The author delivers an original predictable Christmas feel-good that just goes on too long repeating each character's angst.
Enough of "...a girl like you...."

Funny dialogue conflicts between the seemingly staid librarian and the wild musician keep the plot rolling along.
Many of the Christmas references bring back good memories.

{Not sure why Magic Realism of Jabez was needed.} ( )

This was a nice Christmas story. I loved the Christmas Cookie recipes at the end of the book. I am looking forward to trying some of them. :) ( )

There are two authors with the same initials that I seem to get confused. (A friend introduced me to the one author--the one who is not this one.) And even though I know that I tend to confuse these two authors, I haven't yet figured out how to remedy that.

What I thought I was getting when I picked up this book was a nice, sweet, clean romance set at Christmas. And there were some aspects of the story that were that. Perhaps my earliest clue should have been the swearing that Eddie does when Maureen first meets him. But if it had been only that I probably could have overlooked it. What really clinched dropping the number of stars I gave this was that Maureen and Eddie fall into bed together--without being married, without even a really defined relationship. (The fact that it wasn't graphically described saved it from another star loss.) In fact, by the time Maureen invited Eddie's parents to Avalon against Eddie's wishes I was at the point where I just rolled my eyes and thought "of course they couldn't just live happily ever after for the last third of the book."

I guessed about Jabez long before it was revealed.

What I liked: The focus on the library--as a reader, I appreciate libraries and I was sad to read that this branch might close--it was heartwarming to see how many people pulled together to get the library budget together; that Eddie continued to volunteer with the Christmas program even though his community service was fulfilled; the friendship that developed between the Veltry boys, Jabez, and Cecil; that Maureen and Eddie challenge each other to face problems and to make each other better people;

What I disliked: Mr. Byrne's "blackmail" attempt to get Cecil the starring role in exchange for concessions on the library lease; that Cecil didn't attempt to talk to him about changing the terms to help the library stay open; Eddie's using the pageant as a way to avoid spending time with his parents at Christmas; Not knowing what happened between Daisy, Julian and Logan (It feels to me like that got put in there to plug the next book in the series); ( )

Every year, just before Thanksgiving, I begin to crave and then search, sometimes extensively, for a good "Holiday Read". I have to admit, more often than not, I end the holiday season disappointed. I find several books from the 3 or 4 libraries that I frequent and reasearch man more on Amazon and other sites, but I find that the overwhelming majority of holiday theme books are either non-fiction, craftsy, or historical type of books, OR are a quickly written, not well though out novel by trendy authors who have 20 books or so on their shelves and decide to write a christmas theme novel to add to their collection.
Everyone BUT Stephen King, it seems, have given in to this quick cash flow idea. The problem is, these books are not interesting, amazingly similar to other stories written by the author, and leave me frustrated and wondering why nobody can write a good novel with a holiday theme.
This book, Lakeshore Christmas, has helped to revive my hopes that my search is not in vain. Even though the jacket does it injustice....(it looks like just another cheap, shallow holiday romance novel), I decided to put it in my large stack of Christmas hopefuls at one of my library trips.
I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the characters, who were not shallow, but had some depth, some believable traits that made you want to know them more. A bit of a stray from the cookie-cutter characters found in most holiday novels. The plot is well laid out and there was enough mystery and controversy to keep me interested. She added just enough of the supernatural element to give me that holiday miracle type of buzz.
I enjoyed this book enough to find another by Ms. Wiggs. ( )

Ugh. What a total waste. I had picked this book to listen to on audio to put me in the Christmas mood while I worked on holiday presents, but instead it gave me no end of frustration. I couldn't stand Maureen. She did more to perpetuate the prim-librarian-who-has-no-life label herself than anyone else did for her. She instantly judged other people harshly, and then decided how they in turn would view her and went with her views even when actual facts went in another direction. Even finding out what was really "wrong" with her didn't garner her any sympathy in my book. She was annoyingly obtuse and went out of her way to keep others a good couple of feet away from her at all times and I have no idea why the other characters even kept trying to be close to her at all, let alone what on earth drew Eddie to her.

Eddie's character alone might have bumped my review up a star, but by the end of the book he was just as annoying as Maureen, so...no.

I love libraries. I can't even begin to calculate the number of happy hours I've spent in them throughout the years. The fact that we could walk to ours from our house was a big selling point when we bought it, actually. I have myself been involved in efforts to keep our local branch open in recent years so that my kids can have as many good memories there as I did. The way librarians were portrayed in this book was fairly insulting to the librarians I have known and do know, and the struggle to keep their local library open was, quite frankly, just not at all inspiring.

Daisy's character was just thrown in the novel for no apparent reason (okay, I've read book eight so I know WHY she was there. But I don't understand what she was doing in THIS book. Her connection with Maureen is so laughingly tenuous that she really can't even be considered a secondary character here. It's as if Wiggs took another story and just crudely smashed it into the one that she was originally writing and voila--there's Daisy!) and it was extremely distracting. Every time she was the focus I was drawn right out of the story--and I really wasn't all that connected to it in the first place, so it was particularly annoying. Plus, knowing that we'll hear all about the pertinent details later on in Daisy's book just make having to read them here completely unnecessary.

Which brings me to my final point--there was constant telling and retelling in this book. It honestly made the whole experience twice as long and painful. How many times do we need to hear that Eddie spent every childhood Christmas driving from venue to venue? That Maureen's always found magic in Christmas? That Eddie's always taken refuge in alcohol, just like his parents? That Maureen has a close and loving family? (Who, by the way, always knew that Maureen wanted a nickname, but never thought to give her one? What the heck? Why wouldn't they give her one, then, being so close and loving and all? And it's not like it takes a genius to come up with "Mo", it's pretty standard.) I could go on and on here...the book does!...but I really just need for it to all be over, so I can begin to try to forget. Ugh. ( )