Catching Christmas

My Rating: ★★★★

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: October 9, 2018

Genre: Clean Holiday Romance

As a first-year law associate, Sydney Batson knows she will be updating her resume by New Year’s if she loses her current case. So when her grandmother gets inexplicably ill while she’s in court, Sydney arranges for a cab to get her to the clinic.

The last thing cab driver Finn Parrish wants is to be saddled with a wheelchair-bound old lady with dementia. But because Miss Callie reminds him of his own mother, whom he failed miserably in her last days, he can’t say no when she keeps calling him for rides. Once a successful gourmet chef, Finn’s biggest concern now is paying his rent, but half the time Callie doesn’t remember to pay him. And as she starts to feel better, she leads him on wild-goose chases to find a Christmas date for her granddaughter.

When Finn meets Sydney, he’s quite sure she’s never needed help finding a date. Does Miss Callie have an ulterior motive, or is this just a mission driven by delusions? He’s willing to do whatever he can to help fulfill Callie’s Christmas wish. He just never expected to be a vital part of it.

My Review

I received my copy of Catching Christmas a few months back, but have purposely waited until this week to read and review it. I figured it would put me in the right frame of mind for the holidays, and I assumed correctly.

Reading about the last days of sweet, old Miss Callie put a sweet, holiday smile on my face. How she constantly worries over her granddaughter, Sydney, and the beautiful bond she creates with a lonely cab driver named Finn. No, this is not an action-packed story by any means, but it does remind not only Sydney and Finn, but all of us, what is really important in life, when life is all said and done.

Miss Callie's character is sweet, sassy, and bittersweet all rolled into one. Reading about her decline in health brought back painful memories of my own grandmother's decline before she passed away a few short years ago. Watching a loved one having to go through something like that when there is not much you can do is one of the hardest things to endure, and poor Sydney has to learn this lesson all alone, all while trying to juggle an incredibly demanding job that is hanging on by a thread.

Finn is one of those characters that is rough around the edges, but has a heart of gold. Being a huge Gilmore Girls fan, when author Terri Blackstock describes Finn as a Luke lookalike, for the rest of the book I could envision Luke, which made me fall in love with Finn all the more! I also loved how Miss Callie's faith was not pushed on either Sydney or Finn but lived out, which is how faith should be!

All in all, I really enjoyed Catching Christmas. The writing was good, with an easy flow, which made it a quick, easy read, the characters were likable, and going with the Christmas theme, though having a sad note, put you in the right heart for the season.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.