Author: Michele Gorman
Publisher: Notting Hill Press
Publication Date: September, 2013
Genre: Chick-Lit
Description: One winter wedding, two happy couples, three ex-boyfriends. And a very uncomfortable weekend.
Carol hates Christmas. Being recently dumped, she’s not crazy about weddings either. So her sister Marley’s nuptials, over the Christmas weekend, are making her positively Scrooge-like. When she arrives at the stately home in rural Scotland to find her three ex-boyfriends in attendance, Carol has no choice but to face her ghosts to discover what really happened in those relationships, learning a lot about herself in the process. As the snow falls outside and the fire crackles in the hearth, might one of the wedding guests become the harbinger of Christmases to come?
This wickedly funny re-imagining of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol will warm the cockles of even the coldest heart.
My Thoughts: This book was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. I am not a fan of Christmas myself, so my inner Scrooge really could relate to this story. I loved this story. To begin with, the wedding is in Scotland, my favorite place in the whole world. Send me to Scotland at Christmas time and my Scroogeness will melt away. However, our heroine does not share that feeling with me. Carol has to attend her sister’s wedding after a recent breakup where she will have to spend a weekend stuck in a house with no 3G and her exes in attendance. Bah Humbug…
In addition to the ex-boyfriends, Carol also has to spend time with many extended family members that she seems to have no affection or tolerance for. Throughout the weekend, Carol finds herself trying to find out why her relationships with these men didn’t work. Somehow, in her mind, Carol has equated happiness with perfection. She has strived to make her life perfect believing that she will be happy, but it never works out. Carol has closed off her feelings, believing if she has feelings, she can be hurt. It’s absolutely true, but she is missing out on so much of the joy life can offer.
I really admired Carol for making the effort to find out what went wrong even though it meant she would have some difficult lessons to learn about herself. Most of us couldn’t be that brave. Carol realizes that shutting off her feelings kept the pain of being hurt away, but she stopped feeling everything and was unable to find true happiness. I loved the moment when Carol realizes that feeling emotions, even painful ones, doesn’t kill her or make her a weak person. She also realizes that the world is still the same and that it’s okay to be flawed. I truly feel this is a message all of us can relate to.
My Final Verdict: Overall, this book is a fantastic chick-lit version of Dickens’ classic tale that offers a wonderful blend of humor and romance to thaw out even the most Scrooge like of hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment