One Christmas Kiss In Notting Hill by Mandy Baggot

One saving grace for this book is that it acknowledges that it has it's roots in the Richard Curtis Rom-Com Notting Hill.  After all all Isla and Hannah want is that perfect Kiss; that perfect Notting Hill Kiss - so you need the little locked resident's park, the will-they-won't-they romance, the tragic car accident that leaves one of the characters paralysed and in a wheelchair.  It even goes so far as to feature a plaster statue of Hugh Grant, presumably as William Thacker.  Nothing inherently wrong with a tribute, especially when it wears it so boldly on it's sleeve, especially as it manages to avoid using the "I'm just a girl" speech (but I did spend the latter half of the book waiting for it to make an appearance).

It was a cosy enough read but brought nothing unexpected within it's pages.  Girl (Isla) meets American boy (Chase) and both bring a lot of personal baggage to the story.  They dance around each other for a bit and go through the usual misunderstandings before realising that they are "meant to be".  Throw in a disabled, but positive and effervescent, sister and teenage daughter that never steps outside stereotype (grumpy, absorbed in technology and disparaging of her younger sibling and parents) and it is pretty standard fare.

Whilst the read was enjoyable enough I never felt invested in the story.  In fact some of it stretched plausibility of plot way too thin (you can't just "plant" artifacts and have the construction company assume they found treasure trove or an early settlement is one of many) and did bring enjoyment to an abrupt halt.  On the whole the plot needed to be set well side as it is paper thin and, for this reader anyway, bordering on the annoying.  The characters though are a different matter, they are richly written (on the whole) and do have just enough believability to keep your interest.  I did like that they were allowed to have vulnerabilities and could self-sabotage so nobody was "perfect" in the way they are often drawn in this genre.

The best that I could really say about this book is that I didn't feel like my time was wasted in reading it.  I did enjoy my time in this fantasy world but it wasn't without it's frustrations and annoyances.  I did take away the phrase Sugar. Honey. Ice Tea from it though as that amused me far more than is seemly.