Customer Reviews

One Imperfect Christmas

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Myra Johnson's debut novel, One Imperfect Christmas, puts together all that is perfect about Christmas--family, faith, celebration of life and the birth of Christ. It also gives us a glimpse into life's imperfections--loss, guilt, self-doubt, and the pain of having a loved one suffer in illness.

Natalie Pearce faces the same frustrations many busy women do--the responsibilities of maintaining a home, trying to quell her temper with a husband whose job is top priority, and providing guidance for an adolescent daughter who can be a handful at times. Add to that a budding career for herself and helping out with her retired parents, and it's easy to see how Natalie falls into the "guilt" trap when her mother has a debilitating stroke. Blaming herself for not being there, Natalie erects a wall around herself, alienating her family and giving her father more worry instead of help in caring for the mom who's confined to a nursing home.

One Imperfect Christmas is a family's journey through broken marriage, misunderstood feelings, and the lengths to which a young teen will go to bring her parents together and be the catalyst for healing and peace. Warm and heartfelt, the writing is deeply introspective, and there were times I didn't like Natalie very much, but as we are all vulnerable to life's traumas, she was also relatable. Who among us is always likeable? And even more, who hasn't experienced the need for divine intervention more than a few times in our lives?
Myra's debut book is one to ponder, to reflect on our own relationships, and to celebrate the joys of Christmas.

Myra Johnson's One Imperfect Christmas rings with truth--not every Christmas is a picture-perfect celebration. Sometimes life deals a blow, bringing even strong Christians to their knees. Natalie Pearce turned down her mother's request to help put away her Christmas decorations. When her mother suffers an incapacitating stroke, Natalie is ripped apart with guilt and spirals into depression, driving a wedge that rips her family apart. If you've gone through a heart-wrenching illness or loss of a loved one, you'll identify with the Pearce family as they struggle through their year of trial. Natalie and Daniel's marriage looks doomed to failure, even as their teenage daughter Lissa schemes to keep her family together. In the end, with God's help, Natalie is able to forgive herself, accept life as it comes and the healing love of family, her very own Christmas miracle.

Myra Johnson's book, One Imperfect Christmas, was one perfect gift for myself. The holidays are just around the corner and it's always difficult for me since I lost my mother. I was immediately drawn to the characters in this book because their happiness and tragedies mirrored some within my own family. I could empathize with Natalie for the guilt she felt because I'll always worry, "Did I call Mom often enough", "Did I spend enough time with her" and "Did she really know how much I loved her?" Ms Johnson takes the reader into the heart of this family, through the good times and the bad, and reminds us how wonderful it is to be loved. I look forward to reading her following books.

I am sorry - I couldn't finish it. When I find myself doing almost anything but reach for my Kindle because of the book I'm reading, its time to stop. I wanted so badly to slap some sense into the main character and slap her so-called "Christian" counselor. This is a Christian book, at least in theory, but up to the part I tossed it, God is mentioned only barely in passing and more in reference to church and desperate prayers. Maybe the book improved in all these areas sometime later but I wasn't willing to wallow through everyone's self pity and selfishness to get to it.

The main characters spend most of this book indulging in selfish, stupid behavior, especially the female "lead" character who nearly destroys her life through her egocentric wallowing in guilt.

I know people behave like this in reality, but they are downright toxic to be around. I can not imagine any reason why I would care to read a novel--especially a moralistic, preachy novel--which spends nearly its entire length dwelling on this behavior.

The other characters spend too much time trying to manipulate each other, with foolish plots that would almost certainly have been discovered in reality far sooner than in the novel.

I had to force myself to finish this book, and the "resolution" was contrived, unbelievable, and a let-down.

Christmas is a great Holiday. This book was so depressing, and the daughter most selfish. We all deal with crisis in our daily lives, but this book had not story line besides the mother dying. If the last few pages are supose to make up the Christmas story, It was major lacking. That is my opinion. I read alot of different books, I can and do like heartwarming stories, but this one was to lacking.

One Imperfect Christmas by Myra Johnson is a poignant look at how tragedy can shatter a family. Natalie Pearce loves her life, and although she may complain about her messy husband or her teenage daughter's attitude, she's happy working part time as a graphic designer and painting in her spare time. Three weeks after Christmas, she receives a phone call that brings her entire world to a shuddering crash; her mother has suffered a severe stroke and will most likely never recover. What brings Natalie to her knees is the knowledge that if she had just answered her mother's plea for help putting Christmas decorations away, her mother wouldn't have had the stroke while alone and may have received treatment in time to recover. Natalie's guilt propels her into pushing away everyone she loves and focusing on nothing but her work. As a new Christmas approaches, she is filled with both dread and hope, can she have one more "perfect" Christmas with her family? Every character is so wrapped up in themselves that it will take a miracle to bring them back together. Johnson performs with precision an autopsy on this dying family, portraying to readers each wound and sadness. My one complaint with the book is that in the 49 weeks the book covers, Lissa, the teenage daughter, never ages beyond 13. If her birthday was in the three weeks not covered, it should have been referenced somewhere! That petty point aside, Johnson's novel has a powerful lesson for readers about learning to love and letting go of regret.

This story was just okay. I really didn't like any of the characters. I didn't connect to a single one. I was honesty frustrated with the lack of communication between Natalie and Daniel...no wonder they separated. They have the worst communication on earth! They both want each other back but refuse to say so...just terrible. Then their bratty, mouthy daughter Lissa thinks that meddling at Natalie's job to get her mother fired was a good idea. That was ridiculous. I can't believe that a grown adult (young, but grown) would go along with a 13 year old's idea to sabotaging her own boss. More ridiculousness... To top it off, Natalie just forgave her and Lissa without a second thought. Craziness. I guess lucky for Lissa her mom was preoccupied with her mother dying.

Honestly, this story dragged on longer than it needed to. It's suppose to be a nice "Christmasy" read. We experience Natalie basically breaking down after her mother has a serious stroke which changes her for life. Her marriage falls apart and her relationship with her daughter becomes strained. We see Natalie's family butting into her relationship. Her brother, Hart trying to create circumstances for them to be in the same place, while he had good intensions, it was still a little fake, most men don't do that kind of stuff. I'd expect that more from Hart's wife than him. I thought the scene when Daniel rode out on the old, fat, scary acting horse "Pokey" to see his Natalie and Lissa was hilarious.

I did feel a bad for Natalie's father, pretty bad losing a spouse to a stroke. It's like she's no longer there. It was so sad to read Belinda speaking to her husband so naturally, except it was in only her mind. She couldn't physically get the words out, instead her words come out as mumble/moaning. That was sad.

I would call this book Christian "lite" because I couldn't really tell if this book was Christian fiction until towards the end. It had a hint of it all throughout, but at the end there was more of church, bible verses and "thank you Jesus" going on. I didn't mind it, but I'm glad that it wasn't overly preachy, It had what you expect from a feel good book, there's a dilemma, a moral and a happy-ish ending.

Overall, this book was just something to read and free. I probably won't purchase a book from this author.

Do yourself a favor and go "home" for the holidays ... to experience Christmas like you've never experienced it before! Bravo to Myra Johnson for a debut novel that not only inspires and uplifts, but takes you "home" to the true meaning of Christmas with a tender tale of healing, hope and new beginnings.

With compelling prose, characters who feel like family and a plot so achingly real that the journey becomes yours, Ms. Johnson deftly leads the reader to a place where Christmas is more than twinkle lights on a tree or ribboned gifts beneath a pine-scented bough. A place where hearts reconnect with loved ones and the Savior's message of new birth embraces not only the characters you fall in love with, but you as a reader as well. So brew a cup of Christmas tea, put your feet up and keep the tissues handy--the true spirit of Christmas awaits!

This is not the typical feel-good Christmas book. It's a story of a family struggling through a rough time. Sometimes, they operate as a loving family, but more often, they pull apart. It's a bit of a tearjerker.

Natalie is a complex character caught up in guilt and operating in a chaotic world of her own making. She overreacts to her mother's stroke by first clinging to her side and then by diving headlong into work. Her husband and daughter are pushed away and sadly neglected. The readers learns how easily a good marriage can go haywire through neglect and how a parent-child relationship can quickly become strained.

Although the topic is gloomy, this Christian fiction book has an uplifting theme: "learn to love and forgive."