Okay, so, I'm not a Macomber fan; I've never read anything of hers, at least not that I can recall, so I'm not really sure how this novel compares to any other of her works. However, I'm willing to give Macomber the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps her earliest novels were not as terrible as this one.
What happens sometimes, I think, is that well-known authors publishing their umpteenth book (or ones trying to meet a Christmas deadline) is that they just kind of "phone it in" A lot of their fans are going to buy/read it just because they're her fans, and of course she knows this. So, details are skirted, leaps are made, and plot falls by the wayside--which is definitely, definitely what happened here.
If you loved, loved, loved this book, stop reading this review right now. The rest will only make you angry, and trust me, we agree on nothing.
That being said: This book was terrible. The plot was ill-conceived, and ill-executed, not to mention terribly developed. I actually first picked this book up because I was looking for a Christmas story for the holidays, and read the sleeve, which gave pretty much the plot I began writing approximately three years ago. Which I never finished. Oh well, my fault. However, mine was infinitely better than Macomber's shoddy attempt here.
It's such a great story for a romance novel, and she just scooped it up and ruined it.
First of all, I love how this was marketed as a Christmas story JUST because it takes place at Christmas time. Ridiculous!
And, if one more person looked at another for an extra-long moment, I was going to do something drastic.
The characters were flat and boring, and the plot was just rushed along, important details skipped over, etc., etc., etc.
Bottom line: I'm glad I got this book for 50% off. Needless to say, I'm not a Macomber convert.
What a fabulous opportunity, utterly wasted.