I'm very picky when it comes to stories with a plot centering around a kid which is usually that one of the parents don't know about the child. I read a book that handled it wonderfully just recently, Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child but it doesn't seem to be often I can say this about this particular plot line. This story by Holly Jacobs though is definitely one of them. This plot has a slight twist with the child thing and all being its an aunt who's not too sure about letting the father in on the scene. Holly handled things in a way that really worked for me. I liked it. And I can honestly say I sighed with relief several times while reading it when moments came up and the characters reactions didn't go off the deep end. Or maybe I should say, Holly didn't have the characters get all bitter and angry just to have the drama in the story as I see so many times. Not to say the characters didn't get upset but that they reacted in line with how they'd been portrayed previously. For instance, if they said the most important thing was the child, they stayed true to this in the end. Yeah, they felt hurt, or unready to face what was coming and yeah, that was brought to our attentions but in the end, the character chose to react in a way that truly conveyed their love for the child. Not their own selfish needs or desires. The fact that Holly showed us the hero and heroines desire not to follow through because they didn't want to chance getting hurt themselves but then had the characters go ahead and do it despite their fears was wonderful. And to me a real sign of what I'd call a hero. One willing to make the hard choice and not always look out for themselves. This was a first story for me with this author and I can't wait to read more.

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I'm very picky when it comes to stories with a plot centering around a kid which is usually that one of the parents don't know about the child. I read a book that handled it wonderfully just recently, Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child but it doesn't seem to be often I can say this about this particular plot line. This story by Holly Jacobs though is definitely one of them. This plot has a slight twist with the child thing and all being its an aunt who's not too sure about letting the father in on the scene. Holly handled things in a way that really worked for me. I liked it. And I can honestly say I sighed with relief several times while reading it when moments came up and the characters reactions didn't go off the deep end. Or maybe I should say, Holly didn't have the characters get all bitter and angry just to have the drama in the story as I see so many times. Not to say the characters didn't get upset but that they reacted in line with how they'd been portrayed previously. For instance, if they said the most important thing was the child, they stayed true to this in the end. Yeah, they felt hurt, or unready to face what was coming and yeah, that was brought to our attentions but in the end, the character chose to react in a way that truly conveyed their love for the child. Not their own selfish needs or desires. The fact that Holly showed us the hero and heroines desire not to follow through because they didn't want to chance getting hurt themselves but then had the characters go ahead and do it despite their fears was wonderful. And to me a real sign of what I'd call a hero. One willing to make the hard choice and not always look out for themselves. This was a first story for me with this author and I can't wait to read more. ( )

http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2008/12/once-upon-christmas.html ( )