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Unabridged Audiobook
4 hours, 37 minutes
Read by Sarah Zimmerman
For most of us, the holiday season is a busy time of year—a time for shopping and parties and last-minute tasks. But it’s also a time for curling up by the fire, watching a lovably sappy movie or curling up with a cute Christmas romance like author Terri Blackstock’s Catching Christmas.
The story drives around town with cab driver Finn Parrish. When he’s called in to drive Callie Beecher to an appointment with her doctor, he gets way more than he expected—or wanted—in the days before Christmas. The outspoken old woman is wheelchair-bound, and he’s pretty sure she has dementia, too. But something about her reminds Finn of his late mother, so he can’t say no—even after she begins directing him around town in an attempt to find a Christmas date for her overworked granddaughter, Sydney.
Catching Christmas is the literary equivalent of a Hallmark Christmas movie—or your old, fuzzy slippers. It’s warm and cozy and entirely predictable. The characters are all lovable in their own way, too. Finn may get frustrated with Callie and Sydney, but he’s a truly thoughtful guy. And while Sydney may not make the best decisions when it comes to her grandmother, she’s a loving granddaughter who’s simply under way too much pressure. But it’s quirky Callie who steals the story with her matchmaking and her utter lack of a filter.
From the beginning, this is the kind of novel that you can simply sit back and enjoy—because you know how it’ll end. There aren’t a lot of surprises here. Still, it’s so predictable that it often seems to employ a kind of romantic shorthand. It’s not hard to figure out how things will play out between the tired cab driver, the stressed-out lawyer, and the lovable old lady. When Finn and Sydney meet and immediately clash, the outcome seems even more inevitable. Yet the switch from bickering to something completely different is flipped a little too quickly—so quickly that readers might feel jarred by the abrupt change. Despite the quick shift, though, it’s all as charming and emotional as you might expect—a cozy way to spend your chilly winter nights.
Whether you’re spending the holidays traveling to visit family or you just want something sweet to entertain you while you’re doing your holiday grocery shopping, Catching Christmas may not be a surprising read, but it’s filled with holiday spirit.
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