CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR

Author: Lisa Kleypas ISBN: 9780312605865 11/2010 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS

ONE LITTLE GIRL NEEDS A FAMILY One rain-slicked night, six-year-old Holly lost the only parent she knew, her beloved mother Victoria. And since that night, she has never again spoken a word. ONE SINGLE MAN NEEDS A WIFE The last thing Mark Nolan needs is a six-year-old girl in his life. But he soon realizes that he will do everything he can to make her life whole again. His sister’s will gives him the instructions: There’s no other choice but you. Just start by loving her. The rest will follow. SOMETIMES, IT TAKES A LITTLE MAGIC… Maggie Collins doesn’t dare believe in love again, after losing her husband of one year. But she does believe in the magic of imagination. As the owner of a toy shop, she lives what she loves. And when she meets Holly Nolan, she sees a little girl in desperate need of a little magic. …TO MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE Three lonely people. Three lives at the crossroads. Three people who are about to discover that Christmas is the time of year when anything is possible, and when wishes have a way of finding the path home…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Around the holiday season, I am a sucker for holiday-based romances.  Contemporary, historical, inspirational—I'll read them all.  So I was very excited when I saw that Kleypas had a new holiday romance coming out.  Her historical romances always delight me, so I was eager to see how her contemporaries affected me.

Very much so, sums it up perfectly.

This is a quiet novel.  There aren't any huge disasters or moments of eye-popping shock.  There are smaller moments that mean more emotionally—the first time Holly spoke again after her mother's accident; when Maggie realized that it was okay to love again; Mark realizing that a little bit of make-believe can go a long way to healing a child's grief.  They're the kind of moments that tug at your heart strings and make you thankful to have family and loved ones.

I appreciated that this wasn't a case of instant love solves all problems.  For a long while, Maggie and Mark remained friends, united in their affection for Holly and their want to see her healed and whole again.  There was definitely attraction between them, but Mark had a girlfriend and neither felt ready to take such a big step.

This is a much shorter novel than I anticipated, but even so, the pacing is easy and flows well.  The manner in which Mark becomes single left me with a bad taste, however; until that point, his girlfriend had seemed like a decent sort of person.  Suddenly she became this unreasonable person who couldn't seem to understand Mark's position at all.  It seemed abrupt and ill-placed.

The secondary characters—Mark's two brothers, Maggie's shop assistant, various other family members of Maggie's—were pleasant, but just pretty decoration.  The story was more about Maggie and Mark overcoming their past difficulties to have a better future.  Sage advice was offered from several quarters, as well as some cautionary warnings. 

In the end, CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR is a sweet, heartwarming, holiday novel that would be perfect for a cozy night with hot cocoa to put you in the mood for the season of goodwill.

Alexandra Cenni