Review: Holly and Mistletoe

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A storm had claimed her apartment and now Holly Garrett was without a home for the holidays.

But just when she saw her plans for Christmas crumbling, a miracle came her way. The handsome firefighter who'd saved her and her cat–and who'd injured himself in the rescue–was now asking her for help. And he was inviting her to live with him.

Sure, she could cook and clean for him while he recuperated, but was that really all he wanted? Jordan Haynes couldn't let Holly be alone for Christmas–not when she brought out his every protective instinct. No, he could play the needy patient as well as anyone…and just maybe he could convince her to keep him company through the holidays–if not longer.

Genre: contemporary romance

Publishing date: October 2012

Offensive content: one sex scene, not too graphic, towards the end of the book.

Review: 

This book was not on my Christmas Reading List, but  picked it up nevertheless, because it was in season. It's not a recent book, it was published over three years ago, but since I've read other books by Susan Mallery lately and enjoyed them, I thought I could fit it in anyway. Well, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. In my opinion this is one of those books where the synopsis sounds a lot better than the story actually is. 

It started out OK, but them a lot of details failed to add up. Jordan is injured when he falls from a balcony while rescuing Holly's cat. We never get to know the extent of his injuries. There's nothing broken,  but he's bed ridden for a couple of weeks. Somehow, I fail to see a man like him bed ridden for just muscular issues. He's half-naked on the rented hospital-issue bed on the ground floor of his home because he can't get upstairs but there's no mention of any wounds. Not even bruises. And then he develops a high fever (twice). From what? Sorry, not convincing me. For the plot to work, Holly had to be in Jordan's house taking care of him, but I still feel his situation could have been portrayed a bit more realistically. Even a broken leg would have made more sense than having an alpha male in bed with sore muscles and a little fever...

And Holly? She's twenty eight, running a business by her own. She dealt with her mother's illness and had to assume a lot of responsibilities at an early age, and I liked her for it, but at times she sounded just like...well, just plain ignorant. It's not because she's a virgin at 28. That's a combination of her personal choices and all the setbacks life threw her way and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I can't even put a finger on it, but she was really annoying at times. I expected a woman with her history to have a bot more backbone, and all the time she kept repeating she was fat, plain and totally out of Jordan's league and therefore not worthy of him.

My favorite character was the cat, Mistletoe. I can't resist a cute cat, especially one with kittens, but unfortunately that does not shine a positive light on the rest of the characters.

So, all in all, if you have nothing better to do, if you have a free afternoon and no other books to read, have a look at this one. Reviews at Amazon and Goodreads are a solid four stars, so other people clearly enjoyed the book more than I did. I know I'm a sucker for details and even though I love romance novels, I like stories to make sense from beginning to end, so maybe I'm biased there. 

Otherwise, there are, in my opinion, much better books to read by Susan Mallery, such as Kiss Me, Thrill Me or Marry Me at Christmas. All great reads!

Happy Tuesday!