One More for Christmas

 

SARAH MORGAN

Stats: Trade paperback, HQN, 2020.

How acquired: Library.

First line: When Gayle Mitchell agreed to a live interview in her office, she hadn’t expected her life to fall apart in such a spectacular fashion in front of an audience of millions.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: Sarah Morgan is quickly becoming a favorite author. Like previous books of hers I've read, this was a wonderful character study, or rather, character studies. Samantha and Ella grew up with a tough love mother, Gayle, who single mindedly strove to raise them to be self-sufficient, eschewing anything that was not teachable or did not contribute to their education and betterment, including Christmas and Santa Claus. Five years ago, the last time the three of them were together, hurtful words were said, and the girls haven't spoken to their mother since. But now they are spending Christmas together, in Scotland, a working trip for Samantha to look over a family estate in hopes of recommending it as a vacation destination for her clients.

Samantha and Ella are of course easy to like, and the bond between them was enviable. The more we learn about their childhood, the harder it is to feel sympathy for Gayle. Or it should be. But as Ms. Morgan takes us into Gayle's head, it's easy to have empathy for her.

The plots of Ms. Morgan's books aren't complex, and yet the stories are. Relationships are at the core of this one, the relationship between the sisters, between the sisters and their mother, between Ella and her husband and daughter, Tab, between Gayle and Tab, and even between Gayle and Mary, the owner of the estate where they spend Christmas. And there's also a touch of romance for Samantha and a handsome Scotsman right out of the highland romances Samantha loves to read. Well, almost, with a little effort on his part!

Heartwarming and enjoyable family saga, with lots of lighthearted moments that made me smile.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year—a time for togetherness, love and celebration. Most of all, it’s about making up for everything their childhood Christmases lacked. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all—their estranged mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mom calls out of the blue and promises that this Christmas will be different, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend it all together…

Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price—her relationship with her daughters. She never seemed to say or do the right things. Her tough-love approach was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away…until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart…

The Lyon Legacy (The Lyon Legacy, Book 1; Harlequin Superromance, #847)

PEG SUTHERLAND, ROZ DENNY FOX, and RUTH JEAN DALE

Synopsis from Goodreads: It's fifty years since the Lyon family of New Orleans ventured into what was then an exciting new business - television. Despite objections from some in the family, Margaret Hollander Lyon believed it was the wave of the future...and the past fifty years have certainly proven her right!

The Lyons created a legacy for their children and grandchildren - a legacy of business success and family loyalty.

But the Lyon Legacy is also a history of feuding, betrayal, deceptions. Every family has its secrets, and the Lyons have more than most.

Margaret, Andre, Leslie - three generations of the Lyon family. Three stories about the power of family bonds...and the life-changing power of love.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Books, 1999.

How acquired: I've had this book for a couple of years, but do not remember where or how I got it.

THE LYON LEGACY is actually three stories. The first story is "Beginning", by Peg Sutherland, a new to me author. Margaret and her seven year old son, André, reside in the Lyon mansion with her in-laws and her husband's siblings, but not her husband. Paul Lyon went off to fight in the war, and when it was over he lost himself in the bayous, leaving behind his illustrious career as a radio broadcaster, and the son who he was convinced was not his child. When the story opens, Margaret is pushing for the company to start a TV station, but she is getting a lot of dissent from the Lyon family, who think television is a fad that will eventually fade out. She needs an ally, so she tracks down Paul and drags him back into everyone's lives, where he finds himself intrigued with the idea of television, and of course still wildly attracted to the wife he'd tried to forget.

I really enjoyed this well-written novella. The characters were quickly established and fleshed out. Margaret is a strong-willed woman who refused to sit back and be a society wife. She wanted to go to college and she wanted a career with Lyon Broadcasting, a company her father was a partner in. The narrative jumps back and forth between the "present" day, which for this story is 1949, and 1941, when Margaret was a teenager hanging out at the studio, falling in love with the radio station. And with Paul.

After reading the short prologue, and then getting a few pages into the story, I was very confused about some things that just seemed inconsistent time wise. So much so that I reread passages in a desperate attempt to get things straight in my head, to no avail. I finally just had to let it go so I could enjoy the story. And then at the end, secrets were revealed that explained it all away. I was also a little surprised when the story ended, just because of the length. It was so good that I'd forgotten it wasn't a novel in itself until I reached the last page. And have tissues handy for those last pages, because I cried. My favorite passage:

He slugged back the last of his coffee and stood. "Nobody gets me, sweetheart. And if I want anything you've got, you'll know the minute I come after it. 

The second story is Silver Anniversary, by Roz Denny Fox, an author I'm already a fan of. It's now 1974, and the Lyons' television station, WDIX-TV, is about to celebrate it's 25th anniversary. André is all grown up now, and after a lonely childhood spent in the Lyon mansion he's now living in a rented shack in the bayou, where he and a partner run a swamp tour business. Margaret shows up at his door one morning, and demands that move back home and take his rightful place at the station. Paul had recently had a heart attack, and has had to cut down on the number of hours he puts in at work, and Margaret needs to cut down as well so she can spend time with her husband. It's time for André to learn the business so he can be ready to take over the reins after the anniversary celebration. He grudgingly agrees to do so, but requests that his parents also take in Rachel, a young neighbor girl who has a bad home life.

Gabrielle's mother and Margaret were close friends, and when Gabrielle's husband was killed, leaving her pregnant and alone, she sought Margaret's help. She's lived at the Lyon mansion ever since. She's Margaret's right hand at the tv station, and now that Margaret and Paul are cutting back, Gabrielle has assumed more responsibility. She thrives on the job, putting in long hours and is hoping with Paul and Margaret cutting back that after the anniversary celebration they'll put her in charge. She's not happy when Margaret announces her son is coming to work and Gabrielle will be training him.

It was a little disconcerting, after the first story and knowing how much Margaret loved young André and was so devoted to him, to now find out that he had a lonely and not always happy childhood. Margaret was so driven in her desire to make the tv station a success that she spent long hours at work rather than with her son. At one point Margaret muses that she sees Gaby doing the same with her daughter, and she hopes that one of the benefits of bringing André on board will be Gaby being able to slow down and spend more time at home with Leslie.

I loved André. He was a bit colorful, and while he did dive head first into learning all he could about running the station, he wasn't prepared to slave away his whole life. In Leslie he saw a kindred spirit, and he became determined to get Gaby to slow down and spend more time with her daughter. Of course part of what endeared him to me was his interactions with both Leslie and Rachel. I liked Gabrielle well enough, but for me André drove the story.

The third story is Golden Anniversary, by Ruth Jean Dale, another new to me author. It's now December 1998, and Leslie is a librarian. The station will be celebrating it's 50th anniversary in July, and Leslie has taken a leave of absence from her job to compile a history of the station. While not exactly shy, Leslie is a little awkward and out of place at the station. She has a phobia of public speaking, which her parents and grandparents think she's overcome or grown out of, when in reality she's just learned to avoid being put in situations where public speaking is required. But with the anniversary coming up, she's expected to be there with all the family for the press conference. When she panics in front of the cameras, Michael, the director of human resources, catches her eye and helps her focus and get through the ordeal. Leslie already has a crush on Michael, and get's tongue tied and embarrassed around him.

When the job opportunity at WDIX-TV came up, Michael, a widower, moved himself and his young daughter from New York. His mother-in-law is upset at not being able to see her granddaughter all the time, and has been threatening to sue Michael for custody on the grounds that his live in housekeeper has to raise the child while he works. She has a boatload of money, and Michael is worried about how that could all turn out. And then his housekeeper has to move away for family reasons, and he's really worried about his mother-in-law's reaction.

While I liked Michael well enough, I had a hard time connecting with Leslie. The women in the first two stories were such strong women, and then here was the shrinking violet Leslie, mooning over Michael like a love sick teenager. Where the first two stories moved quickly, this one seemed to drag a bit. And again, it was a little disconcerting to see how Margaret and Gabrielle both seemed to dismiss Leslie's feelings and steamroll her into doing what they wanted. Though I loved the scene where Michael cornered them and got in their faces about it.

The rest of the books in the series are full length novels, one by each of the three authors. I've already read the Fox book, FAMILY FORTUNE. Since it's a multi author series, I wasn't worried about reading them out of order, but after FAMILY FORTUNE I wanted to go back and read the other books. I'm really looking forward to Sutherland's book, FAMILY REUNION, although I have to find a copy of it first. And despite my lukewarm feelings about Dale's story, I will read her book, FAMILY SECRETS, which is the second book, and which I already have in my TBR pile.

Family Fortune (Harlequin Superromance #850; The Lyon Legacy #3)

ROZ DENNY FOX

Synopsis from Goodreads: The Lyon family matriarch has disappeared. And now her money's disappearing, too - bit by bit. Margaret Lyon's grandniece, Crystal Jardin, who looks after the family finances as well as those of the business, is growing more concerned every day.

The Lyons wait anxiously during this time of crises, hoping for word of Margaret. Then, as if Crystal's life wasn't complicated enough, she meets Caleb Tanner - and she falls for him. Hard. Even though Caleb's everything she doesn't want. He's too handsome. Too confident. And far too relentless. Can she afford to take a chance on her feelings?

Margaret's not there to give her advice, but Crystal knows what she would have said: Follow your heart.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Harlequin Enterprises Limited; 1999; purchased at a library sale.

First line: Another three thousand dollars withdrawn from Margaret Lyon's private bank account!

My thoughts: I was drawn into this pretty quick, and really liked the character of Crystal. But, her all-out disdain for kids playing any kind of organized sport got on my nerves a little bit. She believes that kids should not play soccer, football or basketball because of the dangers of being injured and disabled for life. Exhibit 1 – Skip, a foster child in the hospital who was injured in a football game and may never walk again. Crystal plays with a jazz band on weekends, and also volunteers time at the children's ward of the local hospital, playing for the kids, and she has a soft spot for poor little Skip. Not only is he a foster child, but thanks to his need for a wheelchair, he may not be able to return to the foster family he lived with and his social worker, who happens to be Crystal's foster cousin, will have to locate a new placement for him. Coincidentally, (Exhibit 2) the several other boys in the same ward with Skip are all hospitalized due to sports related injuries. When Crystal got on her soapbox about how terrible these sports are, I wanted to shake her and say chill out, girl! Even though my daughter was injured in a soccer game and her ankle still occasionally bothers her several years later. But shit happens.

Caleb is also a patient in the hospital, with a sports related injury – he's a professional football player. And his injury may have ended his career, though he's having a very hard time facing that reality. Caleb took me a little longer to like. I'm not a fan of football, so his career certainly did not impress me. Actually I'm not a sports fan at all, though I loved watching my kid play soccer. But, you know, that's my kid and she was the best goalie around. Caleb is definitely a player, and I did think “gag me” right along with Crystal at the way he peppered his conversations with “darlin'” and “sweetheart”, etc. etc.

This is the third book in a series, “The Lyon Legacy”, and normally I’m very anal about reading series books in order, but with category romances I don't usually bother with that as much, especially when it's a multi author series, as this one is. But there are so many members of the Lyon family, working together at the broadcasting company they own, and many living together in the family mansion, that I was often confused about who was who, especially Andre and Alain, which is probably just because their names are similar. Yes, they are. Well, they both start with the letter A. And I'm old and get confused easily. The book has a family tree at the front, and I consulted it more than once. So I do think I would have benefited from reading the first two books before reading this one.

I warmed up to Caleb right along with Crystal, especially as we learned more about how he fought the state to keep his three younger sisters out of the foster care system after their parents died. The main storyline is about the Lyon broadcasting company wanting Caleb to come on board as their new sportscaster, and Crystal, who handles the company’s finances, finding herself being pushed into also handling this jock. And while she learns that he's certainly more than just an athlete in a sport she abhors, she doesn't ever really seem to change her opinion about sports in general. A little growth there would have been nice.

There is also a subplot about the family matriarch, Margaret, being missing, and money being mysteriously withdrawn from her bank account several times (which Crystal knows about as, again, she's in charge of the finances). A private detective is eventually brought in to try and track Margaret down, and I seriously had a hard time understanding why the family would not notify the police and file a missing person's report. It's not like they didn't care, they were all terribly worried about her, but hesitated to admit she might actually be a real missing person and not just off alone grieving for her recently deceased husband.

The Skip storyline was resolved nicely, even though one day Caleb was dead set against Crystal wanting to be his foster parent (and if that's a spoiler I apologize, but you should have seen it coming), and the next day he's suddenly on board with it. He had an epiphany apparently, but it was off page, and I would have liked it to have been explored more.

Overall I quite enjoyed the book. There's a lot of plot crammed into it's 299 pages and the action moved along nicely with the story never dragging. Plus, for some reason I just really like the cover picture, especially the girl laughing. But, I was disappointed when I turned the last page, and Margaret was still missing. Which means if I want to know what happened to her, I have to read the next book.

The rest of the series:

  

The Lyon Legacy (#1), by Peg Sutherland, Roz Denny Fox, and Ruth Jean Dale

Family Secrets (#2), by Ruth Jean Dale

Family Reunion (#4), by Peg Sutherland