Book Review: A Texas Thanksgiving

Author:Margaret Daley
Title:A Texas Thanksgiving
Publisher: Love Inspired
Publish Date: Nov 2008
Rating: 3 Stars
Book Blurb: A frozen turkey dinner is just fine for former soldier and widower Evan Paterson. But his five-year-old daughter deserves better. So when she invites her best friend and her single mother to the Double P ranch for the holiday meal, Evan agrees. But not to a fix-up. Social worker Julia Saunders knows as much about heartache as he does, but Evan isn't ready to love again. Until a duo of pint-sized matchmakers show two stubborn grown-ups what being thankful truly means.

Review: This was a sweet book. Margaret's characters really feel like people we all know. However the plot was a bit too cheesy at times. A rehashed Parent Trap, which is still very cute, but to me the story needed more and the ending a bit too happily ever after, not so much for Evan and Julia but for the subplots that Margaret created. Things don't work out that perfectly. EVER!

The struggles both Evan and Julia went through, that tested their patience and faith were "real life" problems. Single parenting, problems with family etc. What bugged me was Evan's wife, Diana, who passed away of a drug overdose.

Why is it that the former spouse of the heros in so many books are women that run away from their families? Yet in her diaries she says that Paige (her daughter) was the best thing to come from their marriage? It doesn't make sense to me.

The two little girls are what make the story. Ellie and Paige are absolutely sweet and their actions adorable, though sometimes not  quite the way I'd expect a 5 or 6 year old to act.

Overall, this was a good book. If you like faith-based romances it is very good, and has a different scenario from most. Julia is an unwed mother, which is something you don't usually see. It was refreshing to see a character that was a little flawed.

This is the type of book you pick up when you need something to pass the time.