Average Christmas romance...somewhat confusing at times

books:


	• A Child's Christmas: Xmas Flash (Harlequin Superromance No. 769) Eva Rutland Harlequin, 1997 - 297 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Average Christmas romance...somewhat confusing at times

From the back cover:

One child. One Christmas.

Ten-year-old Eric Archer finds himself at a new school and living a new life. He's still despondent over the loss of his grandparents, and none of his teacher--except Monica Powell--seem to understand him.

Eric's father, Lyndon, has left him in the care of his brother, Dave--Eric's uncle. Thus Dave comes to meet--and fall in love with--Monica. (Despite the clear disapproval of Val Langstrong, his business partner and would-be wife!) Then Lyndon meets Monica's friend Lisa. And Dave's friend Duke befriends Monica's disabled father...And the circle of love and friendship continues to expand, drawing other people into its sphere.

It all starts with one small boy. And it all culminates with Christmas...

And my review:

This was pretty much what you'd expect from a Harlequin romance novel. Nothing is particularily amazing or memorable here. It's an okay read to kill a couple of hours, nothing more.

A few complaints I had: while this story is supposedly about Eric, the little boy, we don't really see him all that much throughout the story. He just wasn't a real person to me; he was more of a flat plot device. And there were sooo many storylines going on at once that the book got quite confusing at times. I kind of the felt that author should have just focused on the Monica / Dave relationship and left all that the other stuff about Val, Vicky, Lyndon, Duke, etc...out of it. I don't really think that the other relationships really added to the book that much. In fact, they were so distracting that I think they actually detracted from the overall book.

And there were a few silly misunderstandings that were also annoying. Like how David let Monica think that he was Eric's father (instead of his uncle) for too long, and stuff like that.

I would recommend that you only buy this if you find it at a garage sale or a thrift store. Otherwise, save your money. There are better Christmas romances out there. See my list "Christmas romance books worth buying" for a list of my keepers and re-reads.

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A good full, funny book

Ms Rutland lost me in the multitude of people with Monica Powell, her father, Dave Archer, Lyndon Archer, Lisa Hamilton, Val Langstrom, Duke Lucas and his wife Vicky, this is a full story. Eric Archer 10 yrs old is abandoned by his father, mothe and uncle, until Dave hears a sexy voice of Monica, he hadn't given Eric a thought. So in trying to get in Monica's pants he pays attention to his nephew.
Lyndon loves his son, but he doesn't know him, he left his son with his wifes family, now they are dead he drops Eric off at a very good school and goes on with his life, til he meets Lisa, then suddenly his son is important enough to get to know.
Val Langstrom, Daves partner in more than one way is the bad person in the book, but she turns out not to be so bad, in the end, when she could have taken advantage she didn't.
Duke is trying so hard to be Mr important he almost losses the most important person in his life, his wife Vicky.
Dave trys to show Monica not to take on the worlds problems, as he does the very thing he cautions her not to do.
Eric and Duke help Monica's dad who had a stroke.

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Storyline ....

Since Amazon.com didn't post an editorial review, here's the description from the back of the book to help you decide if this book is for you: "One child. One Christmas. Ten-year-old Eric Archer finds himself at a new school and living a new life. He's still despondent over the loss of his grandparents and non of his teachers -- except Monica Powell -- seem to understand him. Eric's father, Lyndon, has left him in the care of his brother, Dave -- Eric's uncle. Thus Dave comes to meet -- and fall in lvoe with -- Monica. (Despite the clear disapproval of Val Langstrom, his business partner and would-be wife!) Then Lyndon meets Monica's friend Lisa. And Dave's friend Duke befriends Monica's disabled father ... and the circle of love and friendship continues to expand, drawing other people into its sphere. It all starts with one small boy. And it all culminates at Christmas ..."

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