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The Christmas Secret Reviewed By Emily Decobert Of Bookpleasures.com
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Emily Decobert

Reviewer Emily Decobert: Emily graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College with degrees in History and Psychology and a Masters in Library Media from Western Kentucky University.  She spent a few years being a teacher and librarian until she left to help run her husband's business and work on her novels.  Emily reads about five books a week and loves reviewing.  She is a book reviewer for bookpleasures.com and other publishers. Click here to access Emily's blog.



 
By Emily Decobert
Published on December 16, 2009
 

Author: Donna VanLiere
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN:  978-0-312-55836-9

You’ll probably read this one in one gulp and rush to the library or bookstores for VanLiere’s others, ready to enter her world again


Author: Donna VanLiere
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN:  978-0-312-55836-9

Click Here To Purchase The Christmas Secret

America today is filled with single moms, for various reasons.  Whatever the reason, these moms know the struggle of trying to be sole provider and sole parent to their kids.  It is this struggle of a mom trying to do the best for her kids that is at the heart of Donna’s VanLiere’s book, The Christmas Secret.

Christine Eisley is desperately trying to balance work and motherhood.  Her ex-husband is behind in child support, so she is the family’s sole money maker.  Add to that stress trying to find good sitters and also trying to be a good mom, she is at her rope’s end.  When she stops to help a woman who is having a heart attack and is late for work, she loses her job. 

However, the woman, Judy, whose life she saved is desperate to find her.  All she knows is her name was Christy and where she works.  Judy’s boss, Marshall, who owns the local department store, wants to thank her as well.  He sends his grandson, Jason, to what they believe is the woman’s place of work to find her.  Of course, Christine is gone and it is now up to Jason to ferret out the mysterious ‘Christy’ and bring Christmas cheer to a woman who has forgotten the magic of Christmas.

This book is a wonderful read.  VanLiere is a talented writer and her words create for the reader living characters and access to their thoughts and dreams.  By switching characters, she introduces us to the hopes and fears of several of her major players and does it so well you can’t help but become attached to all of them.  I lost myself in Christine’s problems, Jason’s cynicism, and Marshall’s undying devotion and by the end of the book I felt they were living people I had come to know.

There are secrets in the book and while the reader are in on some of them and laughing as the characters stumble toward the truth, some are so hidden you’ll never guess until you are told. 

The best part of the book, however, is the roller coaster ride of emotions the reader feels.  You’ll laugh, cry, and groan in disbelief, but you’ll never be disappointed.  A quick read and a delightful one, this book is one you can not miss.  In fact, you’ll probably read it in one gulp and rush to the library or bookstores for VanLiere’s others, ready to enter her world again

Click Here To Purchase The Christmas Secret