6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fine character driven story, October 4, 2006
This review is from: A Christmas to Remember (Cape Light, Book 7) (Hardcover)
Just a few days past Thanksgiving in Cape Light, Sara comes to see her grandmother, who fails to respond to her knock or her entrance. She finds Lillian unconscious on the floor of her bedroom. Sara quickly calls 911. Lillian has pneumonia.
While lying on the floor, Lillian was dreaming back to 1955 when she was an assistant curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. That summer she was visiting her cousin Charlotte in Newburyport when she met Oliver Warwick at a yacht club gala. He courted her as he thought she was beautiful, strong, and filled with an élan for life. Oliver loved her and though at first she rejected his advances, she soon loved him too. She continues her muses thinking about the mistakes she has made, how much she loves her daughters, and Sara who returned into their lives just a few years ago having been given up for adoption. Lily wonders when did she turn from a spirited happy person into a matronly scrooge, She ponders whether it is too late to regain what she once was emotionally starting with this yuletide season as she begins to realize how much joy her life has been surrounded by loved ones.
The latest Christmas Cape Light inspirational tale (see CHRISTMAS ANGEL and A CHRISTMAS PROMISE) is a fine character driven story starring an elderly angry miserable person who upon becoming ill reflects on her life to her loved ones. Lily is an interesting character as she knows how ugly she has become especially when she thinks back to the salad days with her beloved Oliver. Though her transformation seems too simplistic, fans of the series will enjoy her reflections on her life.
Harriet Klausner
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Hesitate to Read These Books!, May 5, 2007
This review is from: A Christmas to Remember (Cape Light, Book 7) (Hardcover)
I have read several books by Thomas Kinkade of this Cape Light series, including this one. While they are all related, you can pick up a random one and very easily know what is going on as the author will review the characters. I've read them out of sequence but it's been very easy to follow along. This one I especially enjoyed as I loved the flashbacks to Lillian's life. I guess the only thing I don't understand is that Lillian runs away against her parents' wishes to marry Oliver, and in another book in the series, her daughter Jessica marries someone against her wishes. You'd think she'd be more tolerant after what she went through with the estrangement from her parents.
I'd love to live in a town this close where everyone cares about each other and steps in when they are needed. While I'm not overly religious myself, these books have just enough religion in them that you don't feel like you're in church or being preached to. It's just comforting.....don't hesitate to read any of these books.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Really Strange Book, July 26, 2009
This was one of those books where at the end you're thinking, "Huh"?
First of all inside the front jacket the description says Lillian is suffering from pneumonia, when its actually two broken bones from a fall that has her laid up. Then it says that while she's recuperating, her mind drifts back to 1955 when she was young, beautiful, & first fell in love with her soon to be husband. According to the jacket cover, she supposedly tells her daughters all about this magical season, but there are no such conversations at all between Lillian and her two daughters. In fact, Lillian hoards all pictures & letters from that era in a box that she guards. There was only one small conversation about the past between Lillian and her granddaughter Sara, and that was only because Sara happen to have a peek at a letter that had fallen from the box. At that point, you think Finally! Now the story will get better and we will find out what happened with Lillian and her "where is he now" husband. But you never get to find out. You only know that 1)he is not presently in Lillian's life, and 2)somewhere along the way there was some sort of financial ruin and disgrace. No other details. Did he die? Did one of them leave the other after the 'disgrace'? Basically I kept waiting for more information on Lillian's marriage with Oliver, and what had happened to him. They put enough background in there during all those jumps to 1955, that it leaves you empty when the book ends without filling you in on anything past their elopement.
The other thing the front jacket says, is that Lillian "recalls how much she had to be grateful for then, and realizes how rich her life can be today if she opens her heart". Well, all throughout the book I kept waiting for Lillian to open her heart, and I guess in the very end she was a little less grumpy than before, but I expected more.
Basically, the story flips back and forth between present day, and 1955 where she met and fell in love with the wonderful Oliver, a man her parents pre-judged to be no-good and then disowned her when she eloped with him. The fact that she was unjustly disowned by her parents all those years ago had me wondering why she was then so judgmental against Sara's fiance, Luke, who was obviously a wonderful man also. I thought maybe she'd realize she was now judging her granddaughter's fiance, just like her parents had judged Oliver in 1955. I kept thinking, oh, maybe this is where she'll open her heart. To be fair, I guess she did improve from downright mean-spirited to simply rude. Again, I expected more, especially from a "Christmas" season book.
The only bright story line in the book was the one involving Lucy, the nurse in training. Although there are hardships along the way, at least that story has closure.
To be fair, the story does keep you interested, and it is a nice easy read. And, there are a few small developments at the end that kind of make up for the developments that never were addressed.
But I guess all in all I was just a little let down.
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