Review: Charming and very sweet!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2013
**I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**First, I would like to say how much I love this cover! Maybe I'm just a sucker for blue (and Christmas!), but I think it fits the book perfectly-- festive and oh so cute! When I was first approached by the author to review By Proxy, I knew I had to give it a shot. First of all, the concept was something completely different-- and, honestly, centered around something I had never even heard of before: a double proxy wedding.For those of you saying "huh?" like I did, here is the definition according to Wikipedia: "A proxy wedding or (proxy marriage) is a wedding in which the bride or groom (or both) is not physically present, usually being represented instead by another person. If both partners are absent a double proxy wedding occurs." This actually very interesting to me, and I can see how, in some instances, this practice can be extremely helpful-- with military couples (which is true for this novel), for example. But, despite that, it just screams impersonal to me. Oh well, to each their own! Obviously they don't do this by choice.Now that I've sufficiently veered off course, I'll get back to what I thought about By Proxy! I will admit that this story was a bit difficult for me to get into in the beginning. I was having a very hard time connecting to the characters and had my fingers crossed tightly for something exciting to happen. After pushing through the first parts of the book, though, I had a much easier time and ended up really enjoying the story.Jenny, a teacher, is exactly as the blurb depicts her: stubbornly small-town. But she's also very sweet, and has a heart of gold. But those things definitely don't mean that she isn't tough. Being the baby of the family with three older brothers, she definitely knows how to stand up for herself. When she meets Sam, who makes them late for their appointment and doesn't make a good first impression at all, she writes him off as an arrogant man who has no respect for her down-home lifestyle. And while Sam does seem to look down on life in a small down, it turns out that he truly appreciates it at heart. Originally, I found the two main characters to be pretty judgmental of each other, feeding into stereotypes. But once the story really got moving, I was hooked and found I really enjoyed their interactions with each other. There were laugh-out-loud moments for me, and this story turned out to be extremely heartwarming.In the end, I found this novel to be completely charming and so sweet. I became quite attached to the characters and found myself really invested in how their story would play out. I loved that the basis of this story was something new and different. And by pairing all of the sigh-worthy, romantic moments with Christmas and the holidays, Katy really gives us something magical. If you're a sucker for Christmas stories and books about finding love in the most unexpected of places, this one needs to go on your list!