The Wish Book Christmas

Title: The Wish Book Christmas
Author: Lynn Austin
Series: Sequel to If I Were You
Major Themes: Christmas, Forgiveness
Synopsis: A young mother learns the meaning of forgiveness.

I didn’t expect to get to read The Wish Book Christmas until an email popped in one day saying, “Hello, I’m here!” I was very excited because I haven’t been able to several of Lynn Austin’s latest books, so being able to get one of them is a special treat. What I didn’t realize until I got to the end of this book, though, was that it’s a sequel to one of her recent books that I haven’t read. So…I’ve had spoilers for that story, which isn’t the way I typically like to go about things, but so be it. I have found said prequel, If I Were You, available on Libby, so I may just read that one of these days. We’ll see. There are so many excellent books out there that I’d love to read! In the meanwhile, this book was a fun, fairly quick, read, one that had a great feel of Christmas about it without being over-the-top.

Eve Dawson, a single mom, lives with her best friend Audrey and their two sons. The past few years have not been easy ones, and because of a choice she made several years ago, guilt still haunts her steps and drives her decisions. With Christmas fast approaching, she wants to have a loving, memorable celebration with her and Audrey’s two small families—but neither she nor Audrey are sure how to go about it. Their sons, on the other hand, have the perfect solution: Buy them all the toys they want from the Sear’s Christmas Wish Book! If only…they’re barely scraping by with finances as it is. How can they teach their sons valuable lessons, and yet not spoil all their eager expectations of Christmas Day? And can Eve ever shed the guilt she continually finds herself burdened under?

This book, as always with Austin’s stories, is multilayered, and a lot of that comes from the prequel If I Were You. I’m hoping I can go back and read that sometime soon, but until then, I’ve got to say that I loved this story. The Wish Book Christmas is a novella, and I found it to be a fast read, but it encapsulated a lot of what Christmas means to me. The desire for something so much greater, conflicting with the “here and now” of our fleshly wants and dreams. In saying that, I also found this book somewhat disappointing, because it didn’t feel like it was one of Austen’s best. It didn’t quite have the depth I’ve come to expect from her books. BUT I still enjoyed this story, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I would read it again, especially once I get through the prequel. It’s a beautiful story that reminds us of just why Jesus came to live and die for us, and for that, I’m glad I got to read it.

I was given a review copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.

WARNING: Lying is mentioned in ch. 1. Adultery and children born out of wedlock are mentioned several times through the story (not in a good light). “Thank goodness” or a variant is used in ch. 4, 5, 10, 13, and 14. A man holds a woman in ch. 3 and again in ch. 10. There are mentions of the war and people injured or killed in ch. 8 and 10. In ch. 10 and 13, there are kisses (not detailed).