Thursday, September 29, 2011

Christmas in September: An Angel for Christmas

An Angel for Christmas

About the Book:
Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne's impending divorce, Morwenna's slavish devotion to work and Bobby's reluctance to face what life has to offer. They've never felt less like a family.

Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears. He could be a criminal, a madman—or something far more unexpected. Despite their fears and the growing danger in the dark woods around them, the MacDougals take a leap of faith. But when another stranger arrives on the mountainside, they don't know which of them to believe. One of these men can't be trusted. And one is about to bring Christmas into their hearts.

My Comments:
Christmas, that lovely time when adult siblings gather and relive the insecurities and petty bickering of childhood, who would want to miss it?  The MacDougal siblings didn't miss it this Christmas,though each of them had reason to want to be elsewhere.  Still, as they gather, the usual battles begin until they find an injured man who claims to be a police officer who was chasing a criminal until the criminal injured him, took his clothes and left him for dead.  They take him in, but then a man appears in a uniform who says the man they have befriended is the criminal.  Of course the logical thing to do is to call the authorities, but since the phone lines are all out due to snow, they have to decide what do to.

I found the story kind of heartwarming and kind of strange.  We never learn exactly what the criminal did, but it sounds like he is more of a two-bit thief than a murderer so it seems strange that he would have attacked the officer in that way.  In a lot of ways one of the guests is like an angel and even talks about God and angels but to me it kind of fell flat.  I won't say it is a bad book, it is just one that didn't quite click for me.  Grade:  C+

This book is part of Christmas in September, a link-up of reviews of Christmas-themed books, which has prized for both readers and reviewers.  Come join us.

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