Marry Me at Christmas
Marry Me at Christmas by Susan Mallery
Description: Wish upon a Christmas star with New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery’s sparkling Fool’s Gold romance!
To bridal boutique owner Madeline Krug, organizing a Christmas wedding sounds like a joy—until she finds out she’ll be working closely with the gorgeous brother of the bride, movie star Jonny Blaze. How will a small-town girl like her keep from falling for the world’s sexiest guy? Especially with mistletoe lurking around every corner!
Jonny came to Fool’s Gold looking for normal, not for love. Happily-ever-after only happens in the movies. Still, nothing about this quirky town is quite what he expected, and “ordinary” Madeline is the most extraordinary woman he’s ever met. Refreshingly honest, disarmingly sweet. Achingly beautiful.
Planning the perfect wedding leads to candlelit dinners and strolls through snow-covered streets. And Madeline finds Jonny in real life even more captivating than her celebrity crush. But will the action star be brave enough to risk his heart and step into the role of a lifetime?
Review: I was really excited to get an ARC of this year’s winter Fool’s Gold book. I recently went a Susan Mallery kick and I really liked her Christmas books. There’s something about a small-town, snowy setting. This was the perfect, cute winter wedding book. The basic plot of the book is Madeline, wedding store owner, gets roped into planning a small wedding for local movie star, Jonny Blaze’s younger sister. If you’ve read the previous books, you know that A. Madeline was roped in by the omnipresent Mayor Martha, and B. she has a major crush on Jonny Blaze. Side note, it seems like this year’s batch of Mallery heroes have had odd names. Kip, Zane, Dell (short for Delany) and now Jonny. It took me way too long to realize it was actually Jonny and not Johnny.
A great deal of this book focused on Jonny being a celebrity. While Madeline did have a crush on him, I liked that she got over that fast and saw him as a regular guy. There were quite a few scenes that addressed Jonny was ordinary in the eyes of the town, despite his celebrity status. I especially liked when the townspeople would step in and prevent him from being recognized. Although, I’m slightly envious of Madeline for getting snowed-in with her celebrity crush. Who wouldn’t like to be stuck in a cabin with their celebrity crush, and all the naughty things that goes along with a romance novel?
That actually brings me to a part of the book I was less happy with. The glossing over of the sex scenes. Sometimes, if I’m so caught up in the plot, I will thumb through the intimate scenes faster to get back to the storyline. But I like the flexibility to do so. Especially after reading so many Susan Mallery books recently, I was surprised that this book did not detail Madeline and Jonny’s intimate relationship. Maybe other Susan Mallery readers can help me and remind me if she only does that for the holiday books or not?
I did like that this book, though a light holiday read, addressed issues of death and the hero’s fear of love. In his life, most of the people he loved, i.e. his father and a previous girlfriend, had died. That loss, compounded with his celebrity status, made him wary of falling in love. Despite this, when he does realize he fell in love with Madeline, he doesn’t stalk off or end the relationship. In many books in the series, it is the hero who runs when the heroine confesses her love. However, of the couple, it is Madeline who flees in the face of love, not Jonny, despite the aforementioned issues.
My final note is that Gladys and Eddie are my favorite my secondary Fool’s Gold characters! They add laughter and humor to the book! And the scene where Jonny moons them…. Wow!
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
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