Mr. Miracle: A Christmas Novel

 Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber celebrates the most wonderful time of the year in this heartwarming Christmas novel of romance, hope, and the comforts of home—coming soon as a Hallmark Channel original movie!

Harry Mills is a guardian angel on a mission: help twenty-four-year-old Addie Folsom get her life back on track—and, if the right moment strikes, help her find love. Posing as a teacher at a local college in Tacoma, Washington, Harry is up to the task, but not even he can predict the surprises that lay in store.

After trying to make it on her own, Addie has returned home to Tacoma for the holidays, but this time she plans to stay for good, enrolling in the local community college to earn her degree. What she doesn’t plan to do is run into Erich Simmons.

Addie and her next-door neighbor, Erich, are like night and day. Growing up, he was popular and outgoing while she was rebellious and headstrong, and he never missed an opportunity to tease her. Now she intends to avoid him entirely, yet when they’re suddenly forced to spend Christmas together, Addie braces for trouble.

Perhaps it’s the spirit of the season or the magic of mistletoe, but Addie and Erich soon find they have more in common than they thought—and that two people who seem so wrong for each other may actually be just right. With a little prompting from a certain angelic teacher, the two are in for a holiday miracle they’ll never forget.

Random House

October 7, 2014

I've been a pretty big Debbie Macomber fan for many years. I was given a review copy thanks to the publisher through NetGalley.

Let me start by saying I loved Addie Folsom so much. She is moving home to start over and she is such a strong character, even if she didn't feel it at the beginning of the story. Addie has moved back home and is going to school to get her final credit to earn her high school diploma. While I didn't love Erich Simmons as much when we first met him, I did feel chemistry between Addie and Erich from the beginning. There was really major growth for both of these characters over the course of this story and I think it came partly from the time they spent together.

One of the best examples of their growth as individuals and as a couple came when they were at the class Christmas party. “When it was her turn, she introduced Erich. “Erich and I grew up next door to each other.” “We weren’t always friendly,” Erich went on to explain. “It’s only been in the last couple of weeks that we’ve learned to get along.” He smiled at Addie.”

Harry Mills honestly made me think of Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life just a little bit, even knowing he was "younger" in appearance.  One of the reasons he reminded me of Clarence is from the prologue when he first arrives on earth.

“ In preparation for his earthly visitation, Harry had carefully studied human behavior and had learned about ways to gently guide his charges. Of course, he knew all about free will, to, but frankly, he wasn’t overly concerned. Just how difficult could it be to give a nudge to those in need of a bit of subtle direction?”

His heart is completely pure and all he wants to do is help his students be the best they can be. He had a few bumpy moments in the beginning, but it was fun to see him finally get his footing with people on earth. Part of Harry's bumpy road included the French teacher pursuing him. I didn't really feel like it helped to add anything to him helping Addie and Erich, but could see it as important to him learning to be human. I did like he had another angel, Celeste, to help him along the way. In fact, she was one of my favorite characters in the book.

Mr. Miracle felt like the first book in a new series to me. I'm looking forward to seeing how Harry can help some of the other students in the class, especially Danny and Andrew.

Overall, I feel like Mr. Miracle was a sweet Christmas story. I'm looking forward to watching the Hallmark movie when it premiers to compare the book to the movie.