Review: Sweet Christmas story with a supernatural twist, but the heroine was a little off-putting
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2012
A sweet, romantic tale in time for the Holidays. I enjoyed this quick read for its message of hope, faith, love and forgiveness. Since her husband's death in Iraq three years ago, Emma has had a hard time letting go of her grief, especially around Christmas. Traditions and memories overwhelm her, and also the fact that she sees Larry's ghost every Christmas Eve. For a short time, once a year, she's able to feel close to him again. But it's not enough. She seeks out a medium that could help her contact Larry so she'd be able to have him around whenever she needs him. Okay, I could almost buy into that part. They had a wonderful marriage and were deeply in love. Why wouldn't she be grasping at straws?Then there's her hot firefighter neighbor Jake Nicklaus. He's been a friend to her ever since he moved in next door. He helps her with odd jobs around the house, listens to her and lets her cry her heart out. He's become her rock. What she doesn't know is that Larry also visits Jake. They once served together, and it's because Jake got hurt that Larry took his place on the helicopter that got shot down. Larry wants Jake to help Emma find her Christmas spirit again, for her sake and that of their children. It's sweet so far. But what bothered me about this story was Emma. I got that she was grieving, but it's been three years, and she doesn't realize that she's kind of putting a damper on everything for her kids? Just because she's miserable doesn't mean they have to be. Then to make things worse, Emma begins to notice that Jake knows things only Larry would have known. She gets it in her head that perhaps Jake is the means to get through to Larry. I felt like she was just going to use him, but to what? A little Ghost re-enactment where Larry's spirit enters Jake's body or the three of them have a sit down and a chit chat? I never understood exactly how Emma thought that was going to play out.  She'd feel some attraction to Jake only to slam down those feelings out of guilt, and then she'd start up with her thoughts of asking Jake to help her reach Larry.If there was anything really good about this story, it was Jake's relationship with the children. He was caring, sweet, attentive. He had his heart in the right place. The ending was very touching and left a great visual. Overall this romantic fantasy was short and sweet, but I do wish Emma hadn't been quite so .... needy. If three years hadn't already passed, I'd have bought her selfishness a little easier.