review: the christmas wedding by james patterson and richard dilallo

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The Christmas Wedding has an odd premise. It centers around Gaby’s second marriage which comes as quite the surprise to her adult children. When Gaby’s husband passed away three years ago, the family grew apart. So Gaby plans a Christmas wedding with a mystery groom to bring all her kids back to the homestead. None of that is too unusual, but then it’s revealed that not even the groom knows he’s the groom. Three men (including the brother of Gaby’s deceased husband) have proposed to her, but she’s told no one who she will marry. Now I can suspend disbelief, but this plot point is a little too ridiculous. I could maybe buy the characters’ motivations (though would still have a hard time getting past the issue of the marriage license) if a backstory had been developed, but there was very little to go on. In fact, there was very little character development in this story that’s filled with characters. Not only is there Gaby and her three suitors, but Gaby’s four adult children and their significant others plus some children. This was far too many characters for a fairly short novel, especially considering how much drama each one has in his or her life. Even so, The Christmas Wedding was an enjoyable read. It was nice to see how the family came together again and helped each other.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Little, Brown and Company.