5
Dec202010
Christmas Week – GUEST REVIEW: ‘The First Love Cookie Club’ by Lori Wilde
by Carolyn • Posted in 3.5 Star Reviews, Authors U-Z, Book Reviews, Christmas Week 2010, Contemporary Romance, Guest Review
Title: The First Love Cookie Club
Author: Lori Wilde
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: November 2010
eARC: 255 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Review copy via NetGalley
Guest Review by Zosia
RATING: 7/10
BOOK COVER SUMMARY:
“On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny.”
The townsfolk of Twilight, Texas, believe the legend, but not Sarah Collier—not since she was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day in a jingle bell sweater and reindeer antlers, trying to stop Travis Walker from marrying someone else. She may be grown up, slimmed down, bestselling children’s book author “Sadie Cool” now, but Sarah will never forget that day. And she’ll never fall foolishly in love again!
But when a letter from a sick fan brings Sarah back to Twilight, she’s shocked to discover that Travis is the little girl’s father—unattached and hotter than ever. His movie-star smile still makes her melt, but Sarah knows that ship has sailed. Travis, however, might have different ideas.
And just because you don’t believe in fairy tales doesn’t mean they won’t come true…
REVIEW:
The cosy Christmas scene on the cover tells you quite a bit about what to expect. You have to be in a particular (as in, hugely festive) mood to get the most out of this book! It turned out I was feeling rather festive, so I enjoyed the book quite a bit; though I did some skim reading when we got to the scenes with the interfering old biddies and the magical baking!
“The First Love Cookie Club” opens with one of the most painful, embarrassing scenes I’ve ever come across in a book – with an awkward adolescent Sarah declaring her love for Travis at his wedding to another woman. She makes a bigger fool of herself in front of the entire town than I could ever believe it possible for one person to do. There’re actually a few scenes like that throughout the book; I was covering my eyes in embarrassment for her a few times! Luckily Travis sees things differently, and though he screws up once or twice, he comes through in the end. It’s nice when the man wants the relationship and is the one putting his heart on the line. Usually it’s the woman who has to convince the man they should be together.
The “I didn’t realise how much I hated the city until this perfect, Brady Bunch little town showed me how wonderful life is when you while away the days playing Betty Crocker” theme is so popular these days, and this is one of those books. Like so many of them, it takes place in Texas. Again, I was in the right mood to enjoy it, but I can see how some people are going to find this story a little on the mawkish side.
However, every time I started to worry the sweetness was going too far, the author moved on to something more serious and more grounded. Travis’ daughter is extremely ill – it’s not known if she’ll survive. Sarah has scars of her own – emotional scars, but also a serious injury we learn more about as the story unfolds. I was worried at the start; a cute little sick kid with a Christmas wish was bound to give us those Hallmark moments. I should have had more faith in the author because she didn’t go that route.
For the most part I enjoyed the book. What I liked best was the immediate connection I felt with Sarah – she was a character I understood and sympathised with. Though I’m generally no fan of children in books, Travis and his relationship with his daughter Jasmine worked for me just fine.
Every so often I became annoyed by the dialogue. Travis and Sarah would converse for a page or two at a time with one-liners, and I lost track of which person was saying what. I also didn’t like the way Sarah’s face was continually described as having ‘salmon-coloured lips’.
Weirder still was the love scene. There’re things I don’t appreciate in scenes like this – such as references to beds banging walls or lines like, “He was totally into her”. I also don’t like references to body parts being discoloured or the hero saying ‘whoops’ in the middle of it all. It made for some very awkward reading!
Complaints aside, I did like The First Love Cookie Club. The cover, the title, and the setting prepared me for a cavity-inducing Christmas romance, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover there was more to this story.
VERDICT:
I think there are things you can get away with when it’s Christmas. This book was on the Brady Bunch side of the romance spectrum, but balanced by some more serious issues and some good characters. It was a solid contemporary romance I had a few issues with, but overall enjoyed reading.
You can find out more about this author here:
5 Comments
This book sounds quite cute
I don't mind some festive, magic fun in my books at Christmas every now and again.
Not sure about discoloured body parts though, the mind boggles!!
Reply
I really liked the hero in this story, but I didn't love the heroine. However, I did think it had a wonderful and very satisfying ending.
Merry Christmas!
Penny
Reply
You make it sound fantastic and balanced. Great review
Reply
LOL , I'm trying to imagine the discoloured body parts as well I get a chuckle of the man hollering whoops . Great review might just pass on this one
Reply
This sounds a little too sweet for me, even tought the cover is just dreamy. Thanks for the review.
Reply