Stevie‘s review of Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses by Jenny Hale
Contemporary Holiday Romance published by Forever 30 Oct 18
I decided I might as well start reading Christmas books early for once, and the blurb of this one appealed because it mentioned interior design, which is a topic I’m rather keen on in my own small way. Added to which it has a wealthy hero who seems to actually do some work for his money, rather than just being wealthy, and a heroine who may finally get to follow her career dreams. So far so good…
Abbey Fuller had plans to be an interior designer from an early age; however, pregnancy, coupled with a no-good boyfriend, led to her raising her son alone and training as a nurse instead, because that seemed a more practical way to start earning and paying her bills. Now with her son an energetic six year old, and her mother struggling to take care of her own disabled but fiercely independent father, Abbey is working as a carer for the elderly grandmother of a multimillionaire. She hasn’t entirely give up her creative aspirations, though, having helped brighten up her lady’s cottage with a few carefully chosen – and well outside her own budget – pieces. That leads to the suggestion that she take on the project to decorate her actual employer’s home in time for Christmas, when he’ll be entertaining the rest of his immediate family, all of whom have been nagging him to actually turn his house into a home.
Nick Sinclair is driven by the need to make the businesses he inherited even more successful than they were when his father was alive and to constantly add to his portfolio just to prove that he can. Although he owns a big house, he lives in only one or two rooms, leaving the rest shut up and empty after his wife walked out on him. Having hired Abbey to do one job, he now believes she is capable of doing something totally different in her spare time, thus saving him the bother of hiring any of the professional decorators who’ve already quoted for the work. And this is pretty much the point at which I decided I didn’t like Nick; he tells Abbey the lowest sum that he’s been quoted – presumably to hire more than a one-person crew – without detailing what that included, then offers her half the amount, plus expenses. Abbey for her part is so astonished at the chance of earning in a few weeks what she’d normally take home over three years, that she doesn’t question what sort of deal she’s getting or how she’s going to juggle two jobs with her responsibilities towards her son and the rest of the family.
This being a modern fairy story, things work out far better than I’d have expected, and Nick comes to realise that making money isn’t the be-all and end-all of his life. I liked both Nick’s and Abbey’s families, which saved this from getting a lower grade than just being average, but I did get a feeling that the author might have originally written Abbey as a good few years younger and then been asked to age her up. None of her backstory or current personality seemed to fit with a woman who’d had a child at 24, having failed to get any qualifications beforehand. Nor did anything about her feel like she was now a thirty-year-old mother to a six-year-old. Not the best start to my festive reading, I’m afraid.
Grade: C
Summary:
Single mother Abbey Fuller loves her family more than anything, and she doesn’t regret for a moment having had to put her dreams of being an interior designer on hold. But with her son, Max, growing up, she jumps at the chance when a friend recommends her for a small design job. How hard can it be?
Nick Sinclair needs his house decorated in time for his family’s festive visit-and money is no object. What he doesn’t need is to be distracted from his multimillion-dollar business-even if it is Christmas.
When Abbey pulls up to the huge Sinclair mansion, she has a feeling she might be out of her depth. And when she meets the gorgeous, brooding Nicholas Sinclair, she knows that she’s in real trouble . . .
With the snow falling all around them, can Abbey make her dreams of being a designer come true? And can she help Nick to finally enjoy the magic of Christmas?
No excerpt available.
