Julie Parker’s kids are her greatest gift. Still, she’s not exactly heartbroken when they ask to skip a big Christmas. Her son, Nick, is taking a belated honeymoon with his bride, Blair, while her daughter, Dana, will purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie feels practically giddy for one-on-one holiday time with Heath, the (much) younger man she’s secretly dating.
But her plans go from cozy to chaotic when Nick and Dana plead for Christmas at the family cabin in memory of their late father, Julie’s ex. She can’t refuse, even though she dreads their reactions to her new man when they realize she’s been hiding him for months.
As the guest list grows in surprising ways, from Blair’s estranged mom to Heath’s precocious children, Julie’s secret is one of many to be unwrapped. Over this delightfully complicated and very funny Christmas, she’ll discover that more really is merrier, and that a big, happy family can become bigger and happier, if they let go of old hurts and open their hearts to love. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)
I have been a fan of Susan Mallery's romance novels for a while now. Ever since I read The Girls of Mischief Bay in 2015. I have a bunch of them on my Kindle and need to read more of them soon, as I still really like her writing style. She's very genuine and down-to-earth and sometimes her novels even make me cry. So when it came time to find some good holiday reads, I went to One Big Happy Family, which released this autumn.
This story is cozy in the best possible ways with a few swoonworthy men and a lot of drama. Plus, kids and a dog! I liked all three of the female narrators: Julie, Blair, and Dana. Every time Julie thinks she has the big holiday week under control, something else comes up and she has to readjust her plans. I can relate to Julie a lot in terms of not wanting to delegate anything. (Well, except for cooking.) I'm also a very welcoming person and like to make guests feel at home. I also would do anything to keep my kids from being sad or miserable.
Meanwhile, Blair is regretting asking her mom to join them all for the holiday and Dana is still pining over Axel but not wanting him to know it. Both situations contribute a lot to the drama in the story, along with Nick keeping a huge secret from Julie, which leads to something no one was expecting.
Can I just point out what a sweetheart Heath is? He was so good to Julie and had so much patience even with all the chaos. Definitely great book boyfriend material! Nick was great too and I loved him for Blair. It took longer to warm to Axel.
While the holiday spirit of the story was a lot of fun and I could smell the food and feel the heat from the fireplace, there were some things that I did have concerns about. In Blair's situation, the issue she had with her mother was constantly replayed throughout the novel. I get that her mother was in a bad place during most of Blair's life, but they kept harping on the same things over and over. (This also happened with Dana and Axel, but not as much.) Also, Blair had a chronic health issue that was mentioned a bunch of times. While I know it's something a lot of people deal with and can relate to her about, I also felt that there was too much information given that took away from her dignity. Finally, one big conflict came in right at the end of the story and was resolved quickly as a result. I'm glad it was resolved, but it should have come into the story a bit sooner to give it more gravitas.
Even with these concerns, I really liked this novel overall and have been recommending it to anyone who wants an entertaining holiday read. So wrap up in your coziest blanket with some hot cocoa in front of a fireplace to devour this sweet treat.
(Trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.)
Julie: Julie Bowen
Blair: Sarah Fisher
Dana: Willa Fitzgerald
Gwen: Parker Posey
Nick: Luke Bracey
Heath: Wes Brown
Axel: Tom Bateman
Tiffany: Natalia Dyer
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TW: details of chronic illness, death of infant (mentioned), someone gets shot, but not killed (off page)
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