Married by Christmas was one of the first books I ready by Carole Mortimer; the intense emotional connections delighted me and I noted it on my books to buy list. I reread it now, about two years later, and I still enjoyed it, but after reading so many other romances I found it closer to good, not great.
Everything happens in London, in the main characters’ homes or hotel. The story is compressed to about a week and a half.
Plot Synopsis and Characters
Lilli lost her mother to a 5 year long bout with cancer just a few months ago, and her fiancé Andrew dumped her right after. She’s had a miserable last year. Tonight her friend Sally convinces her to go to a party given by a lady she knows slightly but doesn’t much like, Gerry. Gerry has a terrible reputation for men, Lilli calls her a man-eater.
Sally points out to Lilli an older, very handsome man who is obviously enraptured with Gerry. The man is Lilli’s dad, Richard. Lilli can’t believe her dad is chasing the man-eating Gerry so soon after her mom died and is disgusted and furious. She wanders around the house where she meets Patrick in the kitchen who clearly is someone special to Gerry. They flirt a bit, Gerry and Richard walk in and Lilli sees that she can get back at both of them (and herself) and having drunk a little too much, gets Patrick to take her to a hotel. Richard and Gerry both try to dissuade them but Patrick isn’t listening and Lilli is too angry and hurt to care.
Lilli is horrified the next morning when she wakes up to Patrick singing in the shower. She goes home where she and her dad have a short argument. Several fast meetings later Lilli learns that
- Richard owes Patrick’s bank several million pounds that he cannot pay because Lilli’s former fiancé had embezzled the money before dumping Lilli in favor of a another man and her dad doesn’t want to humiliate Lilli by prosecuting him.
- Patrick wants to marry her.
- Lilli doesn’t want to marry Patrick
Lilli is no dummy and realizes Richard could go ahead and prosecute Andrew if Lilli marries Patrick. So she agrees but is not too happy about it, especially when Patrick gives the usual Harlequin Presents Hero speech about not believing in love. He wants her body and he wants kids and he intends to marry forever.
Patrick’s ex-wife shows up at the wedding reception and is nasty until Lilli – not Patrick – routs her. The next morning Richard shows up, yes the morning after their wedding night. How tacky! Patrick is not amused and he’s even less thrilled when Richard tells them that Andrew insists on speaking to Lilli. Andrew gives Lilli the money he embezzled and all should be well, except Patrick is in a real tizzy. Lilli walked out! Lilli went to her former fiancé!! Lilli is at Gerry’s house drinking champagne!!!
Patrick races there, they have the usual I Love You scene and a nice epilogue where Lilli has twin girls and Gerry and Richard, now married, have a baby son. There are several explanations in there too, all to show that Richard and Gerry and Patrick and Lilli all are blessed with true love.
Surface Emotions
The main problem I see with Married by Christmas is the characters seem to feel everything on the surface. Author tells us what Lilli thinks underneath her superficial gaiety and sparkle but the emotions don’t feel solid. She tells, not shows us Lilli’s heart.
Patrick has the typical reasons for his anti-love outward stance: He lost his mother when 15, later his dad, had to raise Gerry, had a horrible first marriage with a wife who chose an abortion rather than gaining weight with a baby. Yet he loves Lilli and supposedly fell in love with her when she fell asleep the moment she lay down when they got to the hotel room. He hadn’t slept with anyone since his first marriage broke up although he’d been looking for a solid gold lady, and Lilli completely ensnared him.
This is plausible but not all that likely. Lilli is 17 or 18 years younger than Patrick, beautiful, charming and he wants her very much. Sure. But love? Love a lady who happily leaves a party with a man she never met before and begs him to take her away to make love to her? Maybe. Or maybe he simply finally felt ready to love someone and Lilli is lovely and available, in the right place at the right time.
Carole Mortimer presents the secondary romance between Richard and Gerry as fact. She later has Gerry explain to Lilli how she and Richard met years earlier before his wife got cancer and how the man-eating rumors are false. This is nice but doesn’t add much to the story. The reason Lilli was in despair and left party with Patrick was to spite her dad and Gerry, but it doesn’t advance Lilli’s story to learn how they knew each other.
Summary and Overall Rating
Carole Mortimer is usually a 3 star author for me, some are better, some are worse, some are very much worse. After rereading I would give Married by Christmas a skimpy 4 stars; it’s good to very good.
I bought my copy of Married by Christmas from Thriftbooks. You can find Kindle and new or used copies on Amazon and other used book sites and eBay.
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