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Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber is the first book I’ve ever read by this author, but I don’t plan on it being the last! The cover is a charming Christmas scene and drew me in right away. The story brought back wonderful memories from two favorite movies: You’ve Got Mail and The Sound of Music. Indeed, the story is a sweet, light, festive romance that just screams Hallmark, and, since I enjoy holiday reads year-around, and she has many, I definitely plan to check out more of her stories in the next few months. This is the story of Merry Knight and Jayson Bright. LOL! Even the play on names makes me smile…

As the story opens, Merry is working as a temp at a consulting firm, but she might as well be a full time employee with the insane hours she’s putting in. To make things even more stressful at work, she can’t stand her boss, Jayson Bright. After pairing the demands of her job and her family and with readying for the upcoming Christmas season, her own social life is the farthest from her thoughts. But, her special-needs brother and her mother conspiring together as an early Christmas present for Merry, decide to sign her up with an online dating site using a picture of a dog. Merry doesn’t have the heart to be mad at them since they only want her to be happy. Lo and behold, through the listing, she strikes up a friendship with a mystery man who seems perfect for her.

Jayson becomes aware of the same dating site through his friend, who is now a very happy customer and planning his wedding. Jayson’s dubious, but he decides to take a chance and signs up for an account with the service. He immediately sees a listing with a dog picture that reminds him of a beloved dog he had and messages her. They hit it off immediately, chatting every night. But, when they make plans to meet, a huge obstacle to any future plans becomes very apparent to one of them.

The primary characters are both likeable and genuine. Merry loves Christmas as Christmas holds many fond memories for her. Jayson doesn’t care for Christmas as it’s never been a happy time for him growing up. She loves nothing more than to spread Christmas cheer while he is very serious and finds Christmas to be distracting and non-productive. She’s very family-oriented and he’s not. Can these two get past their original impressions and their differences? Is there any hope for an HEA for a Christmas elf and a Scrooge?

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from Merry and Bright:

“Christmas is a condition of the heart.”
---

“I kissed her.”
His words were met with silence and then, “How was it?”
“On a scale of one to ten, it was about a hundred.”
---

“I’ve always loved catching snow on my eyelashes.”

This is an emotional sweet and clean holiday romance with a slew of laugh-out-loud moments. Family relationships figure strongly in the story. It’s kind of predictable, but I still enjoyed every minute of it. If you enjoy lovely Christmas tales set against a snowy wonderland that will most assuredly pull at your heart strings while leaving you snuggled in warm fuzzies, I’d highly recommend that you check out Merry and Bright.

I’ve said on past occasions and I’ll say it again - Everything this woman writes makes me feel like I’ve been enveloped in a huge hug. What more can I say.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest. Opinion.

Debbie Macomber gives us another great Christmas story and proves she can adapt and move into the future with her writing. I always have loved her books but now she has Merry Knight doing the on-line dating route when her mother and brother create a profile for her. She becomes entranced with the online chats she has with Jayson. No one does romance like Debbie and it's always refreshing to read a nice sweet story. Her books always include family and friends as wonderful secondary characters and in the future it's fun to see them reappear , sometimes in their own book. Great for young and old on your gift list.

I always look forward to Debbie Macomber’s holiday books, and Merry and Bright does not disappoint! Such a sweet, fun holiday read - I couldn’t put it down. The online dating scenario was amusing and even more so with the addition of some meddling family members. The story was a bit predictable, but in the best way possible.

This book is classic Debbie Macomber! After not really enjoying the past couple of books by her I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this story. It was a quick and easy read.

Everything about this story was perfect. The characters, the situation they found themselves in, and the pace of the story were just excellent. Once I started reading this story I really didn't want to put it down to go to bed. The story pulled me in and I just couldn't get enough of these characters. There were moments that made me smile and even chuckle out loud. This book is a perfect Christmas read.

Fans of Debbie Macomber will enjoy this book. This would also be a great introduction to those not familiar with her work. This is a fun read and one that could easily be read more than once without becoming boring. Definitely one for the keeper shelf.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a review. All opinions are mine.

~~Reviewed by Evelyn~~

The name Debbie Macomber has become synonymous with joyous Christmas stories, and MERRY AND BRIGHT is no exception. It is a charming story of two lonely people who meet through an internet dating site and become fast friends online. The question is whether their relationship can withstand the shock that’s coming when they meet each other in person.

In my opinion, Ms. Macomber’s strength is always in her lovable characters and, like in her other books, the characters in MERRY AND BRIGHT will draw you in from the first page. Merry Knight is single and working at a temporary job. She is good natured and surrounded by people who love her, including a special needs brother, a very interesting character on his own. Jay Bright, Merry’s boss, is just the opposite. He’s lonely and definitely a scrooge when it comes to all things Christmas. He’s hard to like at first but he gradually grows on you.

The plot is predictable but who cares? Ms. Macomber has a way of making everything seem fresh and new. There are twists and turns to hold your interest, and the conclusion, when it comes, is emotional and satisfying.

This is a great holiday read for everyone. A wonderful story told without graphic sex or violence. All of the Christmas cheer is icing on the cake. Another Hallmark movie perhaps? Enjoy!

I voluntarily read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

"Merry and Bright" is a cute and somewhat predictable tale of two single twenty-somethings--Merry Knight and Jason Bright--who work in the same office but do not immediately realize they have befriended one another on a dating website since they both used pictures of their dogs as their profile pic. I liked that they got to know each other by chatting nightly online and it was cute that Merry's special-needs brother was in on the matchmaking. If you're looking for something light to entertain you during the holidays, this would be a good choice.

This was a great read to get me in the mood for Christmas! It was the perfect You've Got Mail type story. Even thought it was a bit predictable, it was a very enjoyable read.

A cute "Hallmark-y" holiday story!

Merry Knight is working hard at a temp job to make money so she can go back and finish college. She has a hard working dad, a mom who is ill and a brother with Downs Syndrome. Life is hectic & she has no time for dating. Add in that the job is under a crunch with a deadline, so overtime is necessary with a boss she thinks is not so nice!

Her mom & brother decide she needs some romance, and sign her up for a dating website. She gets some "winks" and starts chatting with "Jay". They start to chat online and really hit it off. They decide to meet up, but when she gets there she realizes who he is ... and panics.

Watch this love story unfold in an unconventional manner. A sweet little holiday romance!

Thanks to Netgalley & Random House/Ballantine for an ARC copy of this sweet story!

Merry And Bright by Debbie Macomber for SURE is a fun Christmas read. Sure, it’s a little bit cheesy. It’s a little bit on the gentle/innocent side. I actually really liked it though. It had all of the elements that I come to expect and look forward to in a holiday romance except for adult times. However, given the target audience, I expected that. I think the target audience is probably older Christian ladies. Nothing wrong with that, but there are absolutely no racy scenes.

Debbie Macomber’s Merry And Bright follows two main characters – Jayson Bright and Merry Knight. Merry is a temp helping out with data entry at this Seattle company that Jayson is on track to basically become in charge of. There is this giant contract that needs to be fulfilled by the end of the year, so they are super busy. Merry lives at home with her parents and her special needs brother, Patrick. They also have this golden retriever dog.

Anyways, Patrick and Merry’s mother think she needs a man in her life so they sign her up for a dating website and use the dog’s picture as her profile picture. Jayson meanwhile is way too busy to find a woman. His best friend though shows up to tell him that he is getting married to a girl they went to school with after they reconnected on the dating site. Jayson ends up getting on there and finds himself drawn to the profile with the dog picture. Jayson and Merry begin to connect and chat. Neither one knows that they work together in real life.

Obviously we all know how this book, Merry And Bright is going to play out. I AM HERE FOR IT though. Merry and Jayson are both pretty likeable in their own way. I think Merry is just a little bit more likeable. Jayson is kind of a jerk at first, but there’s reasons for it. And well, this book is a super quick adorable sort of read.

ON A SCALE OF ONE TO BUDDY THE ELF, HOW MUCH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT DOES THIS BOOK HAVE?
Okay so there are presents and dating and Christmas parties! And well you can feel this palpable pressure and time crunch leading up to the deadline but also Christmas. It’s not decorating Gimble’s over the top, but it’s there. I’d give this a Christmas obsessed stamp of approval for sure.

This was a great Christmas read. Typical Debbie Macomber romance. It will give you a nice break from the holiday crazies.

May your days be Merry and Bright… And may all your Christmases be white… Ah sigh, what a heartwarming and fun Christmas romance Merry and Bright turned out to be. The You’ve Got Mail retelling was so adorably done that I have a feeling I’ll be pulling this one back out each year and making it a holiday tradition to read it.
Review

Merry and Bright is a quick, light contemporary office romance with a few twists. One is that Merry gets signed up for the dating service by her hopeful mother and her younger brother with special needs because she takes so much upon herself and is missing out on life. Jayson signs himself up because he’s looking for a reason to hope that there is something more out there than his parents’ multiple marriages and jerking him back and forth as a leverage between them while in the mean time, he’s pushing himself hard to impress a cold, dollars and cents type uncle.

They have a few kerscuffles at work and then meet a different version of each other on-line. It was engaging to see how they both slowly come to know each other both off and on-line. Then of course, there was the inevitable when one learns the truth about their on-line relationship and it gets interesting with what comes next.

I enjoyed both Merry and Jayson even though he starts out a tad Scroogish because he’s never gotten the chance to catch the Christmas spirit because of his bleak past. He is mesmerized by Merry’s family and all they do for each other and others around them. I just wanted to wrap him up in a hug while sharing cookies and cocoa.

The romance was a sweet one and stuck to an exchange of kisses at most, but it was adorable and spicy with the built in conflict of secrets and on-line identities. I really wanted to see Jayson win over Merry. He needed her so much, but she needs him as well. She has given so much to help with her family’s health issues and financial hardships and she also doesn’t see her own worth like Jayson does.

So, this was a surgary holiday romance that was light and easy. Perfect for a chance to step away from the holiday crazies to help get back in the mood.

I rec’d this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I like easy reads as much as the next person. Sometimes they're incredible palate cleansers after an intense book, sometimes they're just what you're in the mood for. That being said, Merry and Bright turned out to be an example of too easy a read.

There was next to no tension, no build up. Shortly after the book begins, you already know who is going to end up with who. Sure they portray the love interest as a gruff over-worker, but come on, it was incredibly obvious, given that his name is Jayson Bright and the title of the book being what it is, that this would go the way of so many books before.

Not just other romance books either, I mean. Debbie Macomber has some good titles to her name, which is why I try again and again to like her newer books, Merry and Bright among them. Her Cedar Cover series, my personal favorite the Blossom Street books, even her Angel Interventionbooks are fantastic and satisfying, examples of good easy reads. Since she usually does so well at Christmas stories, I thought I'd give this one a try, despite my not liking her more recent works.

Merry was decent enough, though I think she faltered between being slightly flat in which case she was uninteresting, and between being a bit of a doormat. Jayson, even though I know he was supposed to start out a miserable being and end up "good for love", was a pain. He was not a kindhearted person that I could see, even asking his doorman to roust a homeless person trying to sleep on the side of his apartment building. Either be decent and offer some help or leave the poor person alone!

I didn't like how Macomber pushed the toxic father forgiveness storyline. Jayson's father, will all the details we're given, is not someone deserving of this, but because she's set on every bump being smoothed over, it had to happen. It was disgusting when you consider what the feelings would be like if these were real people. It was very brief and only occurred in the early parts of the book, for which I'm thankful.

The men in the book were exactly stellar guys, even at the end when they should have had time to become better people. Aside from the earlier comments I made about Jayson, there's also the fact that both he and Cooper, his best friend/cousin that gave him advice over the course of the story, came off as very shallow. Cooper, when asked by Jayson why he wants to marry his current girlfriend Maddy, could only come up with physical characteristics as reasons. Jayson, at the company Christmas party, thinks that someone more "bombshell gorgeous" is the woman he's been talking to online, even though he's attracted to Merry and she's right in front of him. It left a bad feeling in my head when I realized these two, even though Jayson was not a great person, were still going to end up together.

The ending felt a bit weird, I'm sorry to say. Of course these two end up a couple, despite the "problem" they encountered along the way. The feeling I got was that it was all too simple, too quick, and too generous. Jayson brings loads of presents to Merry's family home on Christmas Eve, including a laptop for her brother. After chatting online for a month and one, maybe two dates, and he's showering her with gifts. It felt like he was overcompensating and I didn't think it a comfortable place to end. Everything in the book was too brief, solved too quickly and too well, and that didn't sit right with me.

If you don't mind an almost instalove kind of story with practically no complications and everything wrapped up neatly, then perhaps you'll find more enjoyment in Merry & Bright than I did.

I absolutely loved this book so much. Merry Bright lived a very dull life. She worked and took care of her family. Her contract with a consulting company was about to end and she would be able to return to school to finish her last year of college with the money she had earned. Her mother and brother were determined that she should date and socialize so as a surprise for her birthday, they set up a profile on an on-line dating site. Her pseudonym was Merry Smith and the picture they used was of their golden retriever because they wanted someone who took the time to get to know her by her heart, not her looks. She wasn't happy but went along.

There was one man who stood out and she began to chat with him online. Their chats were wonderful and Merry began to look forward to their evening chats online. After some time, they decided they should meet, but when she recognized who he was, she left without introducing herself. He couldn't possibly be the same person she had been chatting with online. Was it even worth continuing this online relationship? Would they ever be able to be more to each other? He was as much a mystery to her as she was to him. You will have to read the book to see how the story ends.

This was the perfect Christmas romance and it made me feel happy to read such a sweet story. There was no sex or foul language and the romance was sweet and genuine.

I was given an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those feel good kind of book which you want to read again and again and again. A true christmasy romance.
It has a work romance, mistaken identity, enemy to lover .. arrogant hero, sweet and caring heroine ..everything which a romance is made of.

Christmas is in the air! I love seeing all the twinkling lights, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and being able to snuggle up under a warm blanket and watch some sappy, romantic Christmas movies on Netflix. Sometimes, though, you want to read a good book instead that has the same effect which is exactly what I felt when I read Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber.

Merry and Bright is the story of Merry Smith and Jayson Bright, two people who seem to be in two different places in their lives but are both secretly yearning for the same thing: love. Merry's focus is helping to take care of her family as well as work her intense temp job. Jayson is all business, as Jayson is Merry's boss, and his focus is all on a major campaign that is nearing its due date.

For Christmas, Merry's brother and mother create an online dating profile for her, knowing that she needs a man in her life. At first Merry is against the idea until she gets a message from a charming stranger and before long a relationship is blossoming. What neither of them realize is that "Jay" online is really Jayson Bright and "Merry" online is Merry Smith. (Jayson never puts two and two together due to Merry's name being misspelled on her desk at work.)

They agree to meet face-to-face but to Jay's disappointment Merry doesn't show. What he doesn't realize is that as he sat there, Merry shows up and realizes who Jay actually is. It's Mr. Bright, her boss! Now Merry wants to end the relationship, since her and her boss do not get along well, but how can she when she can't without revealing who she really is?

This story is full of charming characters, is wonderfully written, and a quick read which is perfect for the holiday season. It's a sweet story that is not too far fetched and not too sappy. You find yourself rooting on Merry and Jayson, and really do want to see these two get together. Not to spoil anything, but I did finish the book with a little smile on my face. It's a cute story that gets you in the Christmas spirit.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

This was a cute little book! I'm a fan of Debbie Macomber, so I was excited to get a bit of an early Christmas. It has a cute little "You Got Mail" premise, with Merry's mother and brother setting up a dating profile for her. And I am a bit of a sucker for the "strict boss, cheerful employee" trope, so it was a lot of fun to see how Merry and Jay interacted in real life and online.

I really enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for a sweet contemporary novel this is the perfect one to pick up this holiday season. In Merry and Bright, Debbie Macomber has written a thoroughly enjoyable modern romance that explores the pros and cons of dating in the modern tech savvy world.

Merry Knight has put others first her entire life. With a brother with Down Syndrome and a mother battling MS and a father who traveled for his job, Merry Knight has held her family together. Her brother and mother decide to give her a gift and sign her up for online dating and the story takes off from there!

I love that this book literally makes a nod at You've Got Mail, because it is just that with a bit of a modern twist with online dating. It also has a sweet holiday twist which was perfect for this time of year. It is such a sweet romance with no sexy times, just the beginnings of a romance. Of course with most romance stories it can be predictable, but I didn't care about it AT ALL. This book is just a sweet ride to enjoy during the holidays.

I also loved that this book was short, it was a perfect afternoon read getting away from the bustle of the holidays. I like when holiday books are abbreviated so you can get in and out and enjoy in one day!