The Christmas You Found Me

Guy looks at his daughter fondly, then turns the same look my way too. “What my girls want, they get,” he says.

The Christmas You Found Me

Written by Sarah Morgenthaler

I’ve come across more jokes about Hallmark Christmas movies than actual Hallmark Christmas movies. In fact I still haven’t seen one, unless you count the Hallmark Hannukah movie I saw this year. Still, I feel like I’ve seen enough generic Christmas romance movies to understand the tenets: small town, the holidays, baked goods, a rugged man, a woman needing a change, an adorable child, miracles.

This book does have all of these elements. As an example, the man in question is so perfectly 'Hallmark', he may in fact be a gingerbread man meticulously made for this role and brought to life to make us swoon. His name is Guy Maple. Really let that sink in. Guy. Maple.

My cousin suggested this book to me with the full disclaimer that this is exactly the kind of book you expect it to be. It was. Sienna Naples, a rancher living in a small town in Idaho, has just finalized her gnarly divorce. That same day her friend, in a ploy to lighten her spirits, puts out an advertisement in the local paper on her behalf: “Wanted: Husband for Hire”.

This advertisement gets some attention from the local bachelors, but newcomer, Guy Maples, is the first to be introduced to Sienna. Neither Sienna or Guy are looking for a relationship, but Guy has a daughter, Emma, in kidney failure who needs to stay on the transplant list. Getting married to someone who “has great health insurance” according to the ad, could potentially save his daughter’s life. It’s a wild proposition. And Sienna makes the even more wild decision to accept his proposal.

It's a marriage of convenience. If you’ve dipped your toes into the world of romance books and movies, you may have seen this story before. I can’t tell you that this story flips the genre on its head, but I must say that this book has far more heart than I bargained for.

I had thought this Christmas love story would feel as shallow as all the other romances I’ve read. Man romances fail to demonstrate why two people belong together and instead clumsily mash their characters together like dolls. Sienna and Guy feel like real people, despite my earlier gingerbread slight. They both have depths of compassion for Emma, each other, and those around them. It’s not insta-love, but certainly instant care. These characters have pasts and present challenges, and it’s heart-warming to see two ordinary and caring people take a leap of faith to create their own miracles.

This book impressed me and, dare I say, has the spirit of Christmas. If you like romance and crave something with real heart, then Merry Christmas this one is for you.