Book Review: A Marriage Carol by Chris Fabry & Gary Chapman

Title: A Marriage Carol
Author: Chris Fabry, Gary Chapman
Publisher: Moody Publishers (September 2001)

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Summary from Goodreads:

On Christmas Eve twenty years earlier, Marlee and Jacob were married in a snowstorm. This Christmas Eve, they are ready to quit, divorce is imminent. Their relationship is as icy as the road they’re traveling and as blocked with troubles as the piling snow. They take a shortcut to get to the lawyer’s office, on a slippery, no-fault path. She thinks they need to stay on the main road. He disagrees. They fight. Story of their lives and they slam into a bank of snow , spinning, drifting, falling, out of control. Just like their lives. Reluctantly, freezing cold, hungry, scared, she trudges up the hill. Paul is nowhere to be found. Her ears frozen, fingers and hands red, she comes to a house on the hillside, built like a Bed and Breakfast, a green wreath on the red door and the door-knocker is in the shape of a wedding ring.

The red door opens and the first thing she notices is the fire in the room, blazing hot, a warm, inviting, friendly place and the voice of an old man welcomes her in. There are three golden pots on the hearth, shining, glimmering things. The old man claims that they are used to restore marriages. She laughs—and begins a journey through her past, present, and future that will test how she views her lifelong love. There are two futures available. Which will she choose?

Review:
Overall, the story was enjoyable, albeit very predictable. It's a play off The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but it didn't have the depth I was hoping for. I think it read too much like a non-fiction Christian book trying to give you advice on what a great marriage should be like and how to fix a broken one. Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages is such an insightful book. In my opinion, I don't think that Fabry and Chapman transitioned into fiction very well. The story itself did not read like a narrative. Maybe it's because the length was so short, but I found myself wanting more.

It was a nice Christmas read, but had a lot of potential to be a whole lot more.

Rating:

3 out of 5 stars