When Christmas Comes

Rating:
Summary: When Christmas Comes
Review: A widow wanting to spend Christmas with her daughter, a best friend planning a holiday surprise, and a man doing his best Scrooge impression are thrown into a series of mixups, misunderstandings, and coincidences that amount to love, hope, and joy. Emily Springer's daughter can't come home for Christmas, so Emily decides to go to her, a house swap will save enough hotel expenses to make it feasible. Leaving her decorated, holiday ready home to be occupied by Charles Brewster, a man avoiding Christmas as best he can is the first twist in the mix. However, he can cope with the frou frou if he must. Then, Emily's best friend shows up on what is now his temporary doorstep, hoping to spend Christmas with her. On the flip side, Charles' brother, Ray, finds Emily ensconced in his brother's home, after her daughter leaves Boston to spend Christmas is Florida. Proving once again that coincidences are divine undercover operations, the two couples discover what Christmas is all about; love.

*** Christmas is often as not a truly sad season, as exemplified as the book opens. Yet, as time passes, the tale gives readers a surge of hope, that if these kinds of coincidences can happen in fiction and bring about small miracles, maybe life can be like that. Nothing is too wonderful to be untrue. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Rating:
Summary: A tender tale of love, friendship, and the Christmas spirit
Review: Don't wait until Christmas to read Debbie Macomber's WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES. This heartwarming little book will get even the Scrooge in you ready to welcome the holiday season! It's a delightful story, complete with lessons about love, friendship and the spirit of Christmas, but is never preachy. This is just the book to curl up with before the season spins out of control.

Emily Springer is a widowed mother, whose daughter is attending Harvard and has declined to come home for Christmas. The very traditional Emily is unable to accept that decision and makes arrangements to surprise her daughter by flying across the country to Boston. On the Internet she finds a Christmasphobic professor, Charles Brewster, who wants to escape the holidays and thinks that a prison town like Leavenworth would be ideal to meet his gloomy needs. So they decide to swap homes for Christmas week. Unfortunately, Emily's daughter, Heather, is heading for Florida on the back of Elijah's motorcycle and Charles mistook Leavenworth, Washington for Leavenworth, Kansas. Leavenworth, Washington, much to his dismay, is like the Christmas village of the Northwest --- complete with horsedrawn sleighs, Christmas tree lightings, and ceaseless good will. Humbug.

Adding to the merry mix-ups are Charles's brother, Ray, and Emily's friend, Faith. Bernice Brewster, the meddling mom of the two men, has convinced herself that some hussy is taking advantage of her unworldly son Charles. She cajoles her worldly son Ray into driving up to Boston to find out what's going on and why some woman is answering the phone in Charles's condo. Meanwhile, Emily's friend Faith has decided to surprise her by flying up from San Francisco to help assuage the pain of daughter Heather's absence. The ensuing comic confusions won't necessarily make you laugh out loud, but your cheeks will definitely know that you've been smiling a lot.

No murder, no mayhem, no gratuitous sex --- just a great little story about people you would love to spend time with around the holidays. What a concept! Be sure to open WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES before December 25th.

--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding, a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life intervened. She also reviews for www.faithfulreader.com and www.womenonwriting.com. To contact Maggie, e-mail [e-mail].


Rating:
Summary: A great holiday book
Review: Emily is very upset when she finds out that her daughter Heather would not be able to come home for Christmas so she makes arrangements to do a house swap with someone in Boston so she could at least spend time with her. When Emily arrives unexpectedly, Heather tells her she is going to Florida with her new boyfriend for the holidays and leaves Emily alone to fend for herself.

Charles wants to get away from everyone and everything this Christmas so he swaps houses with Emily. To Charles' surprise, he landed in the middle of Christmas Town where there is caroling, skating, and plenty of activities going on.

Once Emily and Charles arrive to their respective new homes the fun begins. Ray, Charles brother goes to check on the house and strange woman who answered the phone in Boston and Faith, Emilys best friend shows up at Charles door to surprise Emily. Does this sound a little confusing? Well, it is but all in good fun.

Once again, Debbie Macomber has written a great little book filled humor and romance that you will want to treasure this holiday season. Take a break for a couple of hours, grab a cup of cocoa, a few cookies, and enjoy!


Rating:
Summary: When Christmas Comes
Review: I love watching Christmas movies, especially chick-flicks that incorporate Christmas. That's why I decided to read "When Christmas Comes". It was my first book of this exact genre, Christmas and romance, so when I say that for the most part I enjoyed it, I understand that some may have a different opinion.

There was enough description to give me a pretty good feel for what sort of town Leavenworth was supposed to be at Christmas but there wasn't much detail of the feel of Boston at Christmas. I didn't let these things bother me as I read though because I enjoyed reading how Emily and Faith brought out the warm sides of the men they were thrown together with for the holiday. I could have done without the story of Heather's trip with Elijah to Florida. I didn't feel that that did anything for the good of the book.

Overall this was a nice quick read for a cold Saturday morning. If you're looking for a light Christmas read and you're not expecting much, I recommend this book.

I'm rating this book three out of five stars for its being a Christmas book with lacking descriptiveness and for its inclusion of a storyline that did nothing for the book.



Rating:
Summary: Just in Time for the Holidays!
Review: If it's close to Thanksgiving, it's also the time of year when we find holiday themed books available. And this year Debbie Macomber has written one which I predict will be a classic. When Christmas Comes is the kind of book which will find you laughing out loud,, hugging to yourself when you finish it and hate to see end. It is also a wonderful example of a madcap adventure, the kind some of us remember from the days of Frank Capra and Billy Wilder movies.

Emily is heartbroken when her daughter Heather who attends Harvard tells her she's too busy with school to come home for Christmas. Emily who lives in Leavenworth, Washington can't imagine a Christmas without Heather since its only been the two of them since her husband Pete died ten years ago. Added to this is the fact that Leavenworth is one of those towns that does Christmas up in a big way and Emily worries that everything will remind her of her loneliness. Deciding to surprise Heather in Cambridge, Emily finds an internet site and decides to swap her house in Washington for one in the Boston area for the holidays.

The man Emily swaps houses with is Charles, a stuffy professor at Harvard who hates Christmas almost as much as Ebenezer Scrooge. Working crazy hours, sometimes fogettinggn to eat or leave his office at night, Charles is often bugged by his mother who bemoans the fact that her two sons are still single. The thought of constant phone calls from his mother in Arizona asking him what he's doing for the holidays, has him searching for a place to spen Christmas elsewhere far from any festivities or social enagagements. Thinking that Leavenworth is the area of the federal prison and that Christmas won't be a be a big deal, Charles reaches Emily on the Internet and the swap is planned. But what Charles failed to realize is that this swap is for a house in Leavenworth, Washington and not Kansas.

What ensues when Emily arrives in Boston and Charles arrives in Leavenworth had me laughing out loud as Charles realizes he's in Christmas town USA and Emily's daughter if off to Florida with her new motorcycle riding boyfriend. Addd to this story are two other people who change the course of thse holdiays. First there's faith, Emily's good friend who arrives with Santa and six elves to cheer her up. And then when Charles's mother calls him and a woman answers, she insists that Charles's workaholic brother Ray travel from New York to see that Charles isn't being held captive by a gold digging woman.

Previous to reading this book, I read Between Friends by Debbie macomber and loved both the theme and writing. I promised msyself that I would continue to read this author. It was my lcuky day when I saw this book, grabbed for it and gulped it down. Now I look forward to both the holidays and other good reads from an author I highly recommend. In the tradition of John Grisham's Skipping Christmas and David Baldacci's The Christmas Train, When Christmas Comes is a wonderful holdiay read and one which I look forward to rereading before the holidays again and again.

Rating:
Summary: A Holiday Reading Tradition
Review: In the last several years I have made it a habit to read author Debbie Macomber's newest Christmas book. Some people have described this years selection, WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES, as bland and sappy. I would not call this book bland by any means with all the great characters (main or otherwise) and situations that are involved. It isn't hard to picture in one's mind a Scrooge type man visiting a town (Leavenworth, WA) that he thought was a prision town (Leavenworth, KS) only to discover he's entered a Christmas village of sorts. Ms. Macomber left no detail out when describing this picturesque town.

As for sappy, this is a holiday tale. Christmas is the holiday that really brings people together and sometimes love is the result. Charles (Brewster), the Harvard professor, is an uptight man who concentrates only on his work and hates Christmas because he broke up with someone special at that time of year. His brother, Ray, is also someone who devotes all his time to work. He doesn't get into the holiday either. When they meet Faith and Emily, their lives are turned upside down. The blend of mixups (Emily going to Boston to visit (surprise) her daughter who is actually going out of town to Florida and Faith who decides to visit (surprise) Emily in Leavenworth and she not being there) and entertaining scenes (the escaped lobster that latched onto Emily on one pant leg and a small dog latched onto the other pant leg) made this a wonderful read that I can't wait to share with my daughter and others.

Thank you Debbie for a great time. I look forward to next year.

Rating:
Summary: Another delightful holiday book
Review: It wouldn't be Christmas for me unless I have another delightful tale from Debbie Macomber.

In When Christmas comes Emily Springer is faced with her first Christmas without her college aged daughter. She decides to surprise her and go see her in Boston. Charles Brewster wants to avoid Christmas and his matchmaking mother. Emily and Charles connect at an Internet site and switch homes for the holidays.

Ray, Charles brother goes to check out the woman their mother finds at his brothers home. Emily's friend Faith Kerrigan decides to visit Emily but finds stuffy professor Charles.

As Ray and Emily get to know each other, so do Charles and Faith. What follows is a sweet, funny story of Christmas and love.


Rating:
Summary: Pretty bland
Review: This is a harmless enough little holiday yarn, but that is about it. There is almost no description. A display of holiday lights, for example, is described as "like those in [Emily's] hometown, but different, too," which tells us precisely nothing. I didn't really find any of these people very admirable; as characters they were underdeveloped, and sometimes it was hard to remember (or care) who was who. Nobody contemplates anything very deep. Good things happen, but basically by coincidence. Wait and check this one out at the library, if you must.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: When Christmas Comes is a great and sometimes hilarious story that incorporates 5 different characters, their lives and the circumstances under which they meet. I found myself laughing out loud many times. It is a story that you will not be able to put down and short enough to finish in a day. I kept trying to cast the characters for a TV Special. Would make a great Christmas gift!

Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming Christmas tale
Review: When her 21-year-old daughter announces she's too busy to come home for Christmas, mother Emily Springer decides to travel across the country to spend it with her. After all, the two have always spent Christmas together. She arranges to swap houses with a Harvard professor (Charles) who wants to escape the Christmas bustle and heads for Boston. But when she gets there, her daughter has other plans--plans that definitely don't involve having a mother tagging along. Abandoned in Boston, with no way to get home, Emily looks forward to the worst Christmas of her life. But Charles's mother, learning that a woman is staying in Charles's apartment, sends her other son, Ray, to investigate.

Knowing that she hurt her best friend Emily's feelings, teacher Faith Kerrigan flies to Emily's house for the holidays. But Emily is in Boston and Grinch-like Charles Brewster has replaced her. Only her stellar cooking keeps Charles from tossing her out into the cold.

Faith, Emily, Charles, and Ray all have bad experiences with Christmas--and have learned to expect to be alone. But this Christmas is different--a second chance for them to experience the magic of the season--and of love. Or will they simply go back to their ordinary lives, once the extraordinary events of Christmas have passed?

Author Debbie Macomber tells a dependably well-written and emotionally satisfying story and WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES is no exception. It's a fast read, without the complexity of some of Macomber's recent 'big' novels, but just the thing to cosy up to around a fire as the Christmas season unfolds around us. Whether you're a grinch yourself, or a Christmas adict, there's a lot to like in this charming, if predictable, tale.