Review: A sweet Holiday short story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2014
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.Holly and Brandt met while in college and had the perfect marriage until they reached the first hardship. Then they were divorced parents of three young children. The story begins two years later with both Holly and Brandt unhappy because they both still love each other. With the help of their friends and family, they reunite at Christmas. This story has a little bit of everything: love reunited at Christmas, a New Year's Eve wedding and a bar fight thrown in.I'm all for a HEA story--after all reading is an escape from reality! However I found this one to be a bit too saccharine and one-dimensional. In all fairness, if 1/2 stars were available, The premise behind the story line is creative, but the plot and characters are rather flat for a stand-alone book. Everything happens a bit too conveniently--even the conflict. I would have much preferred that story dealt with Brandt's and Holly's original problem more thoroughly instead of interjecting what felt like a contrived betrayal by a former bestie. This book has more of a short story feel to it.The story is delightful in that it is a feel-good holiday tale of love re-united, and I would re-read the story in a heartbeat if the author reworked it and beefed it up a bit in terms of character and relationship development as well as added some nuanced complexity to the plot.This review was done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official.