Rating: 
Summary: Just What *I* Want for Christmas!
Review: Widow and young mother Susan Carpenter is well known in the town of Angel Falls for her lavishly decorated house at Christmastime. From lights to live nativity scene to Christmas carols it attracts crowds from miles around. Not everyone is fond of Susan's elaborate display. Her neighbor Don Rawlins and his godson, Luke Potter have joined forces to sue Susan (who is lovingly known as Suzi Christmas) to force her to take down her display as it is seen as creating hardship with all the noise which forced her next-door neighbors to move from their rented home owned by Mr. Potter.Luke Potter's nickname of "Scrooge" seems to be well-deserved as he has also petitioned the mall not to hire the Dickens singers for the Christmas season since too many shoppers are too busy listening to them than to shop at his computer store. But this excuse hides his deeper pain - the memories of this childhood. Luke Potter wasn't always a scrooge. But when as a young boy his father left his mother on Christmas, he would rather the holiday just go away. A successful businessman, he's more intent on building his own business empire than in any hokey Christmas celebrations Susan has tried pretty successfully to make a life for herself and her young son after the death of her husband five years previously. She feels that keeping the Christmas display tradition she and her husband had begun is a way of keeping his memory alive. Susan has also struggled to make a living with her singing telegram business. Luke will have none of it. When Susan tries to settle their differences amicably, Luke hangs up on her telling her he'll "see her in court." Luke's brother Ben is present one evening at a local restaurant when he sees a shapely woman deliver a singing telegram to a birthday celebrant. Thinking this would be a good way to get his brother out of his depression, he hires her telling her it's Luke's birthday the next day. When he finds out SHE is Suzi Christmas, Ben tells her his brother's name is Nick (short for Nicholas) Claus and the seeds of deception are sown. Luke asks Susan out to dinner thinking perhaps if he could act as if he were her friend, as "Nick" perhaps he could help her see the error of her ways and she would willingly take down her Christmas display. Amazingly, Luke and Susan hit it off. She hasn't felt this way about a man since her husband died. For Luke, who has been afraid of commitment, the feeling is mutual. But what will happen when Susan discovers the truth of who Nick really is? Will these two likeable people find the happiness they deserve? Beautifully drawn secondary characters add depth to this wonderful novel including Susan's sister Nicki, her boyfriend Todd, and Nicki and Susan's widowed father who has a romance of his own with a woman's whose identity will be quite a surprise to everyone. Sheila Rabe who has written 13 Regency romances, makes her contemporary romance debut with the heartwarming ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS. This could be subtitled Ebeneezer Scrooge/Mr. Potter/The Grinch meets It's a Wonderful Life/Miracle on 34th Street. A wonderful novel to start the Christmas season, this book could well become a classic. As I was reading it I was thinking about what a wonderful Christmas movie this would make! It would also make a wonderful Christmas gift/Stocking stuffer --- buy several and set aside a few hours to sit and read this book - you won't be able to put it down once you begin. This is a sweet story that will leave readers with a warm and cozy feeling. Welcome back to the world of romance, Ms. Rabe! You were sorely missed! (Maudeen Wachsmith for HEART RATE REVIEWS)
| 
