When Christmas Comes

November 1, 2004
Christmas travel calamities lead to cross-country romances in bestseller Macomber's latest, a treacly but well-told story that begins when widowed Washington State teacher Emily Springer engineers a house-swap with Boston history professor Charles Brewster in order to visit her daughter at Harvard. Too bad Heather Springer is heading to Florida with her new biker boyfriend, leaving Emily stranded in Brewster's "barren" Boston condo. Meanwhile, scroogey Brewster has discovered that Leavenworth, Wash., is Christmas central (er, he was hoping for the other
Leavenworth—the prison town Leavenworth). How will he finish his book when all the kids want to take him sledding? Romance rides in on a sleigh of preposterous coincidence as Charles's brother, publishing executive Ray, goes to Boston to check up on Charles and ends up falling for Emily, and Emily's best friend, Faith, a Bay Area teacher, pays a surprise visit to Leavenworth and winds up snuggling with Charles. Despite the gooey romantic twists of fate, Macomber keeps the comic material light and lively, and it's hard not to root for her likable stock characters. The subplot about Heather's Florida adventure with biker-boy is slightly underdeveloped, and another festive romance feels like overkill. But readers looking for a holiday fairy tale will find plenty of reasons to cheer (even if they wish for an intermittent dose of reality). Agent, Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

October 15, 2004
Widow Emily is looking forward to Christmas, when her daughter, Heather, comes home from Harvard to Leavenworth, Washington, an idyllic small town that goes all out for the holiday. When Emily finds out that Heather has no intention of spending Christmas with her, she calls her friend, Faith, for sympathy, then decides to surprise her daughter in Boston. No rooms are available, so she tries a Web site that exchanges houses. Emily trades her house for two weeks with an absentminded professor who hates Christmas and is on her way. Then Faith makes a surprise visit to Emily and is surprised instead. Heather leaves with a biker dude for Florida; Faith then hitches a ride with an acting troupe dressed as elves. Add a Pomeranian and a lobster, and hilarity ensues, as does romance in prolific Macomber's fast-paced, lighthearted, and charming Christmas story, a tale as joyful as the season itself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)