Merry and Bright

Imagine Merry Knight's surprise when her well-meaning mother and brother, Patrick, give her an online dating account as her Christmas gift. Soon, she finds an online sweetheart, who is actually her annoying boss, Jason Bright. Narrator Em Eldridge matches Macomber's straightforward style and hopeful belief in humanity. Eldridge portrays Merry's embarrassment over her boss with good humor and brushes past Jason Bright's standoffish demeanor with approachable internal monologues. Eldridge comfortably creates a pleasant midrange voice for Merry and a deeper, slightly stiff voice for Jason. For Patrick, who is identified as having Down's syndrome, Eldridge uses pacing to show his literal interpretations of situations. Eldridge could better distinguish between Merry and "Mary"--the misspelling that keeps Merry's online identity secret. But, overall, Macomber's many fans will be charmed by this light Christmas novella. C.A. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

November 6, 2017
Macomber’s heartfelt, cheerful, and almost entirely predictable holiday contemporary finds a bit of freshness in shopworn romance tropes. Merry Knight is finishing up a year of temp work at the Matterson Consulting Firm as the holidays approach. She repeatedly butts heads with her boss, Jayson Bright, but she can’t afford to make too much trouble—her family depends on her income to help make ends meet. As a surprise, her mother and brother build Merry a profile on dating website Mix & Mingle. Meanwhile, ambitious but lonely Jayson sets up his own Mix & Mingle profile. Both profiles use altered names, so when Merry and Jayson begin chatting over the site, neither realizes the person they’re quickly becoming attached to is actually their work nemesis. Merry’s perky innocence and Jayson’s maladjusted elitism grow tiresome quickly, and awkward prose (“Merry hugged her brother and, wrapping her arms around his torso, she gave him a gentle squeeze”) distracts, but Macomber engages through endearing details, such as Merry’s delight in roasted chestnuts. Readers looking for a light and sweet holiday treat will find it here.