Kissing Under the Mistletoe by Marina Adair (St. Helena Vineyard #1)
Holiday Romance
Released: October 16, 2012
Montlake

Reviewed by May 

This book opens with Regan Martin starting (yet another) new job, and seeing the man who has made it his mission in life to ruin her career for the last six years – Gabe DeLuca. She vandalizes his car – throwing the town’s Christmas figurines at it, breaking windows, and smearing a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream all over Gabe and his Hummer. Gabe stands by calmly and allows this. Hitting her with the reason he continues to get her fired everywhere she goes:

“You’re the one who slept with a married man. My sister’s husband, if you need me to be more specific.”

“Yeah, I made a mistake. And you’ve gone out of your way to make sure I can’t hold down a job ever again.”

“No, I go out of my way to make sure you never work with a company where your path might cross with my sister’s”

“I’ve built my career on marketing wine. Your family is wine! So does that mean you’ll only stop harassing me if I give up my career?”

“As far as I know, your career is seriously lacking.”

At his words, all of her attitude faded and she just looked tired. Sad, vulnerable, and so damn defeated that his chest actually clenched. He didn’t like being the asshole. Hated it, as a matter of fact. But when his parents died, Gabe, twenty-four and the eldest of five, had stepped in as head of the DeLuca clan, and, as such, his duty was to protect his family.

Gabe DeLuca is entirely unlikeable as this story begins. He has no idea that Regan is a single mother, and as a rich man he has no concept that he has made her life impossible to the point that she has no furniture to her name and that the loss of her new job is absolutely catastrophic. Which, he ensures once he finds out she’s working for a company that is actually DeLuca owned.

Regan finds herself in need of cash, a home, and some way to give her daughter some security and a stable environment as well. Luckily, Gabe’s grandmother (the one who hired her in the first place) and her friends are there to help, support Regan, and really make her feel like someone is in her corner after years of solitude.

While I found this book to be a fairly enjoyable read, I was ultimately disappointed in this book.

First of all, I Regan’s attack in the opening scene didn’t fit in with her character. She is a single mom and such an outburst could see her arrested – would she take that risk? Likewise, would Gabe who is trying to run Regan out of town not press charges? I believe we were meant to think that scene was “cute” but I don’t think destruction of property is adorable in any way.

Secondly, I never felt like what Gabe did to Regan over the years was properly addressed or atoned for. Gabe is absolutely heinous and uneducated when it comes to Regan. He thinks of her as a whore, he despises her for how attractive she is, and yes he bothers to keep track of her – but not to find out that she’s got a daughter that she is raising on her own or that she really didn’t know that his brother-in-law was married? Also, he knows that this wasn’t the only affair – yet he doesn’t attack those other women. It felt like because he found her attractive, he went out of his way to take out all of his anger on her.

When the book opens he is still on a full scale assault against her, getting her fired and preventing any other business in the Napa Valley from hiring her, but then it is like a switch is flipped and he just decides to stop. Regan, while weary, basically just accepts this, and accepts him into her (and her daughter)’s lives with very little fuss.

Speaking of fuss, I felt that the way these brothers “protect” their sister was revolting. Is she such a weak child that she can’t fend for herself? She clearly knows that her ex-husband cheated and stole – so why not tell her about what they’re doing to ruin Regan’s life, or that Regan is in the valley? It bothered me that they had so little respect for her as an adult.

Finally, I’ll mention that the daughter Holly bothered me. She did not act like any kindergartener I’ve ever come across with her total understanding of manners, behavior, and in general how she behaves. Her precociousness annoyed me and I found her to be an unwelcome distraction to the emotional story that might have been told here.

In such a picturesque setting and in the month of December no less, I expected a lot more from this book. If the book had been lighter, with less destruction from Gabe and if it had a richer description of the town and wine country not to mention the holiday aspect, it really could have been something special. Likewise, if it had been a much more emotional read, getting more into these characters heads and having more tension around the events that put these two people in this town at the same time I could have really loved this book as well.

As it stands, aside from the great trio of older ladies and a few shining moments from Regan, this book didn’t quite hit any marks for me. I found myself looking for something more from it, and while it was not a bad read, it didn’t quite work for me either.

Grade: C

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