Two Tickets To The Christmas Ball by Donita K. Paul
Can mysterious matchmaking booksellers bring two lonely hearts together in time for Christmas?
In a sleepy, snow-covered city, Cora Crowder is busy preparing for the holiday season. Searching for a perfect gift, a fortuitous trip to Warner, Werner, and Wizbotterdad’s (a most unusual bookshop) leads to an unexpected encounter with co-worker Simon Derrick. And the surprise discovery of a ticket for a truly one-of-a-kind Christmas Ball.
Every year, the matchmaking booksellers of the Sage Street bookshop host an enchanting, old-fashioned Christmas Ball for the romantic matches they’ve decided to bring together.
This year, will Simon and Cora discover a perfect chemistry in their opposite personalities and shared faith? Or will the matchmakers’ best laid plans end up ruining everything this holiday?
This book was a pleasant, short, easy read that wasn’t too deep or thought-provoking. Cora is a Christian, estranged from her worldly family. She lives alone in her apartment with her cat and she works in an office building. Mysterious Simon Derrick has worked in Cora’s office building for several years yet he’s never noticed her until he runs into her at the mysterious bookshop on Sage Street – she’s such an unknown person to him that he can’t even remember her name. Through the bookstore owners, both Simon and Cora receive unsolicited tickets to the Wizards Ball.
Through a series of events, Simon and Cora spend time together and Cora meets Simon’s family, which includes his sister, Sandy, who has Down’s Syndrome.
This story takes place in the future, and I’d love to have known the year which this story takes place. There are little things mentioned, dropped here and there, which makes the reader aware that this isn’t a story that takes place in modern times. The few things mentioned were the office building where Simon and Cora worked, the walls to the offices were glass and you could see what was going on in all offices. I’ve never seen a glass-walled office before. Also, Simon receives a phone call that’s a wrong number and he mentions that crossed phone wires were something that stopped happening a long time ago.
There was also a bit of fantasy thrown into this story. Sage Street, the location of the bookstore and the Wizards Ball, is a pleasant street filled with shops and customers milling around on the sidewalk, however, Sage Street is not always easy to find. It’s a hidden street and not all can see this fantastical place as they cruise by.
If you want a quick Christmas read, then this book is for you. The only thing I was puzzled about was Cora’s relationship with her cat. Her cat gets pregnant and Cora gets extremely upset and cries, and she feels responsible for her cat’s unwanted pregnancy. She compares her cat’s unruly behavior to the behavior of one of her wayward relatives. I didn’t quite understand the analogy since an animal getting pregnant is much different than a human’s lewd behavior, plus, it’s not as if cats can get married and plan families like humans do. This part of the book went over my head a little bit, but the rest of the story was enjoyable.
LOL! I didn’t get that overreaction either. I am glad to know I wasn’t the only one who was like, huh? I know what the author was trying to do. it just didn’t work very well.
I have a stack of Christmas themed books to read and this is in the stack… looks like a fun read.
Barb C.
Hi, Michelle! Yes, I read your review. I did enjoy the book, though. I thought it was a quick, pleasant read. What was the author trying to do? That was the only thing in the book that I didn’t understand, but I did like the rest of the story and I’ll be reading more books by Donita in the future.
The author was trying to show that something minor like her cat’s pregnancy was upsetting because the character had underlying issues that hadn’t been addressed, and the cat’s pregnancy brought out her pain. I still thought the overreaction wasn’t the best way to show that. Oh well. Cute story otherwise. Not my cup of tea, though.
Okay, thanks for explaining that. I was thinking it was an Animal Rights thing. Like cats and animals are equal to people, thus cat getting pregnant was upsetting to Cora. I was telling my hubby about how much I enjoyed this book, but was bothered by this one aspect. Animal Rights was the first thing he mentioned, and I kind of agreed with him. But, your explanation makes more sense! Have a nice Christmas!