Whenever I read a book that I absolutely love, I try to find other books by the same author, convinced they will all be just as good. Sometimes I'm right.
This isn't one of those times. Back in January, I wrote a blog review of Tuscan Holiday, the first book I had read by Holly Chamberlin. If I had gone on my best guess, I would have said that One Week in December came first and she polished her skills before publishing Tuscan Holiday. I would have been wrong.
One Week in December is about a family whose members gather in Maine for Christmas. One of them wants to "out" a family secret, known to most of the family members except the one it affects most directly, during the holidays, and she believes firmly in her right to do so.
The plot is very predictable, and Chamberlin tends to go to extremes with her characters, as if readers are a bit on the stupid side and won't pick up on subtleties. The mean ones are too mean, the good ones too good, the obsessed ones too obsessed, the calm ones too calm, the naive ones too naive, the ..... I'm sure you get the picture.
Pick it up and read it if someone leaves it behind on an airplane (and why wouldn't she?), but don't go in search of it. If you've read Tuscan Holiday, this one might be a disappointment.
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