12.28.2016 | Wednesday

The Christmas Wish

Item: The Christmas Wish
Rating: 3.5
Author: Kim

category: Book Reviews
tag(s): adult
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title: The Christmas Wish
author: Nora Roberts
published: 18 October 2016
publisher: Silhouette
genre(s): contemporary, romance
pages: 336
source: bought
format: paperback
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

rating:

the blurb

Fall for romance this holiday season…

All I Want For Christmas
Identical twin boys Zeke and Zach only want one gift from Santa this year: a new wife for their lonely single dad, Mac Taylor, a builder who fixes things up in their small town. But convincing their love-wary dad that their music teacher, Nell Davis, is not only part of Santa's plan, but Mac's soul mate, isn't quite as easy as they'd hoped…

First Impressions
When Vance Banning moves to rural Maryland, all he wants is peace, quiet and to keep away from women. The last thing he needs is his outspoken—yet infuriatingly sexy—neighbor, Shane Abbott, getting into his business. But he has no idea how determined Shane is when it comes to giving a helping hand—or a loving heart.

my review

This book is a collection of two novellas, All I Want for Christmas and First Impressions. Both of these are previously released novellas that had been packaged with other holiday bundles by the author.

All I Want for Christmas

This was a cute read, full of the holiday theme. Mac’s twin boys, Zach and Zeke, are in the market for a new mother. And, of course, hilarity ensues as they plot and scheme to make that happen. What is most heartwarming about this novella is their total belief in Christmas magic. It might be a little predictable, but that is to be expected in a holiday read!

First Impressions

The second novella is a little longer and tells the story of Vance and Shane. There is a little more meat to this story and that made me enjoy the story just a little more. The story went beyond just the romance and delved into some other darker issues that made it feel just a little more realistic. However, calling this a holiday romance might be a little bit of a stretch. The only real “holiday” moment came when they got a tree!

As with most holiday-themed novellas, the stories are a tad predictable. The first story was definitely in the sweet category, a fun read with a happy ending. The second one had some instalove, which is something I usually hate, but it was offset by the darker elements of the story. All in all, it was probably my favorite of the two. I love Nora Roberts, and while these were not my favorites of her books, they were still an enjoyable holiday read!

About Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. After a school career that included some time in Catholic school and the discipline of nuns, she married young and settled in Keedysville, Maryland.
She worked briefly as a legal secretary. “I could type fast but couldn’t spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever,” she says now. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate.
Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.
Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time, they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore together.
Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms. Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice between figuring men out or running away screaming.
Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”