Book Review: Finding Noel

As soon as I began listening to this Richard Paul Evans holiday book, Finding Noel, I realized it sounded very familiar. After completing the first of four CDs, I checked my blog. Sure enough, I read the book back in December of 2010, but I'm guessing back then (at the outset of blogging) I didn't feel compelled to post with any regularity or to post a book review for almost every book I read. Since I had listed it as one of my favorite reads for that year, and hadn't written a review, I decided to continue on with the story.

Finding Noel tells the story of two seeking souls who meet and fall in love. Mark Smart has just lost his mother but didn't find out in time to attend her funeral. It feels as if his life is falling apart. Estranged from his father, he's at the end of his rope when his car breaks down one winter night. In a desperate effort to track down a phone, he pounds on the door of a closing cafe and the night shift girl, Macy, not only provides a phone, but also consoles him, offers him a cup of hot chocolate, and drives him home. As their lives intersect, Mark and Macy divulge their difficult childhoods and bond over past wounds, but can they forge out a future for themselves when they are both running from so much personal pain?

It is funny how stories sometimes pale for me the second time around. This has happened repeatedly (with The Book Thief, All the Light We Cannot See, Peace Like a River, and now this once favorite holiday read). I enjoyed this book, and the timing was perfect, but I would not select this as a favorite read this year. It was sweet and tender, but not above the bar, by any means. And any character named Tennis who is engaged to a man named Ball? Give me a break! Still, if you're on the hunt for a simple holiday tale, Richard Paul Evans is usually a good bet.