Review: The Christmas Bouquet by Sherryl Woods (audio)

Title: The Christmas Bouquet   

Author: Sherryl Woods   

Series: Chesapeake Shores, #11    

Narrator: Christina Traister  

Published: October 2014, Brilliance Audio / Harlequin MIRA  

Length: 6 hours 33 minutes / 288 pages

Source: Personal copy via Audible / Netgalley 

When it comes to family and Christmas, #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods always looks to the O’Briens for a little holiday magic…

For
the very driven medical student Caitlyn Winters, catching the bridal
bouquet at a Christmas wedding has set off a chain reaction that she’s
sure is more curse than blessing. Not only has she fallen in love with
family medicine resident Noah McIlroy, but an unexpected pregnancy
threatens her well-laid plans for the future. It doesn’t help that
Noah—with a whole lot of help from her O’Brien relatives—is completely
on board with the prospect of marriage and happily-ever-after.

It
takes a whole lot of patience, love and family persuasion to help
Caitlyn realize that she can still have everything she ever wanted,
including a home in her beloved Chesapeake Shores and a man who
understands all of her dreams.

My thoughts: I love Sherryl Woods’ Chesapeake Shores series and this is the latest installment. I fell in love with the wonderfully loud, boisterous, noisy and loving O’Brien clan from the very first book and was glad when Sherryl Woods decided to keep writing these books after her readers begged her to.

Having basically watched the O’Brien family grow up, it’s hard to believe that this story focuses on Abbie’s daughter – I remember reading one of the earlier books when Caitlyn and her twin sister, Carrie, were wreaking havoc – and now they are all grown up. Oh the magic of novel writing – and one of the reasons why Sherryl Woods had to be convinced to keep writing – technically the matriarch of the family, Nell O’Brien would be long gone by now, but Sherryl refuses to kill her off, so she is aging some characters and keeping others forever the same. 

But back to this story…what I loved about this book is that going in, you know there’s going to be a happy ending – that’s just what a romance novel is going to give you. And while I wouldn’t classify these books as strictly romance, they do have a strong romantic element to them. I also knew it was a given that Caitlyn would have to give up her dreams once she realized she was pregnant. What I wasn’t expecting is just how genuine and understanding Noah would be. He was willing to do whatever it took for Caitlyn to be ok with how things were with their new normal. Of course, he didn’t plan on having a boisterous family at his back every step of the way.

I love this series because it reminds me of my family – not that it’s quite as large as the O’Brien clan, but the way they are always there for each other, ready to stick up for and help each other out at a moment’s notice. Of course, they can also be in the way just as often! I am definitely looking forward to catching up with this series, hopefully seeing what happens with Caitlyn’s twin sister Carrie at some point.

Audio Thoughts: This is the first book in this series that I listened to and I found it to be a fun, easy book to listen to. It’s also the first time I’ve listened to Christina Traister narrate a book and I thought she did a great job. I think she narrates the next book in this series and as I’m a bit behind, I might just try another one on audio! I also will be seeing what else she narrates as I enjoyed listening to her.

Books in this series:

1. The Inn at Eagle Point                          9.  The Summer Garden
2. Flowers on Main                                    10.  A Seaside Christmas
3. Harbor Lights                                        11.  The Christmas Bouquet
4. A Chesapeake Shores Christmas     12.  Dogwood Hill
5. Driftwood Cottage                                13.  Willow Brook Road
6. Moonlight Cove                                    
7. Beach Lane 
8. An O’Brien Family Christmas