One More for Christmas by Sarah Morgan is a Christmas feelgood book set in the Scottish Highlands.
Location: mostly in the Scottish Highlands
One More for Christmas synopsis
For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year—a time for togetherness, love and celebration. Most of all, it’s about making up for everything their childhood Christmases lacked. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all—their estranged mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mom calls out of the blue and promises that this Christmas will be different, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend it all together…
Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price—her relationship with her daughters. She never seemed to say or do the right things. Her tough-love approach was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away…until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart…
Book review
“We’re going to build a snowman.”
Only the main characters know the strength it takes to build a snowman. This seemingly simple sentence turned out to be the essence and the turning point of the story.
Gayle is an inspiration to many and she tries to stimulate others around her to take a chance. A powerhouse woman who will show us that you can design your life more than once. The chapters she narrates are a good reminder to be less judgmental and to consider the circumstances of the other. Her eldest daughter Samantha has everyone’s (book) dream job: creating the perfect festive holiday package and sampling the locations. She is the complete opposite of her warm and happy sister Ella in the way she struggles to express her emotions.
One More for Christmas started as the perfect book for the holidays; it is about Christmas after all. The feelings of the energetic narrators are all over the place while they struggle to overcome past events. What I always like about a book like this is that – no matter what happens – you know it will end well.
What I dislike about One More for Christmas are the cliché story, the too-easy transformations, and the stereotypical characters. Because of the many narrators, you don’t get to know any of them well. Even mental breakdowns and romantic fantasies (light version) can’t save the story when you are not immersed. I think the book would have been better with Samantha as the sole narrator. Then again, her love interest is your typical prince charming; a guy who makes me cringe because of the untapped potential. So maybe not.
Sarah Morgan wrote an okay book for the Christmas feelgood genre. Nothing deep or extraordinary.
Interested?
Get your copy of One More for Christmas from Amazon.
