BOOK REVIEW:
Their Christmas Family Miracle
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| Where's Edward? |
This review is part of a personal Christmas reading
challenge. No rules, only that I try to aim to read and review the 5 Harlequin
Christmas-themed books I grabbed for my first round of playing catch-up on literary
escapism.
Book #2 on that pile is Their
Christmas Family Miracle by Caroline Anderson. So that title pretty much
gives a hint as to what the book is about—it’ll be, duh, set in Christmas and
it’ll have something to do with a family.
Family usually = kids, and for some readers romances don’t
equal kids.
I mean, what’s romantic about family? Squalling babies with
soiled diapers crushing and sucking away the entire libido with their totally
off-schedule late-night deedings and such…*shudder* Family should equal no
sexlandia, and tbh (or at least imho) it does.
At least for the most part I find families are usually part
of the community atmosphere in Harlequin’s sweeter romance series. You won’t
find a whole lot of secondary cast support in a Harlequin Presents, or a
Harlequin Blaze—babies maybe. But they sleep a lot and an average of 16 hours
of sleep = a lot of time for sex. It’s when they learn to open doors…
But I personally love family stories. Because sometimes I
just want to read about how the H/h juggle their work lives with their personal
lives outside of the relationship. Case in point with Their Christmas Family Miracle, heroine Amelia “Millie” Jones not only has to worry about three kids and a dog with health problems, she also
is homeless at the book’s opening.
Yup. Straight from the get-go I was sorta battling tears,
especially when she’s being thrown out with her children and by HER SISTER of
all people. Her friggin’ sister—I mean, what the heck is up with that? I sure
as damn well know my sisters would never pull garbage like that, and because
the relationship between the sisters wasn’t really explored, I wasn’t able to
suss out if they were close or not.
I got the sense they weren’t because Millie has a best
friend who acts as a WAY better sister.
What I loved about Millie is that she was industrious. Even
though she’s been forced out a job and into full-time motherhood, she seems like
she was the type to work out of the home. The interactions with the children
brought a smile to my face—especially the ones with baby Thomas. :) (I’m a
sucker for infants).
I know I’ve already mentioned this in my last review, but I’m
really beginning to believe that heroes who aren’t Alphas can be super sexy, too!
I mean sexy nowadays = this:
Or in my case this:
And that’s all nice and now, but man oh man was Jake
Forrester something smouldering… Phew. I think he’s just what I needed now with
the coming winter cold.
He’s introduced as an asshole all ready to throw Mille and
her kids from his home—a home he actually was supposed to be away from for the
Christmas and New Years—but then he changes his mind and contracts Millie as
his housekeeper in turn for a place for her family to stay.
Who changes his mind? The children and the dog. Jake is one
part tough-businessman, and other half total family guy and a sap for Cavaliers
in particular. So he basically adopts the Joneses family for the holidays and
signs himself up for more than just a housekeeper.
And…they have sex! I’ve read three other Harlequin Romances,
and none of those had sex scenes. But this one does! The one with the largest
family has a sex scene! Just one is described, and not in too-great detail
because of this specific category’s reader expectations, but we got one folks!
(For those of us who wanted Millie and Jack to knock each other’s socks off…just
saying. Hehe.)
The only thing that threw me off—for which I knocked off .5
from a perfect rating—and it’s totally miniscule but it bugged the heck out of me and I can surmise it in
one word: Andy.
Well actually to be fair Millie’s sister, Laura, and Laura’s
husband, Andy. I mean whattheflippintableland! They were SO messed up. These
two were the ones who unknowingly kicked off the chain that forced Millie to
accept the offer to occupy Jake’s empty home and so on...
Laura and Andy kick out Millie and then at the end: Lo and
behold! There’s an explanation for all of it. Andy and Laura can’t have kids!
Ah! I know right? It explains everything, right? They can’t have kids, so they
couldn’t stand the sight of Millie’s children. Why didn’t I think of that at
the start?
Seriously. ~50K of wondering why her sister was an immense
butthole and it’s all explained in the next to last page…
(*- m -)
*sigh*
(*- m -)
*sigh*
Other than that blip on one of the last few pages and the
minor stain with the Millie and Jake’s HEA, I loved Their Christmas Family Miracle and I suspect you will, too,
reader-who-will-now-go-out-and-buy-this-book.
Go. Now. For the love of this adorable puppy!
My verdict:
✮✮✮✮.5
(4.5 stars)
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