Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor Advance Book Review *Lisa Kleypas*

Coffee business owner, Mark Nolan becomes the guardian of his six-year-old niece Holly after her mother dies in a car accident. Mark has no clue how to raise a child, nor does he really want to, but has no choice. He looks toward his brother Sam for help. Sam allows Mark and Holly to move in with him at his recently required vineyard. Their other brother, the unemotional standoffish Alex is going through his own problems with a marriage on the verge of divorce. Mark’s business is in Friday Harbor and he loves living on the island that has about eight-thousand inhabitants, although the woman he’s seeing lives in Seattle, Washington. But Mark has no plans to settle down with any woman at the moment.

Six months later, Holly is still trying to get over her mother’s death. She refuses to talk, and Mark and Sam don’t know what to do. But then Mark takes Holly into a toy story called the Magic Mirror where she meets the owner, Maggie Collins. Not only is Mark struck by how beautiful and down to earth Maggie is, but she gets Holly to talk. Mark wants to get to know Maggie better, but she keeps him at a distance. She is still getting over the death of her husband to cancer two years later, and although she is very attracted to him, she feels they are better off only as friends.

Holly begins to smile and enjoy life again, and soon Maggie can’t keep away from the little girl. Mark begins to rely on Maggie where she feels like she’s a part of the Nolan clan. And as the holidays arrive, Holly has one wish for Santa, and that’s for him to bring her a mom, which Maggie just may fit perfectly.

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor is a sweet and fast read, but it’s missing that spark I look forward to when reading a Lisa Kleypas novel. Maybe because this is a novella, there just wasn’t enough space to really have an in depth story. We only get a small insight on who Mark and Maggie are. The romance is very subtle and doesn’t even scratch that itch.

I would say this is a simple book, and if you’re looking for a passionate, all-consuming romance, look elsewhere. I also wonder based on Friday Harbor, if Lisa Kleypas is changing her writing style since she now claims herself to be an author of Women’s Fiction and not a romance author as she started out as. All in all, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor was so-so reading and a bit of a disappointment for this reader. (St. Martin’s Press, available October 26th)

Final Grade: C+

Another Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor review:
Dirty Sexy Books