Release Day Review: The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson & Richard Dilallo

Title: The Christmas Wedding
Author: James Patterson & Richard Dilallo
Available: Today!
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Reading Level: Adult
Source: Publisher












Description from Goodreads:


The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died five years ago, Gaby's children have drifted apart, each one preoccupied by the turbulence in their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married-and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day—she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.


But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise—she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

My thoughts:

The Christmas Wedding explores the lives of widowed Gaby and her four grown children. The POV alternates over the course of the novel. Each child is dealing with their own set of issues from illness to abusive spouses to job woes. When Gaby receives proposals from three men she decides to plan a Christmas wedding. She sends her children video messages with all the details except for the groom's identity. She does list three possible suitors and hopes the mystery will entice her children to come home for Christmas.

The Christmas Wedding is a novel that had the potential to really wow me, but the large cast of characters killed the execution. I feel like we received these brief introductions to each character's life that really captured my attention, but none received the page time needed for me to connect. There was the possibility of really great characters, but the development was lacking. This is a novel that would have benefited greatly from 50-100 more pages.

I'm also not real sure how I feel about Gaby stringing along 3 guys. It seemed a little cruel, but the guys seemed more than ok with it. Realistic? Probably not, but I can totally see this becoming a made for TV movie. Honestly I’m just not a big Gaby fan. I would have loved to see more time devoted to the trials her children were facing in their lives.

The Christmas Wedding is a quick and fluffy read with the holiday theme many readers flock to this time of year, but don't expect it to pack the same emotional punch as Sam's Letters for Jennifer or Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Even with its faults The Christmas Wedding managed to keep me reading. I also liked how the end wrapped everything up. A little too neatly? Probably, but as a reader who hates to be left hanging I appreciated the author giving me my desired closure.