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A Christmas Night To Remember (2011)

by Helen Brooks(Favorite Author)

3.24 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0373528426 (ISBN13: 9780373528424)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Harlequin

review 1: This book had me crying from beginning to end. This book is chocked full emotion and plenty of deep dialog that keeps you enthralled. I have to say this is the best Christmas book I have read this season.Melody James was a famous dancer when she had an accident. Zeke James is Melody's husband and the King in the entertainment world. After Melody's accident, she decided to make some changes in her life; one to divorce her husband, two to become totally independent, three to try and forget her husband.Zeke,knew only that he loved Melody and would not give up without a fight. Zeke had too much at stake to take it easy on Melody the only thing he could do is take the matter in his own hands.But taking matters in his own hands may cost him Melody. Will Zeke and Melody be ab... morele to put the hurt and past behind or is there only one way out?
review 2: Anotha Xmas, anotha misleading HP title. Yeah it's Xmas theme, if U count the snowman, but really, a more apt title shoulda been : The Saint & The Sap. Honorable mention : HB’s fondness for the word “Ebony” (no fewer than 14 X) & “Love” (beloved, lovely, lovemaking, love, loved, loving, lovey >100 X). Oh the power of E-books. It’s hard to escape when the repetition got documented by a search engine. So a lorry almost turned the orphaned, loner, Swan-wannabe heroine into a roadkill. She escaped by a whisker, got a bummed spine & leg (a double whammy), w/ an ugly, puckered skin as a lifelong constant reminder for 1 brief moment of inattention. She was facing the bleak prospects of arthritis, an ungainly gait, no longer a purrfect arm candy on red carpet etc etc. The dwama starts 2 years after a blissful marriage & 3 months after the life-shaking accident. The superficial martyr feels so insecure, depressed, unworthy, damaged, off-balance downstairs & upstairs, paranoid that in his hawt-babe infested world, her heartthrob Producer hubby (chick-magnet that he is) will break her heart if /when he whips out his dancing pole sometime down the road. Instead of waiting for the inevitable, she wants to make a clean break. There's just no friggin way Zeke will zip up his tailor-made pants 'cuz his disfigured wife can't hold a candle to those magnificent traffic stoppers out there anymore. Nevahmind that he didn't have Bill Clinton's track record in the skirt-chasing dept. Her dear departed grandpa was a horn-dawg & her bozo daddy walked out on her mom. Tarred w/ the same brush, she thinks serial cheaters' blood flows in all men's veins. Grandma raised her & hammered it on her head that it’s no good to socialize. Focus on dancing ! It became an obsession. So the whole premise seemed to be based on the annoying twit’s misconception that her existence revolved around dancing. It’s what defines her as a person. She’s a non-entity w/out her wheels. She prolly has too much leisure time watching re-runs @ the hospital, sticking to Bruce Wayne’s gem : It’s not who U are underneath. It’s what U do that defines U. So when the wheels came off, she’s @ a loss. Oh wait, no, actually, fickle that she is, the reason she's gonna make Zeke into a gossip fodder as the dumpee is 'cuz he deserves someone bettah than her, someone soo purrfect that U'd have a problem differentiating between the real thang & the wax figure. What a doll she is. She allegedly became so hysterical when hubby tried to visit her during convalescence that the peeps told Zeke, sorry amigo, don’t show your infamous mug here anymore, your presence would be detrimental to her grinding recovery. He adhered to her wishes & got slapped by a Dear John letter that she's bailing out on him. He can't accept this sudden death of their marriage, unexpectedly shows up on her d/c day. Indignant wife goes, “Just capital ! How dare he take over & boss me around ! Ohhhh... the nerve of that man !” The reader knows she’s off her meds when Zeke inadvertently puts his foot in his mouth by showing his concern, “U look tired.” She interprets it as “Damn insensitive jerk, do I look that haggard & unattractive ?” Wow talk ‘bout off her rocker =^2He's gonna get to the bottom of this, once & for all, whatevah the hell her problem that she thinks is so insurmountable that she doesn't have the courtesy / the guts to drop the bombshell face to face. In this day & age, it's amazing that she didn't just text him : “Meet me @ splitsville @ midnite sharp.” Oh BTW, I know it's an unintentional typo when he fesses up that he luvs her, really, madly, truly, deeply luvs her (insta luv from the moment they met), ‘cuz that she's a little firebrand, "gusty", and defiant. I just had to blink the fog outta my lenses. Thought myopic eyes deceived me. Did he mean she's um... a li'l bit Gassy ? How unfortunate. Oh well, she luvs him too, more than anyfink else in the world, but if he luvs her, he should let her go. That's what holy matrimony is all about, isn't it ? Don't bother working @ it thru sickness & health, marriage counseling isn't covered by her insurance even if hubby has friends in high places that could recommend top-notch counselors. No, quit while U're still ahead. Let's copy the trailblazer Kim Kardashian's modus operandi.I'm still staggered by his unconditional, unwavering devotion to her, regardless of the innumerable # of times he gets kicked in the teeth, he blazes on. Persistent, loyal soul that Zeke is, he maneuvers things so they end up in a hotel suite to work things out. He's on the driver seat this time. He has the unenviable task ahead of him of extracting legit explanations from his inarticulate runaway wife. Pulling cavity-soured teeth would prolly be less painful & less arduous. He's the perennial poster boy for awe-inspiring, rags-to-riches tales. Challenging as it may be, he's too legit to quit. It's Hammer time.Sooo whatsherface's pity party of 1 rolls on from 1st to last chapter. U'd think, by the HEA, she'd be convinced of his evah-lasting luv that her negativity would be wiped out completely. Poor me, me, me, me, me, me, me, mini me. Oh shut up already ! (that's crabby reader talking, not Zeke). Neither of 'em are giving up an inch. She can't even express her discontent reasonably. He says all the right things, declares his undying love for her over & over again like a broken recorder, yet it's nevah enuff, it'll nevah be enuff. Even if he cuts his bleeding heart out & presents it to her on a 24-carat gold platter, she'll put out her otha hand & say, "Do that one more time." She doesn't just cross the bridge when she's there. She burns all bridges & kicks him to the pit while she's @ it. How & why Zeke consistently puts up w/ her bullshit, is still a mystery to me. We get spoon-fed w/ 1 lame-o excuse after anotha why there’s no future w/ him anymore. It's not U, it's me. I'm just wired differently. I'm not all there in the head. I need to be on my own. I can't walk down red carpets anymore. I might be on wheelchair someday. They might mistake me for your charity date won thru eBay bidding war. U catch my drift, no ? U wanna hear more ? Plastic surgeons can't fix my deformity. I'm dented inside & out. Avon touch-up brush can't cover up my neon-light scars. Zeke responds : "Well, tough shit. Deal w/ it, twit. Your non-stop whining is melting my ear wax." Ok it's my New Yorker pal that said it, not Zeke. Anyhoo, he woos her by giving her luvly gifts. Oh no, she can’t accept ‘em ‘cuz she got nuffink @ all for him. The more gifts he showers, the further she cringes away. No romantic gestures & words can put a lid on her overflowing bitterness. Makes no difference that there are peeps out there w/ worse fate than hers. like 6 ft under. Instead of counting her blessings, she bitches & moans. Ugh. I wondered why they got hitched in the 1st place, they seemed to be strangers to each otha, all the unknowns only get revealed during this rough patch in their marriage. I don't see what he sees in her. She's just a bitter pill, no therapy can cure her.Oh just when Zeke thought they've made some inroads on the bottomless well of problems, poof ! Dear Aphrodite runner-up disappears the next day after a nite of shmexing up. And coincidentally, while she's freezing her ass off on a snowy bench, a kind, elderly grandma just happens to be in the vicinity & invites her to her hut to warm her buns up. So it's mutual venting time & per grandma's sage advice (geez, where was she 3 months ago when she’s down in the dumps !?!), ding ding ding ! *resounding slaps on forehead*... The abominable FEAR is the root of all her problems. She'd nevah have skidded to that conclusion in a gazillion years on her own, slow on the uptake that she is. It takes a fairy pop-up godmother w/ an almost similar sob story - albeit different circumstances - to clear the cobwebs off her skull. What is this, straight-to-Roku Cinderella part deux ? Oh when frantic, furious, panicky hubby spots her later on, she claims she can't talk to him when he's like this. Self-centered, annoying future ex-wife wants him to cool off B4 unloading his resentment for being left hugging a fluffy pillow instead of a living object. He says he's worried sick cuz she's been missing for 4 hrs. She says, don't exaggerate, it's only 2.5 hrs. Splitting hair much ? The point is : she thought she could sneak back in. Zeke says, I got 1 word 4 U, dear thoughtless wife. WHAM ! Wake me up before U go-go ! I woke up alone & it ain't the golden 80's anymore. George & the Otha dude have split up due to George wanting to go solo. But I digress. All is well now. I forgive U. I've sold my empire so U won't have to face the ridicule on red carpets anymore. U can be a dancing instructor ‘cuz I'm gonna be running a charity school for the under-privileged kids a la Andre Agassi. Hey if AA got 1 going in Las Vegas, I can build 1 here too. Ok let's go back inside our suite & make my potent li'l swimmers dance a jiggy in your tube. If U can't be a dancer anymore, U can live precariously thru' our offspring. Who knows, he can be the next Billy Elliott. If it's a gal, she can give Nina the tragic black swan a run for her money. Just say U'll still be my lovey, dovey wife, for eternity & beyond. See, your harrowing accident was a wake up call. I need a spare wife, in case U plunge headlong into your pity party of 1 again. Nuffink fazes me anymore. We've threaded the needle. Not to be a cheezeball, but I gotta borrow one-hit wonder Jack Wagner’s monstrous ballad, U’re All I neeeeeeed..... less

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