Monday, October 28, 2013

A Nantucket Christmas by Nancy Thayer

 
The Gist:
      When Nicole and Sebastian fall in love and decide to get married, they realize that they will have a few bumps along the way.  When Sebastian’s grown daughter, Kennedy, from his first marriage and her family decide to come stay in Nantucket for the Christmas holiday, Nicole, who has never had children, is thrilled at the idea of having a child to celebrate with.  Unfortunately Kennedy has her mind set on hating Nicole, and finding a way to reunite her parents.
      A Nantucket Christmas is a story of a boy in need of a dog, a dog in need of a boy, and a blended family, coming together for the holidays.

What I thought:
      First of all, let me say I LOVE Christmas books (bet you couldn’t tell that by the number of Christmas stories I’ve blogged about so far).  I think that there is just something about the holidays that makes people feel good, and most novels set at this time of the year do the same.  This story is no exception.  I loved reading about Nicole decorating and going all out for Christmas to make it special for Maddox (Kennedy’s son).  I loved reading about the traditions of Nantucket, and would not be opposed to visiting!  But mostly, I loved how everything wrapped up, leaving me feeling at peace.
      The problems that I had with this story are very minimal, and wouldn’t stop me from revisiting these characters, but I do need to mention them.  The character of Kennedy was hard for me to stomach, as was the intent.  I just couldn’t wrap my brain around how an adult could behave so horrendously and immaturely.  Reading this novel, I was struck by the thought that there might actually be people in the world like this, and that is scary.  The character of Maddox was very likeable, and I did enjoy watching how Kennedy softened around her son, but he did not talk like any three-year-old I have ever met (and I work with a class of toddlers twice a week).  My last gripe is just a personal preference; I don’t care for writing from an animal’s point of view in a novel.  There was not a lot of it, but when I would get to a chapter written from the dog’s perspective I was not thrilled.
      Lately I have found myself judging books on my eagerness to find chances to sneak in another chapter.  I really enjoyed this book, and flew through the chapters, was it a favorite, no, but it was still pretty good.  I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick Christmas read. 

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