A Cedar Cove Christmas

By Debbie Macomber



While I am sure that Debbie Macomber is a very nice lady, it pains me to say that her newest book, "A Cedar Cove Christmas" is filled with so much schmaltz, I could feel my gag reflex working overtime. While a bit of "cheese" is good once in a while, "A Cedar Cove Christmas" is like living on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.

The book is about a girl in her early twenties who has gotten pregnant by an older man who has not-so-mysteriously disappeared. It is two days before Christmas and Mary Josephine (think about it) is being chastised by her three older brothers (their last name is Wyse, by the way) for not making the father of her unborn child marry her. So the morning of Christmas Eve, Mary Jo leaves to find the father of said unborn baby. She travels to Cedar Cove, a quaint town where it seems everyone knows everyone. She meets up with a librarian named Grace who invites her to stay at her farm, in the apartment over the barn (the barn that is housing a donkey, a sheep, and yes, a camel). Of course, Mary Jo agrees.

In the meantime, the three Wyse men jump into their truck to find their sister (but only after they grab a gold coin, some perfume, and some incense as "I'm-Sorry" gifts). They follow clues that could lead them to where she is staying, but they keep getting lost. While they are ambling around the wilds of rural Cedar Cove, Mary Jo goes into labor, calls the hot, young EMT named Mack (he had treated her earlier in the day for a dizzy spell), who jumps in the car and comes to the barn. Her hostess (Grace) is at church with her family for Christmas Eve services. Mack calls the church, just so happens to reach the secretary who finds the preacher who tells the secretary to pull the hostess out of the service. (Still with me?) Mack tells Grace there is no time to take Mary Jo to the hospital to have her baby. Instead, Grace has enough time to tell her family and a friend that Mary Jo is having the baby in the barn; the family leaves the church and some of them stop by their own respective homes to grab baby items (diapers, baby blankets and clothes), and they all get to the barn before the baby is born! Hmmm.........

Meanwhile, the three "Wyse" men are still driving around aimlessly, until they see fireworks and
decide to follow them. Yes, fireworks. And I know you will never guess where the fireworks are being set off-------

Back at the barn, hot, young EMT Mack delivers the baby girl while Mary Jo falls in love with him, and he with her. Grace's family is all hanging around the barnyard and her grandson starts to play his drum that he had just received as a gift that very night. Oh yes, you didn't think this story would be complete without a drumming child, did you?

Stay away from this story if you are diabetic or have any respect for your intelligence and the quality of literature you enjoy. It is one thing to read a book for fun, as we all need to do. But to allow the author to smack you over the head with the book, well, that's just a waste of time, isn't it?

Don't let this review sway you from reading some of Debbie Macombers other books. She does have quite a following. I have never read any of her other work, so I cannot say anything as to the quality of that. We're all allowed to have mistakes. Unfortunately, Debbie Macomber's mistake comes in the form of a book called "A Cedar Cove Christmas."

Remember people, I read them so you don't have to.

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