3.5 stars (note rating shown may vary depending on whether the site allows half star ratings)

The book I have actually contains two stories: The Perfect Christmas and Can This Be Christmas?

I've read other Macomber books and sometimes I have trouble with how far Macomber lets her characters take their sexual attraction before she reins them in--I'm happy to report that I had no such concerns with either of these stories (though at the very end, we do find out that a single woman is pregnant, which means something did happen, though not graphically and not within the confines of the story, thank goodness). I did find both stories somewhat predictable so while I enjoyed them, I didn't really feel they rated more than 3-3.5 stars.

WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW, READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION
*****

In The Perfect Christmas, Cassie enlists the services of a matchmaker to find her perfect husband. I have no idea what matchmakers charge but $30,000 seems a bit excessive to me--though I would guess that it weeds out those who aren't serious about a relationship.

It's never really explained how Simon, the matchmaker, decides who he will take on as clients. He was able to tell that Cassie's friend was already in love with someone else--someone who was not one of his clients--and declined her. He claims that he only takes on those for whom he has a match in mind. But in real life, the chances that the two people who are best suited for one another would show up on his doorstep relatively near to each other don't seem high. So does he take on male clients in a different fashion than female clients?

He also requires Cassie to perform 3 tasks before he will introduce her to the man he thinks she'll pair well with. I wasn't aware that volunteer bell ringers have a quota. What do they do if you don't meet their quota? You're a volunteer. It isn't as if they can fire you or withhold your pay. I suppose they could ask you not to come back or ask you to put in additional hours for them but if you didn't meet the quota the first time, why would they think that would change? In any case, asking her to volunteer didn't seem too horribly off-beat.

The second task is being an elf at the mall. Sorry, but no way would I have chosen to wear too small tights that I was worried would roll down just because some man supposedly gave the coordinator my size. (Does that mean Cassie lied to him on her application or just that he's a bad judge of women's sizes?) Of course, there's also no way I'd have agreed to be on a wire and be lowered down either so . . .

I was glad that cooking for her neighbors brought the neighbors together and made them more neighborly and friendly overall, but I kind of suspected that would happen.

I knew that Angie was in love with Cassie's brother long before the two got together again. I also pretty much suspected that Cassie would fall in love with Simon. In fact, I kind of wondered if Simon was trying to find out if she'd be "the one" for him and that he'd turn out to be John (but that proved to be wrong).

In Can This Be Christmas? an assortment of strangers board a train in Maine to try to get to Boston. Most were planning to fly from Maine to Boston and then on to various locations though at least one's final destination was Boston. A snowstorm closed the Maine airport and the airline put them on the train. Unfortunately, the train gets stopped in tiny Abbott, New Hampshire (at what is apparently a quaint old depot) and those not savvy enough to take a hotel room or rent a car end up spending Christmas Eve at the depot.

At first, they all are kind of grumpy about it, but as they interact more, they become a sort of family and by the time the train is able to leave the next morning, they're all acting friendly and helpful to each other.

I figured that would be the case and I almost feel like I'd read the story before though I didn't recall any of the details other than figuring out that the grumpy would be less grumpy and the lonely would be less lonely etc. ( )

Good quick read! ( )

My Christmas reading is often of the light, romantic, sappy sort, but this was just too Too of all three. I read it after Amish Christmas and before the other two in that series, and it came up really really short. ( )

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber
Cathy has decided to use a professsional matchmaker as she's had no luck on her own or her girlfriends blind dates.
Simon is the professional psychologist that has a dating service as well.
He's told her she needs to do a few tasks first then she will meet Mr. Right-John.
She's a bell ringer around the Christmas holidays near a store and finds some good people out there and some not so good people that left money for the pot.
Her next task is to fly in to meet Santa from up above the ceiling then help him with picture taking sessions.
Next task is to put on a dinner for her neighbors.
These are very trying tasks and things don't go just right but Simon is there to pick up the pieces. ( )