Valerie Comer
self-published
Love's Gift series
ebook
Christmas contemporary romance
Fired from her retail position for saying Merry Christmas to a customer, Sonya Simmons chafes at the over-commercialization of the season and the difficulties of finding a new job. If only she’d actually said Merry Christmas instead of Merry Kisses to the tall, good-looking man buying enough toys for at least a dozen children. How embarrassing!
It was fun to fluster the pretty toy store clerk, but Heath Collins, the mall’s volunteer Santa Claus, hadn’t meant to get her fired. When his elf assistant comes down with a bad cold, Heath offers Sonya a few days’ work, only to discover she believes Santa is nothing but a liar and a fraud instead of an opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives.
Can Sonya and Heath embrace each other — opinions, traditions, and all — in time to share merry kisses for Christmas?
I love Ms. Comer's stories, and MERRY KISSES ranks right up there near the top, maybe because it's set at Christmas, my most favorite time of the year. Sonya didn't actually say "Merry Christmas" to a customer, but she was a master of getting close to it so she wouldn't get fired. So she'd say things like "Merry princesses" or "Merry crystals", and "Merry kisses..." which is what got her fired. Her boss thought she'd said the forbidden C word.
This story goes into the one big thing I hate about this holiday. No one believes in saying Christmas anymore! You say it in the store and you get cold stares, and if they bother to respond at all, it's Happy holidays. In the words of Go Fish, call it like it is! You don't say "happy holidays" for Valentine's day! No, you call it like it is!
I really liked the approach Ms. Comer shared regarding merging Santa and Jesus in the same holiday. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Why not use Santa to point the way to Jesus? Especially since Santa came from a missionary named St. Nicholas, centuries ago.
Highly recommended.
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