I started this book two days ago and I am happy to report I was hooked from the start.(I'm going to have to go back and read the first book in the series :-) A hot bad boy football player? What's not to love? Dean (our bad boy with a soft spot hero)has come home for Christmas and the book has a bit of a sad tone from the start, with his mom dying several months before and the two were very close. Dean's recovering from a shoulder injury and is out of NFL commission until next season (more realistically forever but he doesn't want to hear that) and runs into a familiar face. (Actually, almost hits her with a car, but still)Emma, his baby sister's friend, is the hot, blonde bombshell that blew him off at his sister's wedding. Emma is a school teacher who has been spending working on her Master's degree so she can work specifically with special needs children (specifically children with autism, which turns out to be something Dean is passionate about as well).Emma has not only been burned by the too-hot-to-handle type of guy that is Dean, but she's alone in the world (Except for her fat cat Oscar) with her Memaw in a nursing home, suffering from dementia. (Sniffle)Emma wants nothing to do with the heartache Dean is bound to cause, which only makes her more desirable to him. Ms. Terry's Any Given Christmas has an awesome setting in small town Montana (who doesn't love a town called Deer Lick?), the characters are filled with depth, the banter between all of the characters is very funny and the intimate interludes? HOT!Oh and did I mention the ghost of Dean's dead mother keeps popping up to meddle? My favorite scene between Mother and son is about him returning to the NFL training camp in July. I've added the tags of he said/she said for clarification."Stop dodging the question." He leaned closer. "You can't see into the future can you?""Pffft. No. Of course not. That would be ridiculous."His mom said."And me sitting in your car talking to you after you've been dead for five months isn't?" Dean said."Well there is that.So what's the plan? Tell me all the details."His mom said."You are so transparent." Dean said."Well, of course I am, silly boy. I'm dead." His mom.Of course, I did mention the sad note at the beginning that gave way to several tear jerking moments for me during the story. I don't want to give anything away but I had a sob fest at the end of chapter thirteen and on into fourteen. But the way these two get their final happily ever after is completely squeal worthy! Great job, Candis Terry! I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the Sugar Shack series! In this novel we learn what happens to the second Silverthorne sibling, Dean and how he finds his happily-ever-after.This was a different look into the Silverthorne family and just slightly less perfect than Second Chance at the Sugar Shack: A Sugar Shack Novel. While Dean has to overcome his worst nightmare and the author does that quite well, the romance just didn't seem to have the same heat as in the first novel nor did the relationship seem to have that same sense of urgency as in the first novel. There was much less conflict between Dean and Emma,and what conflict there was made Emma look a bit like a *itch. Thankfully the author does pull it all together in the last 25% of this novel.Dean comes home for Christmas and to recover from an injury sustained while playing his beloved football. While home, Dean finds that he is attracted to an unlikely female - Emma Hart, a very private person, a Kindergarten teacher who has a soft spot for a child with Autism.With Dean's ghostly Mom still in the picture, giving her somewhat cryptic advice and adding some comic relief, this was a charming novel that will give you several hours of fun with perhaps a half hour of tears!Somebody Like You: A Sugar Shack Novel will be the story of Kelly and will be released on the 19th of June.
What do You think about Any Given Christmas (2011)?
Very enjoyable book, loved " Mom's" helpful hints
—Deborah Sue
