If I had to choose two words, they would be “extremely disappointed.”
If I had to choose three words, they would be “don’t even bother.”
In fact, those were the words I chose when Wendy Pan cracked the cover of the second copy (!!) shipped to our house by Amazon. (Note to Wendy Pan: Let’s plan our pre-orders a little better, shall we?) (And while we’re on the subject, Dear Amazon: When there are two pre-orders coming to the same house, they should arrive on the same day, right? RIGHT??).
So back to Friday Harbor, which actually brings me to a complaint (Yes, this is going to be one of those posts. Deal with it). The entire concept of A Special Christmas Book is full-on craptacular to me. It’s an under-page-sized, hyper-font-sized, way for authors (or perhaps their publishers. Dear Authors: If you are contractually obligated to write Special Christmas Books, I apologize to you in advance) to make buckets of money by having us “catch up” with characters we already know, love, have made peace with, etc.
It’s bad enough when the series are established and the characters are already well-known. It’s inexcusably bad when the Special Christmas Book is the introduction to a new series.
OK, so now we get to Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor (I’m not even going to get in to release dates of Christmas books before Halloween. It’s too easy a target).
The book opens with the death of Mark Nolan’s sister Victoria, and his inherited custody of her daughter, whose name happens to be Holly (Wendy Pan: “Of course it is. It’s a Christmas book.”) Mark moves the two of them into a dilapidated Victorian with one of his younger brothers on a vineyard in Friday Harbor, Washington State.
Cut to Maggie, owner of the newly opened toy shop on Friday Harbor, widow who is Scared To Love Again. Her magical fairy talk gets Holly to speak for the first time in sixth months after her mother’s death. Mark is hooked. Maggie is hooked. There is much hooking (though not in the fun way). (Is all of this moving a little fast for you? Yes? Good. This is about the pace of the book).
What’s really irritating to me is that I dug (dig?) everything about this book. I dig Mark, I dig Maggie, I dig that Holly is neither overly precocious nor overly used as a plot device, and I dig that the Nolans are a scarred bunch with serious emotional issues. I dig Friday Harbor and the small-town vibe. I dig the potential for an awesome three-brother series.
I hate that the series opener left me with this “why bother?” vibe. It was way rushed. It was too short. It don’t feel like I learned enough to care about anyone. To write this review I ask myself “why bother reading it?” But I think the more appropriate question has to be “why bother writing it?” To start a new series? Awesomesauce on a stick, extra crispy. But the way to do that is with substance and length and detail. Not to put out a half-assed Christmas season novelty (pun?) item.
Essentially, I finish my review with this thought: I love Lisa Kleypas, and I love her contemporary novels. If the next Friday Harbor book looks like it has some substance to it (i.e. is as big as those luscious Travis books), I’ll happily buy it, read it, and dive in to the series. If not, I’m going to take my own advice and not even bother.
Good review. I like it, and won't bother, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGood review, indeed, Lady Liberty! I did bother! And can't say that it was worth the bother - or that I even disagree with Kate but I would like to add a note about one particularly charming character - of whom I hope to hear more as the stories of Sam and Alex unravel... and that is Renfield. I was immediately charmed and sincerely hope his character is further explored in later books.
ReplyDeleteI second that, Wendy Pan. Best part of the book, hands down. Everyone should have a freakishly ugly, lopsided bulldog in their lives.
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