A Christmas Wish by Joseph Pittman
Publisher: Kensington Books
Release Date: 1ST October 2011
Rating: 4/5
Source: Received from the publisher for review. Thank you!
Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | BookDepository
Publishers Summary:

This Christmas, the greatest gifts can’t be found beneath a tree…

Eight-year-old Janey Sullivan has had a difficult year, between losing her mother and adjusting to life with her guardian, Brian Duncan. But with the holidays approaching, her one Christmas wish is to find the perfect gift for Brian—if she can learn to trust him first.

Reeling from the loss of his soul mate, Brian is determined to give her daughter, Janey, an extraordinary Christmas. But he struggles to read her irregular moods, and when he catches her in a lie, he begins to doubt the future of their new little family.

Can Brian and Janey navigate the emotional mine fields of the holiday season and forge a lasting bond? With the help of their friends in Linden Corners, and a bit of Christmas magic riding on the wind, they may be able to preserve Janey’s mother’s traditions, perhaps even start some new ones—and discover that the life they hadn’t planned on can still bring the happiness they’ve always wished for.

Christmas for Brian Duncan and his recently inherited child, Janey Sullivan, simply isn’t the same after the tragic loss of the love of his life and her mother. Everything since her death has turned his life upside down and the only thing that seems to be worth focusing on is Janey. Now having lost both of her birth parents Janey has only Brian left to care for her, but that’s not entirely true. What they both soon discover is that the little town of Linden Corners and each of it’s inhabitants may be exactly the family both of them needed to come home to.

A Christmas Wish by Joseph Pittman was exactly the kind of read you expect to curl up with while sipping a nice cup of cocoa and warming up by the fire. It’s perfect for the holiday season and I certainly enjoyed getting to know the characters in this new-to-me series. The town of Linden Corners is comfy and cozy filled with all the hospitality and charm you’d expect from a place where everyone knows each other by first names. And though this is the second book in the series, that I’m aware of, I had no problem falling into step with each and every one of these delightful characters.

At it’s heart A Christmas Wish is about Brian and Janey coming to grips with the loss of someone they both loved very deeply. I’ve always wondered what happens in these types of situations and it was interesting to see the dynamic explored a bit. What does happen to a child when both parents die and there is no one else except perhaps a boyfriend or girlfriend? For Brian it was a huge adjustment, not only with the addition of an eight year old daughter but also in his lifestyle as he’d recently come from a big city corporate life in New York. I loved seeing how much he cared for her, but yet still stumbled and was a bit overprotective at times. The relationship and their love for each other was wonderful.

If you are in need of a cozy comfortable read for the holidays I’d highly recommend A Christmas Wish by Joseph Pittman. The characters in the small town of Linden Corners seem to welcome readers as easily as they do the members of the town they all love and you can feel that emanating from the pages of the story. Brian and Janey’s journey to become a family is one I’m eager to continue reading about and I’m hopeful that Pittman will continue to share more from the Linden Corners series. A Christmas Wish is just the book to pick up this holiday season as you settle in for a great read and a nice cup of hot chocolate these cold winter nights!