I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Make My Wish Come True by Fiona Harper Published by Harlequin on November 3rd 2014
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Holidays, General
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Family-oriented Juliet is a Christmas-dinner cook extraordinaire and is trying to keep it together in the wake of her marriage breakdown two Christmases ago, but the cracks are beginning to show.
Her bright and vivacious sister Gemma was always the favorite daughter. Gemma has no qualms about escaping the festive madness and the pressures of her glamorous job by jetting off somewhere warm and leaving Christmas in Juliet's capable hands.
When Gemma shirks responsibility one too many times 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 neighbor who's far too nice to float Gemma's boat and may secretly harbor 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 Christmas swap to remember?
Make My Wish Come True by Fiona Harper is a Christmas themed romance that sat on my Kindle unread for way longer than I had originally intended. I don’t even know why I did not get to this one fast enough. It has so many elements I like – England, romance, holiday hustle and bustle, swapping lives. Yet, I did not get to it until 2016, a full two years after I had originally downloaded it. This book is genuinely heartwarming and one of the much better holiday romances out there.
Make My Wish Come True is about two sisters – Juliet and Gemma. Juliet is the older sister with four kids who is hyper organized – but just barely holding it all together. Gemma is younger and a bit more free spirited. She works as an assistant director and has a bit of a glamorous life. Anyways, Juliet is experiencing a painful divorce and immense pressure trying to give her kids the perfect Christmas. When Gemma arrives and sees just how much Juliet is struggling, she offers to trade places with Juliet. Gemma will stay in England and watch the kids and do the whole Christmas thing while Juliet goes on vacation in St. Lucia. Both sisters get the chance to walk a bit in each other’s shoes and to see what the grass on the other side truly looks like.
Juliet has always been pretty selfless. She’s molded herself into the perfect people pleaser. Yet, this is at a big detriment to herself. Her schedule book is always packed full. Her vacation away from family and home, by herself, finally allows her a bit of time for relaxation. In fact, she doesn’t even know what to do with herself until she meets a man. Yep, the man she meets is this Italian guy named Marco and he really encourages Juliet to loosen up. While away, she gains a bit of perspective. She’s got a character arc that is quite engaging.
Although I liked Juliet’s parts of Make My Wish Come True, I loved Gemma’s parts. Gemma has always been the center of attention. She, however, feels like Juliet is so perfect and always judging her. She’s determined though to live up to Juliet’s high expectations and to give Juliet’s children a perfect Christmas. Gemma gets into a few mishaps along the way, but the initially stodgy next door neighbor, Will helps her out of the jams. Gemma begins to view him in a new light, even though there’s also kind of a spark between Will and Juliet. Gemma has quite a few lessons to learn as well.
Fiona Harper’s Make My Wish Come True is an absorbing holiday romance where two sisters learn to confront their faults. Ultimately, you root for both of the characters. The way it all plays out is to perfection, even if one bit was kind of expected. There is some family drama to work through, but without being OVERLY dramatic. I never rolled my eyes while reading this, but 100% liked my time reading Make My Wish Come True.
On a scale of one to Buddy The Elf, how much Christmas spirit does this book have?
Of course, no one in this book is a Buddy The Elf, not even Juliet despite trying to have the most perfect Christmas ever. There’s a particular Christmas scene in this book, where everyone comes together and contributes something to help out that perfectly encapsulates what I view as the spirit of Christmas. There’s nativity rehearsals, parties, charades, shopping and opening presents. In all, Make My Wish Come True has plenty of spirit to go around.
Other reviews of Make My Wish Come True by Fiona Harper:
- No Bent Spines – “it just wasn’t my cup of tea“
- Miss Bates Reads Romance – “delight with some greatly humorous moments“
- Page To Stage Reviews – “a lot of heart“
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