In a very unusual start to a novel in the Whiskey
Creek
series, we meet Sophia DeBussi on her husband's luxury
yacht off Rio. What has been an anniversary cruise with
their daughter along, has turned to suspense as Skip has
vanished along with his cellphone in the ocean. The crew
saw nothing and the Brazilian police need to be called.
TAKE ME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS enlists our sympathy for
bewildered Sophia, who drank to escape her jealous
husband's violence and is just out of rehab, but can't
mention any tensions in case she's suspected of misdeeds.
Her savvy daughter Lexi may be young but she's already
learnt to lose respect for a drunk, so Sophia is determined
that she's not going down that route again. Then Skip's
aide back in his business calls to say that the FBI have
turned up at the office with a warrant, suspecting Skip of
dodgy financial dealings. It may be white-collar crime, but
the serious charges would ruin Skip's reputation in
business - and in their home town of Whiskey Creek, where
he's been administering investments. Could Sophia
unwittingly have been living a lie?
Brenda Novak is such a good writer that I felt myself
enjoying this tale right away, if saddened by the bitter
truths emerging. California is a community property state,
so all of Sophia's assets will be liable if her husband has
incurred debts. She's dependent on her judgemental in-laws
and guess what, Skip has been playing fast and loose with
their investments too. Sophia worries more about Lexi than
herself, but she has no independent advisor or job skills.
Among the good shopkeepers and coffee drinkers of former
mining town Whiskey Creek, we hear the opinion that Sophia
was a self-centred girl at school. Noah Rackham, the
bicycle shop owner we met in the previous book, hates
admitting that he too was taken in by the expansive Skip.
Only two people have any real sympathy for the abandoned
little family; Eve Harmon and Ted Dixon, who remembers
Sophia as the first girl he fell for at school.
Readers of the series to date will love the social jigsaw
portrayed, but equally this book reads well as a
standalone. By turns wryly amusing and suspenseful, TAKE ME
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is a complex tale touching on topics
from school bullying to the deeply loving, perhaps the best
of Brenda Novak's to date.
Too bad not all memories are pleasant! Everyone in Whiskey
Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl.
Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.
But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful
transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful
but abusive. So when he goes missing, she secretly hopes
he'll never come back—until she learns that he died running
from an FBI probe of his investment firm. Not only has he
left Sophia penniless, he's left her to face all the
townspeople he cheated.…
Sophia is reduced to looking for any kind of work to pay the
bills and support her daughter. With no other options, she
becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a
successful suspense writer. He can't bring himself to turn
his back on her, not at Christmas, but he refuses to get
emotionally involved. He learned his lesson the last time.
Or will the season of love and forgiveness give them both
another chance at happiness?
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