Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

source: Purchased
title: Starry Night: A Christmas Novel
author: Debbie Macomber/ (Twitter)
genre: contemporary holiday romance
published: 2013
pages: 231
first line: Carrie Slayton’s feet were killing her.
rated: 3 out of 5

 

 

 

blurb:
’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a mega-bestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.

Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.

My thoughts:

I was in a Christmasy mood so I ordered a copy of Starry Night a few weeks ago. I am a seasonal reader and I try to enjoy at least one holiday book this time of year.

Starry Night is my first time reading Debbie Macomber. I’ve often seen her books around and I know she is popular in the genre and that some of her books have been made into Hallmark Christmas movies. In the foreword for Starry Night she mentions that she writes a Christmas book every year.

While I found Starry Night to be sweet Christmas romance, it did not blow me away like I wanted it too. It revolves around Chicago based columnist Carrie Slayton who is about to quit her job because she can’t see herself getting ahead with no serious assignments only gossip column stuff. Her boss tells her that if she can find and interview mysterious author Finn Dalton then she will have more serious assignments moving forward and be able to advance her career. Finn wrote a book about living in the wilderness that became an international bestseller and he has gone into hiding ever since. With the holidays around the corner Carrie decides to use her vacation time to find the mysterious Finn.

Slight spoiler alert but not quite, she locates him. He lives in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness in a cabin with his dog Hennessy. Hennessy is so cute by the way, he looks like a wolf but is a big ol’ softy.

When Carrie arrives at his doorstep in the middle of a snowstorm, Finn begrudgingly takes her in for the next 48 hours until the storm passes and she can get a flight back out. At first Finn was a jerk and rude to Carrie and I didn’t like that. He has issues with being lied to by a woman in his past, plus his mom left him when he was young and this has left him rough around the edges. He eventually softens up and the two fall for each other during these 48 hours. Carrie gets a few interview questions answered and intends on writing the article but right before she leaves Finn asks her not to write it. The two begin to communicate via email and phone and continue falling in love.

“He went to sleep thinking about her, and when he woke, she was right there, filling his mind and his heart.”-p.119 Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

Without giving too much away, the silly conflict over writing the article commences now. Carrie struggles between wanting to write the article to advance in her career or not writing it and trying to have a relationship with Finn. Then and few games of the heart begin between these two I will leave it at that.

I found it confusing and just odd and I don’t like games like that especially over a dumb article. I would have preferred a love triangle or an illness or an earthquake giving these two a reason to fight for their love, give me something I can believe in Debbie Macomber.

Write the damn article and still be together, what is the big deal? This is not some crazy revealing article that will change the trajectory of Finn’s life in any bad way. He lives in Alaska and she in Chicago, that is conflict enough. Also, I thought it was selfish of Finn to ask her not to write the article and dumb of Carrie to consider not writing it.

Are you friggin’ crazy? Advance your career girl! That was the point of flying out to Alaska for the interview.<-That’s what I’d say to Carrie if I was a character in this book.

But this one has a happily ever after, the beautiful Northern Lights in Alaska, a hero with a sweet dog named Hennessy and long distance romance. Also in the mix is Finn’s estranged mom and Carrie is trying to mend this broken relationship.

This was G-romance and although the conflict was silly the writing itself flowed nicely and there was plenty of romantic and lines that make you sigh. There was a nice surprise moment set during Christmas morning which I enjoyed immensely as well. So, if you like super sweet G-rated holiday romance, give this one a try, but don’t expect too much of a believable conflict.

Oh, and lastly, Carrie mentions often in the book that her curly hair has always been hard to manage and we see Finn notice and love her wild and curly hair. He thinks it’s one of her best features. So why does the lady on the cover have pin straight hair? Just saying.

“You were the very best Christmas gift of my life.”-p.230, Starry Night 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I purchased my copy of Starry Night by Debbie Macomber.

Some of the links in the post are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission. The book photo is my own and not to be removed from this post.