Book Review: His Christmas Escape by Shona Husk (Rainbow Cove Christmas #5)
This is book number 5 in the Rainbow Cove Christmas series. Overall, this series has been pretty disappointing and, alas, this book didn’t buck the trend.
His Christmas Escape is the story of Nico and Jade, both in their early 20s and both trying to deal with parental issues. Nico’s stepfather has just finished a stint in gaol, is living on handouts supplemented by criminal activity, and is generally taking advantage of Nico to such an extent that Nico’s life has become pretty unbearable. Jade, meanwhile, has religious nutters for parents who believe she’s headed off to hell because she’s admitted to being bisexual.
I know Husk had good intentions and was trying to encourage acceptance and diversity etc by including the bisexual character but I’m not sure if it worked 100%. Perhaps it felt a little too forced. (It might be because I just finished reading the Vorkosigan Saga and Lois McMaster Bujold includes diversity in such a flawless manner that any other author’s attempts were always going to seem clunky at the moment.)
There were a few great ideas in the book but Husk never really executed her ideas exactly right for my liking. (For example, the use of photos instead of text should have been the centre of the whole book, in my opinion, and instead it was just a tacked-on idea.)
The leads lacked chemistry. I really wasn’t particularly worried one way or another whether they got together in the end. I assume this wasn’t Husk’s intention… And I’m not sure if either resolution with their parents gave any thoughtful or helpful suggestions for anyone in a similar situation IRL.
I also felt bored by a lot of the book’s scenes. It really felt like I was reading real conversations from a couple in their early 20s at times (which I guess is good when it comes to realism). However, their convo was not worth the hassle of eavesdropping; nothing exciting going on.
As for the Christmas theme… It’s only the same Christmas dinner which has appeared in all the other books and that’s about it.
Again, like the others in the series, it would have been a much better read if the book only had a few more tweaks. 2 ½ out of 5
readwritewish 