Brief Thoughts: Merry Christmas, Baby

Merry Christmas, Baby

by Jill Shalvis
Lucky Harbor #12.5 - a novella

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars

SEASON'S KISSES

Wild child Chloe Thompson can't believe how much things have changed.  She still can't get enough of her sexy husband Sawyer, but he seems to prefer working to thinking about impending fatherhood.  So tonight, a very pregnant Chloe is escaping her troubles at the town Christmas party.

Sheriff Sawyer Thompson hopes surprising Chloe at the party will give him a chance to set things right.  But as the snow begins to fall and the wind rages, he wonders whether he can make it back in time.  While mother nature conspires to keep Sawyer and Chloe apart, an unexpected arrival will require them to kiss and make up . . . and ring in the happiest holiday Lucky Harbor has ever seen.

For me, Chloe and Sawyer will always be the Golden Couple of Lucky Harbor.  They were my favorite since the beginning, and no matter how many other couples got together in the course of this twelve book contemporary romance series, they were always my favorite.  Of course, one or two couples came close to surpassing the love story that belonged to Chloe and Sawyer.  But none actually did.

As I went through the book summaries of each Lucky Harbor installment, finally coming to this last novella, I found myself super excited.  I may not love all of Jill Shalvis's work, but Lucky Harbor is one that gives me a nice feeling of warmth whenever I think about it.  When Chloe and Sawyer's wedding took place as a backdrop to another young couple's novella love story, I was definitely disappointed.  Being my favorite couple, I had hoped they would get their own wedding novella--and also, I didn't really care for the main couple of said novella anyway.

So to find that this last novella in the Lucky Harbor series belonged to Chloe and Sawyer...  I was ecstatic.  And, as silly as it sounds, my main goal was to plow through all the main books just to get to the final novella about Chloe and Sawyer.

Am I disappointed with what I got?  Maybe just a little bit.  It's been so long since Head Over Heels, that I can't really tell if the two were acting a little out of character or not.  But certainly, there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary romantic angst.  There were the obligatory "I can't live without him/her" monologues, as well as a lovely little shower sex scene... so it's not like I'm really complaining too much.

I still enjoyed and loved this novella, of which I listened to the audio book version, narrated by Angela Starling.

A great closing to a cozy, heartwarming contemporary romance series, I'd say.  I'd love to have seen more of Chloe and Sawyer.  I'm glad to have seen more of Tara and Maddie... but it just still felt like it was a bit scarce.