Merry and Bright: A Novel

Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber is set in Seattle, Washington. Merry Knight is a temp at Matterson Consulting. Her contract will be up on December 23 and Merry will be glad for the break. Her by-the-book boss has been pushing the workers and the mandatory overtime has put a kink in her social life. Merry's mother (Robin) and brother (Patrick) set up a profile for her on Mix and Mingle with a photo of their dog. They want to find someone for Merry who will be interested in her as a person (not her outward appearance). Merry is stunned, but, to her surprise, one man stands out to her. He did use a photo of himself either (his childhood dog). The pair start chatting online at night while Merry deals with her difficult boss during the day. After getting to know each other, they agree to meet in person and Merry is astonished by the man's identity. It is the last person she expected to see or wanted to. To find out what happens between Merry and her online suitor, pick up a copy of Merry and Bright.

Merry and Bright is a fun, entertaining story (Debbie Macomber never disappoints). It has good characters, a lovely city (I want to live there), a cute premise, and a set during a magical time of year--Christmas. I liked the themes presented in the story—Christmas is a condition of the heart (isn't that just beautiful), kindness, generosity, openness, showing love to those we cherish, bad things about assumptions, misconceptions and judgements can be harmful/detrimental. I found Merry and Bright to be well-written with a nice ease to the writing (it flowed nicely). My rating for Merry and Bright is 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). My one critique is the story is predictable. Once I started reading, I accurately predicted the rest of the story. Merry and Bright is a lovely, heartwarming Christmas tale that will delight fans of Debbie Macomber.