Very sweet story that takes place in Nantucket at Christmas. Christina is a native of the island and owns a small toy store on the pier, one of several "shed shops." She loves her store and usually looks forward to Christmas and its holiday cheer and busyness. It's a little harder this year as she has lost her parents and her grandmother, leaving her alone for the holidays. Fortunately, she has her shop and good friends to ease the pain. One day, as she is unpacking merchandise, she catches a young girl shoplifting a small sticker book. Rather than turn her in, Christina offers nine-year-old Wink a job, giving the bored and lonely girl something fun to focus on.
I liked the quick bonding between Wink and Christina. Both were dealing with a tough holiday season, between Christina's losses and Wink's upset over her parents' upcoming divorce. It was fun to see Wink blossom under Christina's encouragement, as she went from sulky and bitter to outgoing and helpful. There were some terrific scenes of their time in the shop together.
A side effect of her friendship with Wink was getting to know Wink's bachelor Uncle Andy. Christina and Andy were drawn together from the moment they met. She was reluctant to get involved with him at first, as he was the son of local billionaire and landlord Oscar Bittlesman. But Andy was sweetly persistent and was soon spending as much time as he could with Christina. I liked Andy a lot. He's a nice man who hasn't inherited his father's ruthless streak. He's more interested in using his time and money on things that benefit the area.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Andy and Christina. They spend time together, with and without Wink, getting to know each other. I liked seeing the little things that he did for her to make her happy or her life a little easier. Christina gives Andy moral support as he works to convince his father to let him leave the family business in New York and move to Nantucket. It's easy to see the feelings growing between them. Things become complicated when the "Shedders" all receive notice from Oscar that he will raise their rents by ten percent after the first of the year. This is a blow to all of them, as their profit margins aren't all that high to begin with. Christina is faced with a dilemma - does she allow Andy to help her with his father, or does she rely on her business sense and intelligence to fight this battle? Decision made, she had to walk a fine line between her struggle with Oscar and her growing feelings for Andy. I loved that Andy respected her wishes and gave her support without taking over. I liked the way things worked out at the end, with everyone remaining true to themselves.
I enjoyed Christina's fellow merchants. They had an excellent friendship and support system going. Mimi was terrific with the way she watched over them all and kept them on track when they needed it. Jacob was the geeky guy with the kite and other sciency stuff. Sometimes he seemed like the awkward little brother, and other times he was far ahead of the others. Harriet grated on me through most of the book. She was catty and snobby and came across as a gold-digger. I hated her snide comments. She had a few redeeming moments, such as when she helped Christina at the hospital, but mostly she was a pill. When they all found out about the rise in rent, they looked to Christina to take advantage of her relationships with Wink and Andy to fix the problem, which bugged me. I was happy when they realized that wasn't fair to her, and enjoyed the idea they came up with to try to change his mind. The results were not what they expected.
There were a couple of things that disappointed me about the book. One was the lack of heat between Andy and Christina. Their romance was sweet, and I had no doubt about their feelings, but I never felt any sparks between them. The other problem I had was that there wasn't anything told from Andy's point of view. There were places that I would have liked to know what he was feeling or thinking. This would have given a little more depth to his character. This was my first book by Nancy Thayer, so this may be her style.
I liked the quick bonding between Wink and Christina. Both were dealing with a tough holiday season, between Christina's losses and Wink's upset over her parents' upcoming divorce. It was fun to see Wink blossom under Christina's encouragement, as she went from sulky and bitter to outgoing and helpful. There were some terrific scenes of their time in the shop together.
A side effect of her friendship with Wink was getting to know Wink's bachelor Uncle Andy. Christina and Andy were drawn together from the moment they met. She was reluctant to get involved with him at first, as he was the son of local billionaire and landlord Oscar Bittlesman. But Andy was sweetly persistent and was soon spending as much time as he could with Christina. I liked Andy a lot. He's a nice man who hasn't inherited his father's ruthless streak. He's more interested in using his time and money on things that benefit the area.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Andy and Christina. They spend time together, with and without Wink, getting to know each other. I liked seeing the little things that he did for her to make her happy or her life a little easier. Christina gives Andy moral support as he works to convince his father to let him leave the family business in New York and move to Nantucket. It's easy to see the feelings growing between them. Things become complicated when the "Shedders" all receive notice from Oscar that he will raise their rents by ten percent after the first of the year. This is a blow to all of them, as their profit margins aren't all that high to begin with. Christina is faced with a dilemma - does she allow Andy to help her with his father, or does she rely on her business sense and intelligence to fight this battle? Decision made, she had to walk a fine line between her struggle with Oscar and her growing feelings for Andy. I loved that Andy respected her wishes and gave her support without taking over. I liked the way things worked out at the end, with everyone remaining true to themselves.
I enjoyed Christina's fellow merchants. They had an excellent friendship and support system going. Mimi was terrific with the way she watched over them all and kept them on track when they needed it. Jacob was the geeky guy with the kite and other sciency stuff. Sometimes he seemed like the awkward little brother, and other times he was far ahead of the others. Harriet grated on me through most of the book. She was catty and snobby and came across as a gold-digger. I hated her snide comments. She had a few redeeming moments, such as when she helped Christina at the hospital, but mostly she was a pill. When they all found out about the rise in rent, they looked to Christina to take advantage of her relationships with Wink and Andy to fix the problem, which bugged me. I was happy when they realized that wasn't fair to her, and enjoyed the idea they came up with to try to change his mind. The results were not what they expected.
There were a couple of things that disappointed me about the book. One was the lack of heat between Andy and Christina. Their romance was sweet, and I had no doubt about their feelings, but I never felt any sparks between them. The other problem I had was that there wasn't anything told from Andy's point of view. There were places that I would have liked to know what he was feeling or thinking. This would have given a little more depth to his character. This was my first book by Nancy Thayer, so this may be her style.
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