Predictable

Thoughts on THE CHRISTMAS DRESS

~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing today? Not much going on here. We got our Covid boosters on Thursday. Had some aches and pain the next day, but nothing some aspirin didn’t take care of. So, we’re good to sit in the house and avoid people for another six months! Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of the month, which means it’s book review time. This month, I decided to step completely outside of my comfort zone and into potential Hallmark Christmas movie territory. I wanted something happy and annoyingly cutesy, so I requested The Christmas Dress by Courtney Cole. It was released yesterday (October 26th) from William Morrow Paperbacks (an imprint of HarperCollins). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

Cute cover.

The Christmas Dress follows Meg Julliard who returns to her Chicago home after her father’s death. She leaves behind a bad ex as well as a budding fashion career in NYC to take care of a 1920s era apartment building filled with elderly residents and so many things that need to be fixed. With very little money and no idea what she’s doing, Meg thinks things are impossible. But with a little help from the residents, the hunky handyman, and a smidge of luck, things just might turn around.

Sounds sickeningly sweet, doesn’t it? It is. It has everything you could ask for in a Hallmark holiday movie. Quirky best friends and random new friends, manly dudes to lust after and fall in love with, and so much drama that you know will work out perfectly. Plotwise, there are plenty of twists and turns, but none of them are unexpected. Awkward moment with the ex witnessed by the new beau? Right on cue. Drama from the new beau’s manipulative ex? Ditto! I can honestly say I’ve only read like three books in this particular genre in my life and they all have the same basic plot points. That’s not bad. It’s a really popular structure. It just leaves little to be said that hasn’t already been said.

The characters are all sweet and endearing, except for the two exes. As it should be. Personally, I thought Meg was over the top dramatic, especially when it comes to Logan’s ex. Who in their right mind would decide to break up with their new boyfriend without even listening to his thoughts on drama that he had no idea was coming? And she puts her decision on him because she repeatedly says that he’s such a good guy that he’ll end up doing the “right thing” despite the fact that he’s flat out said he’s not going back to the ex for any reason. Meg’s whole value system is stuck in the 1920s along with the apartment building. It’s creepy. And she flat out refuses to listen to people who actually have experience with the manipulating so and so, which causes more drama. She only chills when her bestie does some light cyber stalking and says the bitch is crazy. That is so weird to me. Luckily, everyone else in this book is relatively sane.

As far as the writing goes, it flowed nicely and made for a quick read. There were some things that made me raise an eyebrow, but I have a feeling they’re pretty standard for the genre. Like, every time Logan shows up, Meg’s ovaries tingle. I don’t know what that means. I understand it’s code for him making her horny, but my ovaries have never been the bits that tingle. It’s an hilarious phrase to run across, though.

Ultimately, The Christmas Dress was exactly what I wanted it to be. Nothing more, nothing less. It was fun and corny and predictable. I won’t be looking for another one like it for a while.

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Overall, I gave it 4 out of five stars. Like I said, it was exactly what I wanted, but it didn’t offer anything new either. If Hallmark holiday movies are your thing, it’s definitely worth a read.

Thoughts On THE WIFE BETWEEN US

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Howdy, howdy!  It’s the last Wednesday in January, which means it’s time for another book review.  This time, I decided to go for something I wouldn’t usually pick up.  It’s called The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and was released on January 9th.  It received a lot of hype and a friend recommended it to me as she had also been able to pick up an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC).  Yes, I got another ARC from NetGalley, so I must thank them and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.  Let’s get to the reason you’re here now!

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The Wife Between Us is a domestic suspense novel that follows a woman, Vanessa, as she stalks her ex-husband’s (Richard’s) new fiancé and tries to prevent their marriage.  Sounds simple enough, right?  It’s not.  The blurb on the book tells us all the things we’re supposed to assume as we’re reading, then tells us to assume nothing.  That was a huge red flag for me, basically saying “hey this book is going to be convoluted and annoying!”  But I chose to read it anyway.

I admit that by the end of Part One, I was really disappointed.  I had figured out the big reveal within the first few chapters and kept telling myself I couldn’t have guessed it that easily.  The book promised twists and turns and unimaginable things.  So, when I turned out to be on the right track, the book became less fun, because the “aha” moments became “yeah, and?” moments.  Part Two was a little better with the twists, but it was still pretty easy to decipher what was going to happen.  Though, I admit that the last big reveal was something I didn’t see coming.  But at that point, I had stopped caring about the characters I was supposed to care about.  I mostly wanted to know what was going on with Richard and his sister (the one connection the authors didn’t over-explain).  That was the creepiest relationship in the whole book.

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Pretty sure that was the face I was making the whole time.

Even though I mostly figured things out ahead of time, I admit that it was a fun, quick read.  The writing style was able to draw me in and the conversational tone allowed me to stop and let the narrator know she was being an idiot (yes, I talk to other people’s characters too) without interrupting my reading flow.  So, I’m not say it was bad, just predictable.

The major thing that I didn’t care for about the book was that it felt like two different stories mashed together.  It was as if one author wanted to write about a woman escaping an abusive relationship while trying to prevent her ex from abusing anyone else (a good premise), and the other author wanted to write about a woman whose mistakes in college haunted her the rest of her life (another good premise).  But, instead of trimming things away to make a nice, cohesive story, they just stuck everything together and hoped it worked.  Most of the time, it was okay, but there were parts that I kept looking at and asking myself what the point was.

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Not an uncommon reaction while reading this.

Ultimately, The Wife Between Us was an okay book.  I’m not upset I read it or anything, but I’m not going to rush out and look for everything else by these two authors.  It simply wasn’t my cup of tea for the reasons listed here.

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Overall, I’d rate it a 3 out of 5.  If you’re into books like that, you will probably love it.  If you’re not, skipping it isn’t going to hurt your reading list.