TITLE: Make My Wish Come True
AUTHOR: Fiona Harper
PUBLISHER: Mills & Boon
PUBLICATION DATE: November 1, 2013
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 384 pages
LENGTH: 384 pages
GENRE: Holiday/Christmas
ISBN: 9780263910292
Family-orientated and Christmas-dinner cook extraordinaire Juliet is trying to keep it together in the wake of her marriage breakdown two Christmases ago, but the cracks are beginning to show.Bright and vivacious Gemma was always the favourite daughter…So she has no qualms about leaving Christmas in her sister Juliet’s capable hands; and escaping the pressures of her glamorous job, and the festive madness by jetting off to somewhere warm.When Gemma shirks responsibility once too many and announces she’s off to the Caribbean (again!); Juliet finally snaps. Gemma offers her sister the perfect solution - to swap Christmases: she’ll stay home and cook the turkey (how hard can it be?) and Juliet can fly off into the sun and have a restorative break.In the midst of all the chaos, there’s Will, Juliet’s dishy neighbour who’s far too nice to float Gemma’s boat and may secretly harbour feelings for her sister; and Marco, the suave Italian in the villa next door, who has his own ideas about the best way to help Juliet unwind.Will the sisters abandon caution and make this a Christmasswap to remember?
MY REVIEW:
Things are not always what they seem, as these two sisters find out!
Juliet and Gemma are four years apart, and their relationship is a bit strained. Juliet, the older one, is now 40 years old and her world has been turned upside down with her recent divorce and now managing life as a single mom to her brood of four and working part-time. Gemma is an Assistant Director, whose world revolves around work and hobnobbing with movie stars. Juliet has always strived for a perfect Christmas, and she has detailed checklists to ensure that she doesn’t miss a thing but it exhausts her. This year, she asks Gemma for her help. In all honesty, Juliet seems a bit resentful of Gemma’s carefree life with no ties or commitments. With both of their parents gone, Juliet is the one holding the family together, visiting their Great Aunt Sylvia twice weekly who is becoming more forgetful and senile as the days go by. Juliet takes care of everyone’s needs but her own, and her time is just stretched way too thin.
Juliet has a handsome neighbor, Will, who is just a friend but it could probably be something more if one of them would just make a move!
Gemma is a bit of a spoiled brat, in my opinion! She thinks very highly of herself and feels that her time is more valuable than Juliet’s because of her demanding job. Juliet thinks that Gemma is selfish, and I don’t disagree.
Of course, Juliet doesn’t get the help from Gemma that she needs. When Gemma finally graces Juliet’s family with her presence (and presents, to ease her guilty conscience), Gemma admits that she has booked a holiday in St. Lucia at an all-inclusive resort. The sisters have a row and Juliet has a meltdown, and Gemma offers to do a switcheroo: She will host Christmas at Juliet’s home and take care of all the preparations, and Juliet can go off on a solo holiday at a tropical resort and take a much-needed break from reality. Juliet balks, but her teenage daughter convinces her to go when she tells her that the kids know that their mom is not happy and that she’s stressed out and that sometimes she takes it out on them by yelling. Juliet is horrified, yet she knows it’s true. She’s just so tired, and it’s tough raising a family on your own. She sees the good that this respite could do for her, so she agrees.
When Juliet meets an Italian man who is staying in the villa next to hers, sparks fly but it doesn’t end well. Meanwhile, there’s an attraction developing between Gemma and Will which causes a bit of guilt for both of them because of the potential relationship that Will could have with Juliet. What a mess!! This holiday tale wasn’t what I was expecting! I was hoping that Juliet would be whisked off her feet and meet the man of her dreams, but that’s not how things ended for her so that was a bit of a disappointment. The story was more about family and the relationship between the sisters and, while there were romantic partners for both of them, I felt the romances were secondary. Juliet and Gemma finally communicate about their feelings towards each other, and all that resentment that had festered for so many years begins to dissolve. I think it did the sisters good to take a walk in each other’s shoes, so to speak.
So, all in all, it does end up being a feel-good holiday story about two sisters who make amends with each other.
MY RATING:
3 stars!! It was good, and I enjoyed it!
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