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4.5
"On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny."- Lori WildeI was thrilled to learn that Lori Wilde was coming out with a new book -- The First Love Cookie Club -- just in time for the holidays. One, because I've loved almost all of her books, and two, because it gives me the perfect stocking stuffer gift for several of my friends who love to read romance (and several who also bake).First Love Cookie Club is the 3rd book in Wilde's "Club" series focusing on crafts (Quilting and Knitting being the other two), and in it, Wilde brings us back to Twilight, Texas as Childrens Book Author Sarah Collier returns to fulfill the wish of a sick child. The sick child is named Jasmine. Her father? Sarah's childhood crush Travis Walker -- the man who broke Sarah's young heart when he got married to somebody else.I could offhandedly mention Wilde's excellent writing, but lately I've grown to appreciate it all the more as I find fewer and fewer romances that really hook me and keep me reading and interested all the way through. First Love Cookie Club really rose to this challenge and, for me personally, touched my heart. Not just with the whole "sick kid"/Holiday angle (which is handled really well), but through Wilde's understanding of Sarah and Travis, what makes them tick, the fears that ride them, and push them together even as they threaten to tear them apart. I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in the pair, which just makes this story read so *personal.*Watching Travis see a new beginning for his own future while struggling to keep his daughter alive and watching Sarah long for family and a place to call "Home" while struggling so hard to keep some distance so she doesn't get crushed when she loses it all keep the pages turning and your heart hoping that kismet will find a way to keep them together and give them the Happily Ever After they deserve.Does Wilde deliver? Oh yeah.Warm. Romantic. Sexy. Fun. Heartbreaking and uplifting all at the same time. The First Love Cookie Club delivers the perfect read for the holiday season. And when you turn that last page and close the book, you'll not only come away with a terrific love story, I think you'll walk away with a profound appreciation for family and love and the miracles that can happen every day of our lives. Plus I'm a total believer in soul mates, kismet, destiny, and fate. So what can I say? First Love Cookie Club called to the Romantic in me with every chapter.P.S. Normally I don't read the Author's Acknowledgements, but for this book, it's a must. Perhaps it is why this story resonates so strongly... because it is so very personal for the author and Wilde wove a piece of her heart into each page, which just makes it that much special that she shared it with us.
