Whitley’s review of A Kirribilli Christmas by Louise Reynolds.
Eight years ago Shelby left Sydney for LA, determined to set the world on fire. Now she’s nearly broke and her boyfriend has left her alone at Christmas. Lonely and miserable, Shelby finds herself drawn back to the childhood home she thought she’d left behind . . .
Frangipani House now belongs to Dan Sayers, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks who found a new start in Kirribilli. When he spots Shelby dragging her suitcase up the front steps on Christmas Eve, he can’t believe his eyes. It’s been four years since he last saw her. Then, she’d been aloof, a stranger in designer sunglasses and killer heels, barely acknowledging their shared past.
As Christmas unfolds, Shelby and Dan grow closer than ever before and Shelby begins to see her ramshackle home in a new light. But before she and Dan can have any hope of a future together, they must first confront their past.
Kirribilli Christmas is a sweet little short story with a fun set up, but it felt like it began as an idea for a novel and got hastily short-shifted. I honestly loved everything going on…until “The End” popped up out of nowhere.
This story has a lot of things going for it, not the least of which is a positive depiction of foster homes. I loved the way that Shelby and Dan remembered their shared childhood so differently. It gave their backstory a rather robust feel (at least, compared to how little page time was spent on it) and opened up a lot of potential drama. Not just in their relationship, but also in their individual characters. I liked seeing how the same scenario could affect them in such different ways.
The writing in this was very economical and managed to get a lot said in a short amount of time. I didn’t feel like there was too much time spent on backstory or introductions or minutia, and yet I had a very clear understanding of what was going on at all times. I liked the characters in the extended family, and although Dan was a bit dull, Shelby was delightful as a mid-20s woman regretting her directionless life.
Things progressed smoothly through the story and Dan and Shelby had a sweet thing going, but like I said, it ended too abruptly. Our two leads were still testing the waters around each other and then, bam, throw in some sex and call that an end. Considering the fact that Shelby was (technically) still dating someone else that whole time, I was a little bothered by that. It was all fine for something that had a more time, say a novelette or even just an extra 20 pages, because there was a nice steady buildup and a ton of potential. Alas, though, the rush job on the ending turned things anticlimactic instead.
Rating: 4 out of 5
This title is available from Penguin Australia . You can purchase it here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.