A Very Nantucket Christmas: Two Holiday Novels    by Nancy Thayer Order:  USA  Can Ballantine, 2015 (2015) Softcover     Reviewed by Hilary Williamson Nancy Thayer's A Very Nantucket Christmas combines two festive treats - A Nantucket Christmas and An Island Christmas. I had read the latter before but not the former. Like all her other novels and novellas set on Nantucket, both of these are wise and sentimental, humorous and heartwarming. A Nantucket Christmas begins with an abandoned puppy named Snix, adopted by a family on summer vacation and then dropped off on the moors at the end of their holiday. Snix scavenges the town's garbage bins for survival - he's very cold and very hungry. Next we meet retired nurse Nicole Somerset, who met Sebastian through her friend Jilly. They're married now though Seb's daughter Kennedy was dismayed by her parents' divorce and deeply resents Nicole. Now a very pregnant Kennedy, her husband James and son Maddox are coming to the island for Christmas week, something that Nicole dreads - and rightly too. But it is 'the season of miracles' so we know that all will work out well for all concerned, even the very prickly Kennedy! An Island Christmas is the story of Nicole's friend Jilly, a rabid perfectionist, as she handles a welcome (but very chaotic) influx of family, and her younger daughter Felicia's holiday wedding. Jilly has trouble understanding Felicia, who leads whitewater rafting tours and is engaged to rugged outdoorsman Archie. Hilarity reigns in this comedy of errors, as everything that can go wrong does. And this story has a new pet in it too, a lively feline named Rex. If you want to get in the festive mood, then dip into these delightful holiday tales - the book would also make the perfect stocking stuffer for a Thayer fan. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews