Although I technically read this one out of order from where it was supposed to be read in the Sullivan series, it didn’t make much of a difference. This book focused on the parents of those lovely Sullivan brothers and sisters – Mary and Jack. “For Mary Sullivan, Christmas is, and always has been, about family. This year is no different. As she awaits the arrival of her eight children and their partners at the cottage in Lake Tahoe, she hangs the ornaments that they have made for her over the years. Each decoration brings with it a tide of memories, all of which she holds dear to her heart. But when she comes across the oldest ornament, the one her beloved husband, Jack, gave her on their very first Christmas together, Mary is immediately swept back to the first days of their whirlwind romance, to the love that would be the foundation on which they built the family she is so proud to call her own.” As fans of the series know, Mary’s husband Jack passed away when their youngest children were only two. Therefore, the story is somewhat sad, because as Mary remembers how she and her husband met, the reader is aware that he is no longer living. The love story was sweet, showing that Jack and Mary started as both a love and a partnership in which she helped him promote his invention, but it lacked some of the drama of the other books in the series. Also, it would have made sense to have the present time interspersed with stories of the past, and the only time the present is seen is at the very beginning of the story. I would have, as always, liked to have heard more about the present day children and their partners.
What have you been reading lately?