Review: One Christmas Wish

One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

His betrayal had done more than hurt, it had nearly destroyed her. 

One Christmas Wish, is fifth in the Catalina Cove series but is the first book I've read in the series. The first half, especially the beginning is full of names and relationships that I'm assuming are characters that have appeared in the series and while it could have easily felt overwhelming, there's maybe a smidgen of that there, I felt it more brought the feelings of closeness of everyone in the town. As the title hints at, this takes place around the winter holidays, although Catalina Cove is in Louisiana, so you won't be getting hot chocolate and snowmen but blueberry muffins and gumbo. I normally complain about having a lot of characters thrown at me right in the beginning, but here, it just worked because the friendships and relationships provided those feelings of love and support you want to wrap yourself in during the holiday season. 

However, tonight, while she sat across from Vaughn Miller, he had been able to do what all those other guys hadn’t. He had reminded her that she was not only a woman, but she was a woman with needs. 

Our heroine Sierra, has moved back to town after getting a divorce, she found her husband in bed with the neighbors, and now owns a soup cafe, The Green Fig. She also has an adopted goddaughter from her bestfriend who died two years ago. She's decided to devote herself to raising her goddaughter, Sierra doesn't think she can trust again after her ex-husband. He's also been starting to call her nonstop trying to get her back. When her goddaughter tells her she gets one Christmas wish, she wishes for happiness. 

Vaughn had kissed her in a way that even made her toes tingle, and she had liked it. 

Enter our hero Vaughn, a former Wall Street man who was sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. He ended up serving two years of the five year sentence and gives a lot of the success to a prison pen pal that sent moving words of encouragement while he was incarcerated. He ends up moving back to his hometown Catalina Cove and given a job by Lacroix Industries on their executive team. He also gets exonerated and found innocent of his original chargers. When he's having supper at the Green Fig, he takes a good look at Sierra and finds himself drawn. 

Sierra closed her eyes for a second as she drew in a deep breath. How could she fight this? How could she fight a man who was so charming, so charismatic, so full of sex appeal and who had more magnetism than any man she knew? 

This was a very low angst story that had Sierra not wanting to get involved with Vaughn in a serious capacity and Vaughn sweetly but surely wearing her down. By the 50% percent mark, they are hitting the sheets and steaming up the pages. There's some outside elements trying to distract them, Vaughn's ex-fiancee and a divorced woman in town trying to catch his eye, Sierra has her ex-husband trying to win her back so he can get a promotion and then her being scared to trust again. It's mellowed tone but as a holiday book it works because it provides that snuggle in, looking for human closeness. 

“I would do just about anything for you, cherie,” he said softly. 

There was a towards the end, brief, moment of Sierra's ex-husband trying to take her adopted daughter away that had Vaughn taking charge in a way that Sierra did not like and gave us that romance black moment that felt a tiny forced in Sierra's swing of emotion but that is the most angst you'll get here. There is also the set-up for, I'm guessing, the next in the series with a second chance romance that will have the man fighting and working to get back in the woman's good graces and I'm ready to see the guy work for it. There was also a thread of the town's founder Lafitte and his Princess Zara, Vaughn is their descendant, that has me very much wanting the author to take some artistic license and write a prequel starring them. 

I would have liked to delve deeper into Vaughn's feelings of being sent to jail and the ending had one of those improbable but sweet reveals that you just have to go along with in a holiday book. Overall, this was a low angst story of family, friendships, and loving, perfect for snuggling in with and warming you from the inside out in the holiday season.

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