When Finn Parish takes a call from his cab dispatcher to pick up a customer, he doesn't expect an elderly lady in a wheelchair, who may not be completely lucid. Nor does he expect to have to help her at the doctor's office, or to be called back to her house the following day. Regardless of his expectations, Finn finds himself drawn into her life, and compelled to help her, whether out of guilt, or his conscience, he's not entirely sure. He's also not sure what to make of Callie's grandaughter, Sydney, whom he at first takes to be detached and uncaring about her grandmother. Sydney, however, is fighting her own battles of trying to save her position as a first-year associate at her law firm, while caring for her ailing grandmother. As the two are drawn together through Callie's needs and wants, they each begin to see their own purposes in life with a new perspective.
Yes, it's only October, and that may seem too early to read a Christmas book, but probably not this one. While the book has Christmas in the title, and Callie's goal is to spend a nice Christmas making sure that Sydney isn't alone for the holiday, Christmas itself was just sort of tangential to the important parts of the story. Maybe it would feel more like a Christmas book if I were to read it at Christmas; who knows?
Finn was such an interesting character, I wish there were more to his story here. But it was fun to watch him go from grumpy, reluctant cab driver to really being invested in Callie's well-being, and even the anger that provoked in him at finding out who was supposed to be helping her, and making sure that the doctors were taking care of her. Sydney, also, was dealing with so much that it made her character feel more complex than the amount of information we were given about her. Trying to balance an ever-increasing work load in a job that made her question herself, versus trying to care for the grandmother who'd shown her such love as a child was taking a toll on her, and it took Finn, the former haute-cuisine chef and current cab driver, to really point out to her the choices that she still had. And, of course- Callie - even if she wasn't sure of everything going on around her, she was always kind and sweet, frequently redirecting conversations with "where are my manners"? She made it seem possible that the unlikely pairing of Finn and Sydney could be drawn together just to make her happy.
A cute book overall; I give it 4 stars. If anything, I wished for more story to delve deeper into these characters' lives, past, present and future!
You can find Catching Christmas HERE.
You can find the author's page HERE.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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