Audiobook Review: The Christmas Basket by Debbie Macomber

Author: Debbie Macomber
Narrator: Karen White

Title: The Christmas Basket

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit
Pages: Audiobook
Published: September 24, 2002
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

That summer -- more than ten years ago, while they were still in high school -- Noelle McDowell and Thomas Sutton fell secretly in love. Secretly because their mothers had been locked in a bitter feud for decades. But despite the animosity between Sarah McDowell and Mary Sutton, Noelle planned to elope with Thom. Until he jilted her.

This Christmas Noelle McDowell is home to celebrate the holidays with her family. (After all, December 25 is also her birthday.) Unfortunately, Noelle's feelings about home -- or rather, her hometown of Rose, Oregon -- were changed forever the day Thomas Sutton broke her heart.

This Christmas the feuding mothers find themselves working together to fill Christmas baskets for charity. What irony! And what an opportunity for reconciliation . . . if only they could see it.

This Christmas Noelle and Thom discover they're still in love. Regardless of their mothers' reactions, they want to be together. Is that possible? Can old rivalries be set aside? Will Sarah's Christmas daughter have a second chance with Mary's charming son?

Maybe she will . . . this Christmas!

Review: 

This was a random find. I was looking for an Xmas romance in my library's audios and this one popped out at me. 

Here we have Noelle and Thom. They were in love when they were young, but their mothers hate each other. They wanted to run away together....but Thom stood Noelle up. Years have passed and Noelle is back home. She has avoided coming back, but she is tired of running. This Christmas she is back home and she keeps running into Thom. At the same time, the feuding mothers are forced to work together to fill Christmas baskets for charity. Will the four of them be able to communicate and move forward?

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I'm SO picky with 2nd chances and the last one was meh for me so I was worried. I loved when everything came out and they realized the truth. I won't spoil it, but I was SO happy with the reveal. I literally jumped for joy and yippeed! 

The side story of the mothers was a nice cherry on top. That was interesting and the conclusion was lovely. Can we get a short story sequel? I want to see more of these two families. 

I felt the diary entries were a little...................unnecessary. We don't need a rehashing of what Noelle felt. We got to see her live reactions. NOW if they were the little sister's or something? Sure. Add another POV in a way. 

The narrator was good. Her older lady voices seemed a little similar. I would forget which mom was which if my focus wasn't 100%. I had to rewind a couple of times because I was confused. 

All-in-all, this was a nice find. I enjoyed all facets of the story. I felt the narrator did alright. The diary entries could've been cut or given to someone else but I didn't hate them. This was a nice little clean romance for the holidays. 4 stars!!!!!! I'm feeling generous especially since this 2nd chance actually worked and I didn't feel any ick toward anyone. 

ONE WORD SUMMARY: Cute

Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #57

- Library Love #35