The Christmas Wedding

With another Christmas approaching without her soul mate, Gaby decides to make this Christmas one that she and her 3 children will never forget. She sends a video message to each of her children across the country asking them to come home for Christmas because she is getting married – and they won’t find out the groom until Christmas Day! Of course her kids are all up in arms trying to figure out who the lucky man is – Jacob, Tom, or Marty. What follows is a chronicle of her kid’s lives and hers leading up to their arrival at their childhood home? And throughout the whole story, two revelations are being worked out – 1, you can always go home no matter what and 2, sometimes you have to take care of yourself before anything else – and its ok.

Every year I pick a Christmas-themed book to buy and read for Christmas. This was the first book I saw and I had to have it right away.
I had never read a James Patterson book before. And I didn’t think a romance novel was going to be the first one I read by him either. But I am glad I did. This book made me want to read his other books. His gift for storytelling is wonderful. His combination of detail and action is very well balanced – the reader doesn’t feel as if they are getting too much description and not enough story-telling. The flow works well enough that I didn’t realize that I had read 160 pages in one sitting until I looked up at the clock and it was midnight. That is when you know it is a good book and a very well structured book.

But besides the storytelling and the talent of James Patterson, the overall theme of its ok to put yourself first was prominent in every page. Gaby is so worried about everyone else – her best friend, her kids, the 3 men she might be marrying – that she puts herself on the back burner and it takes her almost the entire book to say to herself, “its okay. I can put myself as #1 and I’m not offending anyone.” You have to put yourself first sometimes because if you don’t, how are you going to know when you have reached your breaking point or to ask people for help. At the end of the book, her children are standing in front of her telling her, “Mom, we are OK. You can worry about yourself. You need to. This is your life, your time. Embrace it.”

This was a quick, easy read but it was enjoyable. As I have always said, I don’t read the most intellectual, thought-provoking books. I read books that interest me in the first few pages – especially in the holiday season. Great book and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a book that will rejuvenate themselves.