sweet and I loved Holly (the daughter/niece) was wonderful, the chemestry was stupid. Maggie doesnt want a relationship the entire book yet some how agrees to marry him in the last 3 pages after sex that was empty and brushed over. It was as if LK didnt even write the romance portions of this book bc they had nothing of her normal, wonderful spice. It was WAY TOO SHORT and while sometimes thats okay, the missing pages of this story were badly needed. Will I buy the following book in this series? Yes. I am a loyal fan. But if it is as disappointing as this one I wont buy the third. To think we fans gave up Joe Travis's story and waited over a year for this... simply put, it pisses me off. If the Travises and Hardy Cates were a ten for you this book will be around a 2.

This story reminded me so much of the romance shorts I used to read in my mom's Woman's Day magazines. Totally insubstantial and forgettable.

It starts with a big, emotionally engaging event. Mark Nolan's sister, Victoria, is killed in a car accident. She leaves a young daughter, Holly, who is traumatized by the loss of her mother and refuses to speak from that moment on. It's a strong beginning but the rest just doesn't live up to it.

Mark meets Maggie when he goes into her toy store with Holly. Now, San Juan Island is very small so he would have known her personally if she hadn't just moved there. But she's new and pretty and sparks his interest when she connects with Holly right away.

Maggie and Mark have great chemistry and, realistically, they should start dating immediately. Unfortunately Kleypas throws some false obstacles into their path and that's the meat of the story. They're not huge obstacles, nothing life-threatening, mostly just typical. One of them is actually a major cliche in the falling-in-love-again genre. The story is so short, though, they're just sort of glossed over and we get to the end -- exactly like the romances in women's magazines.

And Holly. Adorable kid! So sweet. So wonderful! Understanding on a higher level. How does she act out? By not talking while continuing to be sweet and biddable. If only. Extremely unrealistic kid characterization. It makes the adult characters' job extremely easy and Holly nothing more than a device to get the leads together.

I'm sorry to give Lisa Kleypas a negative review. This is really a 2.5 star read. If you can wait, just get it at the library as Kleypas's publisher is -- as usual -- demanding ridiculous prices for it's HC and e-book editions.

Maybe the next one in the series will be better. Mark's brothers are introduced in this book and they seem interesting, but I think I'll wait and get the next book from the library. I don't recommend spending your hard earned dollars on this until it's on the super-slashed pricing rack. :(