Description:
Grace Flaherty had given up hope of ever seeing her husband again. After all, it'd been over a year picked this up since he went missing in combat. So when he strides through the door of her bakery in downtown Christmas one sunny afternoon, she can hardly believe her eyes. But her happily-ever-after is going to take some effort - because Jack has no memory of his family.
All Jack Flaherty remembers about Christmas is that he couldn't wait to leave town. Now he's a local hero with a wife and son he doesn't know. Even as he struggles to rekindle the romance with his wife, he knows in his heart what he wants: a second chance at love.
MY TAKE:
3 Stars
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. There really is no good way around them for this book if I am going to tell you about it.
I picked this book up from Amazon because I love celebrating Christmas in July for a day or a week when stores have sales and such, even watching Christmas movies on TV (Hallmark did that this past summer for Christmas in July) but most of all I wanted to read a great Christmas story as this is the season for them now. I believe this was the largest disappointment for me that it did NOT take place during Christmas. This is a new author for me, too, one I have to get used to her writing.
The descsription of this book as to 'when' this story occurred was not listed, so I did the worse thing you can do, I 'assumed' this took place during the Christmas season, my fault. I assumed, and we all know what assume means! The book takes place in the town of Christmas. This book is a full novel, not a novella like most of the Christmas books out there, and in case you are the type of person who is wants ONLY 'clean' romances, this is not fully clean, as it did have a few scenes hot scenes in it. for one week
The descsription of this book as to 'when' this story occurred was not listed, so I did the worse thing you can do, I 'assumed' this took place during the Christmas season, my fault. I assumed, and we all know what assume means! The book takes place in the town of Christmas. This book is a full novel, not a novella like most of the Christmas books out there, and in case you are the type of person who is wants ONLY 'clean' romances, this is not fully clean, as it did have a few scenes hot scenes in it. for one week
Spoiler: I will say at the end of the book they 'did' make a week, from the 24th to the 30th a celebration of Christmas, though, so perhaps in her later books she may do something with this time of the year. I don't think knowing that WILL spoil the end of the book, but it can't hurt to list it.
So poor Grace Flaherty gave up on her marriage on the day her husband would turn 35, because by now he had been presumed missing in action for over 1-1/2 years. She has heard nothing from him or the military. She has a little boy and must get on with her life for the sake of her son. She starts a business of her own, a bakery. She LOVES it!
One day Jack ends up walking into the bakery. There he is, full of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (I am glad there ARE books out here that involve this because it is a huge problem where soldiers are NOT being treated for it. This 'is' all the buzz in Washington as of the date I am writing this review, 12-11-14. Congress has decided something needs to be done about it because we have too many soldiers out there that are dealing with this. With this author writing a book like this, I hope someone has read this and is using it for this problem. GREAT job by this author, Debbie Mason!)
Jack has lost ALL of his long term memory, all of it from the point of the accident and behind. As a saced prisoner of war, when he woke up in the hospital he was in, the only memory he had was from that point on. He didn't even know he was married, but did find his way back to Grace, and without Grace's knowledge. He had had an affair with a fellow MIA woman, Maria DeMarco. Maria does make an appearance in this book later in the story assuming she'll get Jack back.
Jack's memory problems do bother Grace at times and she tried to be as understanding as she could be, but she expected since he had never met his own son which bothered her, she thought Jack would be more of a father figure than what he turned out to be. With as much work as it took Jack to try to remember things and things he had to learn to redo, Maria is on his mind. Grace's nerves were running short, as they should have been. Jack didn't really seem to be working on remembering things. It took a LOT of work by Grace to help Jack. There were so many problems between the two of them, Maria especially being one, as he still remembered her. Grace really couldn't be too angry about that since Jack didn't know who he was, but still . . . she couldn't help it as she IS his wife. There were so many obstacles for them to overcome, and it seemed like one after another and another. It just wasn't pleasant reading with all of them. Maria comes back, too. She thinks Jack is hers, and they have to deal with that, but even after then, more problems occur and this is where I felt the book was just dragging on. This is where I did not want to finish the book. I'm glad I did because there was another good twist at the end
Did I really 'like' this story? Yes and no. It seemed to drag on and on towards the end of this book, and that is what bothered me the most. I was ready for it to end, and I got to the point where I didn't want to pick the book back up again to finish it, but I did. There was a huge twist at the end of the book as I kept getting closer to the end, I was happy with how it turned out, but . . . another twist? Can't we wrap this up?
This is my opinion about this book. Other people loved this book, even giving it 5 stars, so I guess I need to read more from this author.
One day Jack ends up walking into the bakery. There he is, full of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (I am glad there ARE books out here that involve this because it is a huge problem where soldiers are NOT being treated for it. This 'is' all the buzz in Washington as of the date I am writing this review, 12-11-14. Congress has decided something needs to be done about it because we have too many soldiers out there that are dealing with this. With this author writing a book like this, I hope someone has read this and is using it for this problem. GREAT job by this author, Debbie Mason!)
Jack has lost ALL of his long term memory, all of it from the point of the accident and behind. As a saced prisoner of war, when he woke up in the hospital he was in, the only memory he had was from that point on. He didn't even know he was married, but did find his way back to Grace, and without Grace's knowledge. He had had an affair with a fellow MIA woman, Maria DeMarco. Maria does make an appearance in this book later in the story assuming she'll get Jack back.
Jack's memory problems do bother Grace at times and she tried to be as understanding as she could be, but she expected since he had never met his own son which bothered her, she thought Jack would be more of a father figure than what he turned out to be. With as much work as it took Jack to try to remember things and things he had to learn to redo, Maria is on his mind. Grace's nerves were running short, as they should have been. Jack didn't really seem to be working on remembering things. It took a LOT of work by Grace to help Jack. There were so many problems between the two of them, Maria especially being one, as he still remembered her. Grace really couldn't be too angry about that since Jack didn't know who he was, but still . . . she couldn't help it as she IS his wife. There were so many obstacles for them to overcome, and it seemed like one after another and another. It just wasn't pleasant reading with all of them. Maria comes back, too. She thinks Jack is hers, and they have to deal with that, but even after then, more problems occur and this is where I felt the book was just dragging on. This is where I did not want to finish the book. I'm glad I did because there was another good twist at the end
Did I really 'like' this story? Yes and no. It seemed to drag on and on towards the end of this book, and that is what bothered me the most. I was ready for it to end, and I got to the point where I didn't want to pick the book back up again to finish it, but I did. There was a huge twist at the end of the book as I kept getting closer to the end, I was happy with how it turned out, but . . . another twist? Can't we wrap this up?
This is my opinion about this book. Other people loved this book, even giving it 5 stars, so I guess I need to read more from this author.
Sounds like a good concept, but doesn't seem like a book I would enjoy based on your review.
ReplyDeleteHi Cynthia!
DeleteThanks for leaving a comment about Christmas In July! I was disappointed because I really thought they were going to do a REAL Christmas In July - maybe some sort of get-together with the town, a BBQ, something. At the end they decided to do it in July, but defeated my purpose for wanting to read this! Oh, well. Maybe this author will write one based on what the town decided? I hope so! I'd like to see what is in her head to pull off Christmas In July!
Thanks for stopping by! Glad my review helped you!
Laurie