The Christmas Strike

Harriet did a wonderful synops of the book so I'll just say this------- Even 18 mos after I read this book I still think about it weekly for I truly enjoyed the h/h Abby and Cole. Poor Abby feeling taken advantage of by her grown daugthers finally had enough and went on strike, In comes Cole who they both rub each other the wrong way. You see how they balanced each other out - how she changed him for the better. I fell in love myself with Cole for I swear many times while reading the book the gleam in his eye leaped off the page. The only bad part of this book was that it wasn't long enough.

In Willow Creek, Wisconsin, a widow for two decades, fiftyish Abby Blake loves her two daughters, her son-in-laws, and her grandchildren. However, she finds herself with an invasion and not one of the intruders is a partridge in a pear tree. Daughter Natalie came home with spouse Jeremy and three preadolescent children four months ago because he became unemployed; the older daughter Gwen came home with twelve shopping day before Christmas because of a spat with her husband David. Empty nest and the three day rule of grand parenting are being nuked by her offspring. Unable to take anymore from the menagerie, Abby agrees to escape with David's father Cole Hudson, whom she met once at their offspring's wedding; he is flying on his personal jet to Chicago. Cole, whose son married one of Abby's daughters, sees this as the chance he has been waiting for years to occur: to prove to her that life can be fun even for a middle age couple like them. Instead of the Windy City he hijacks her to Paris. THE CHRISTMAS STRIKE is a delightful holiday tale starring a beleaguered granny who finally says enough and runs away from her home. The story line is fast-paced in a You Can't Take It With You kind of way as Abby's calm life is devastated by the return of her formed nesters and turned further upside down when she flees the scene with her in-law. Nikki Rivers provides a fine contemporary with a strong support cast and a heroine fans will admire. Harriet Klausner