The Mistletoe Promise

     The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans, is a modern-day Cinderella story with a twist you haven't seen before.

     I've read The Christmas Box, so I figured I would like this one when my sister-in-law gave it to us for Christmas, and I was right.  I sat down and read it in a few hours (after my 12 y/o daughter read it and I was finally able to get my hands on it.  And I figured it would be a great book to review right before Christmas.

     Elise (protagonist) has a sad, pain-riddled past and lives alone with her grief years after her husband left her.  Her horrible past leads her to believe she deserves the misery she wallows in daily.  Sadly, I know many people like this.  Many days I'm like this.  So the story really resonated with me.

     One day, while eating alone in the food court by her office, a handsome lawyer approaches her with a strange idea; he'd noticed her eating alone for the past several weeks, and since he was also alone, and hated facing the holidays with their many social gatherings alone, he proposed that the two should become a couple just for the holidays.  Being a lawyer.  He comes up with a contract that would protect them both, ensure the platonic nature of their relationship, and swear them both to secrecy so as to avoid any embarrassment should the other tell friends and family of the arrangement.

     I know what you're thinking, "Creepy".  At least that's what I thought as I read the first few chapters, but press on readers.  It's Richard Paul Evans not E. L. James.  This is not smut.  It's a really sweet story.

     Elise agrees to the contract figuring that she had nothing else to lose, and the budding romance begins.  At least it appears that way to friends and family.

     Elise's past catches up to her, and strangely enough, so does Nicholas's (the handsome lawyer), and self-inflicted torment turns to atonement when they face the demons of their pasts.

     We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people.  We all mess up from time to time.  Some people's mistakes are horrific in the sight of others, some are incomprehensible, but a penitent soul will afflict itself far more than any justice system.  This is a book about forgiveness.  Mostly, we need to be able to forgive ourselves.

I give The Mistletoe Promise