The Brands Who Came For Christmas by Maggie Shayne
My Goodreads Rating: 3 of 5 stars
My Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
The Brands Who Came For Christmas is a cutesy romance story without too much depth. Maya Brand comes from a family with a sordid history, while Caleb Montgomery III comes from a political powerhouse. Maya aspires to be respected around town and Caleb teeters between aspiring to appease his family’s expectations and finding out who he really is deep down. A one-night stand consisting of sloppy drunk sex (ugh) leads to Maya being knocked up and alone.
Maya really didn’t have any redeeming qualities. From how she described her actions to this point in her life, she lived for others and made a facade of herself to try and win over their favor. She didn’t have much of a personality and the only time she took control of her life was the night she made the drunken sex “decision”.
Caleb actually had character growth, though how he went as long as he did allowing his family steamroll his life is baffling. He’s pretty conflicted at times, giving a breath of reality into what it’s like to be an unexpected parent.
Everything else:
– The townspeople were cringingly stereotypical
– Maya’s mother is a spunky, fun character
– Maya’s sisters are so-so… Selene is probably the most compelling, though the constant “Silverly Selene” descriptor is strange
– The fact that Maya didn’t dig hard enough to find Caleb, and Caleb thought about her constantly for 8.5 months yet never bothered to contact her, is baffling
– The holiday theme is woven nicely throughout the book
The Brands Who Came For Christmas an interesting book to pick up for the holidays, but the family isn’t compelling enough for me to continue the series. Grab the eBook for free on Amazon.
The Concordium of Cyliena 