TEST
A 5th Avenue Christmas didn’t work for me. At all. Though the premise is interesting, the actual execution falls short. Part of the problem is that the book itself is short, but it’s also crippled by characters who would be annoying in a book of any length.
Meryl Carrington is the youngest daughter of a railroad tycoon, and has always wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. Since her father has no sons, she sees eventual ownership of the company as a realistic goal. Her father is willing to entertain her ambitious plans, but there’s another obstacle standing in her way: long-time family friend Joseph Hammond. Joe’s the son of Meryl’s father’s former business partner, and he wants to make a name for himself in the company as well. Over Thanksgiving dinner, Meryl and Joe form a plan and a compromise. They tell the family that they are embarking on a cooperative business venture to secure the purchase of a shaky western railroad. In actuality, they plan to compete for the contract negotiation; whoever gets to San Francisco first and successfully negotiates the contract will take charge of the company’s western division.
Thus Meryl and Joe embark on an exciting journey west, traveling by rail. Each attempts to one-up the other by getting there first. If some of their antics are a little dangerous, well, all’s fair in love and war. After several delays (some of their own design, some not) they arrive. Presumably they are in love by this time, but whether the reader really buys it is another matter. In any case, they must figure out how to settle their differences and form a relationship that is a little more loving and a little less cut-throat.
I liked the basic premise of the book, and the setting as well. The conflict over the business is actually resolved in a manner consistent with the time period, which is nice. Unfortunately, that was about all I liked. Early on both main characters make very annoying choices that affected my view of them; neither recovered from those early damning mess-ups. Joe is first to screw up – big time. In his zeal to get to San Francisco first, he deceives Meryl by altering her time table so that she thinks she has more time to get back on the train after a stop. Then, he ditches her in a seedy saloon – without her luggage. She happens to have a little money on hand, but Joe doesn’t know this, and he doesn’t think about it until after the fact, when it finally occurs to him that leaving a woman alone in a strange city with no luggage and no money might not be the nicest thing to do. This made him a first-rate scumbag in my book, and colored my opinion of him forever after.
Meryl manages to catch up to him and get him back (he has the nerve to be annoyed, as if he didn’t deserve it). However, Meryl frustrates the reader in her own right when the train is attacked by robbers. Meryl doesn’t particularly want to surrender her jewelry, so instead she cements her place in the TSTL Hall of Fame by telling the robbers that they’ll be sorry if they bother her, because her father is a big, important man with a lot of money! Why not just wear a sign saying “Please kidnap me and hold me for ransom”?
If you can get past the irritating behavior, you arrive at a bigger problem – the utter lack of romance. We are told several times that Meryl and Joe have feelings for each other, so I had to ask myself why I wasn’t buying it. Most of the problem is that we are told, but not shown. We don’t really see Meryl and Joe treat each other with tenderness; we see them snap at each other, hurl insults, and endanger one another in the name of competition. And as the book is short, there’s not much room for anything extraneous. If it had been longer by about a third, perhaps we could have seen a few more of those “falling in love” kinds of moments. An additional love scene would not have been remiss either; the single one in the book ends badly and leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth as well.
There are some interesting risks here, but few of them work. As much as I like American historicals and Christmas romances, I’d recommend giving this one a pass.
Grade: D
Book Type: American Historical Romance
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 04/10/03
Publication Date: 2003
I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.