His Christmas Surprise by Summerita Rhayne : A Review

BOOK TITLE: His Christmas Surprise

AUTHOR: Summerita Rhayne

ISBN/ASIN: B06XS6XZ7J

GENRE: Fiction / Romance

NUMBER OF PAGES: 193

FORMAT: Digital

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Got the book from Amazon Kindle. Thanks to the author for the link on a timely note!

SUMMARY:

Christmas brought an unexpected sparkle.in his life 

Dan Tollinger is having a bad Christmas. He lost his wife to terminal illness and his boys are behaving badly. He's at his shopping center all day, how can he manage them when he can't find the time? Tonya needs premises to run her business after her bakery got damaged in a fire. With a son to bring up on her own, the sensible option is to accept Dan’s job offer to housekeep while putting her business back on the track. But will this job be so easy? Dan is brusque and to the point, while his boys don't listen at all! 

Then unexpectedly, she finds herself succumbing to her attraction to Dan. And it seems he's not immune either! 

Would it be wise to give in to desire and hope something more kindles between them?

Especially when his sons are not ready to accept her in his life. 

 Heart warming, family oriented romance with a bit of sensuality on the side.

FIRST IMPRESSION:

When the author pinged me for a review of this book, I was intrigued by the title. The cover picture looked generic and contributed to the mood of the story. The summary was short and to the point. It put forth all the major plot points that would need to be focused on. There was more promise in the phrase 'family oriented'. Romance has never been my favorite genre despite the fact that I enjoy well written romances occasionally. This book was a welcome break from a string of thrillers I was reading. 

REVIEW:

First things first. The book is surely an engaging read - I nearly finished it in one sitting. It was not a heavy read by any means but had its fair share of emotions. The story of Dan Tollinger, a recent widower who is having an altogether bad christmas after losing a wife and not being able to get emotionally closer to his kids, collides with that of Tonya Sanders, a widowed single mother of a son. A close friend gives her a business option - to work in her brother-in-law's house and for exchange get her bakery business on track. That is two birds in one stone and Tonya agrees reluctantly on her friend Myra's insistence. 

When she meets Dan, who is brusque to the point of being rude, she is unable to keep her relationship completely professional because of the surge of love she feels for him. He looks willing to reciprocate but neither of them want to complicate what they share professionally. But attraction holds primary, with the promise of a 'forever and after' being impossible because of Dan's emotional unavailability. What follows next forms the story. 

The book stays true to its genre. It is a romance book, and the overdose of intimacy was understandable. The sensual parts were a bit on the excessive side for my taste but they did not feel unnecessary or forced. The lead characters both failed to evoke any sort of sympathy from me because of different reasons. The story progressed quickly, with the emotions and the romance interwoven with various threads. The mind vs heart conflicts were brought out well. Even though Dan Tollinger was not one of my favorite protagonists (his treatment of every other character seemed unfair at a point before some sort of redemption happened), I could understand how the emotional distances are never because of one loss but a series of heavy hits since childhood. The book won brownie points by dealing with a serious issue and unraveling the underlying psychology of human behaviour. 

Tonya as a lead worked well for me in the way she faced her confused attraction and apprehensions. Even when she frustrated readers by being unable to refuse Dan's requests despite not breaking through the emotional wall he had erected, there was a poise in the way she carried herself in the later part of the book. The supporting characters including Jay and Myra did their roles perfectly. The character shift of the kids, though hurried, worked in bringing the book to a packaged climax. 

The book had enough twists to keep the readers engaged and the author has managed to tie up all the loose ends perfectly. The correlation between different events was beautifully done. There were a few glaring typos and subsequent grammar errors (not mentioning the parts where the characters are actually slurring - that was good) but they did not affect the reading experience much. Overall, a romance novel with a sensual overdose that could have done more with the various tangents it started off on. But the final product was an interesting read. 

WHAT I LIKED:

• The story stayed true to the summary
• No unnecessary drags or delays or drama.
• Good supporting characters, no major character shift

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:

• Though the genre was romance, the book could have dealt with the issue of coping children a bit better
• The climax seemed rushed and packaged
• The protagonist Dan Tollinger did not evoke any sympathy despite being a bereaved man

VERDICT:

A well written romance novel bordering on the sensual, but with a family twist. Definitely an engaging read.

RATING: 3.5/5

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Kindle

PRICE Rs. 110 for Kindle

BOOK LINKS: Amazon