As a first-year law associate, Sydney Batson knows she will be updating her resume by New Year’s if she loses her current court case. So when her grandmother gets inexplicably ill while she’s in court, Sydney arranges for a cab to get her to the clinic.

The last thing cab driver Finn Parrish wants is to be saddled with a wheelchair-bound old lady with dementia. But because Miss Callie reminds him of his own mother, whom he failed miserably in her last days, he can’t say no when she keeps calling him for rides. Once a successful gourmet chef, Finn’s biggest concern now is making his rent, but half the time Callie doesn’t remember to pay him. And as she starts to feel better, she leads him on wild goose chases to find a Christmas date for her granddaughter.

When Finn meets Sydney, he’s quite sure that she’s never needed help finding a date. Does Miss Callie have an ulterior motive, or is this just a mission driven by delusions? He’s willing to do whatever he can to help fulfill Callie’s Christmas wish. He just never expected to be a vital part of it.

This was a book I’d been wanting to read for a while and I can’t believe I didn’t read it sooner!  I read it in one sitting over the course of a few hours.  Though I will give a warning, the end of the book left me a mess, even though I knew already what would happen.  I’m just sensitive that way, I guess.  To be honest though, I’m hoping there were others who at least teared up at this so I don’t feel so alone (I know, I’m terrible).

Catching Christmas follows Finn, a former chef who now drives a taxi to make ends meet, and Sydney, a first-year lawyer at a firm who is scraping to keep her job after they make cuts.  Finn gets a call to take an old woman, Callie, to an appointment, and quickly finds out she is sick in some way – probably dementia.  He wonders why Miss Callie is left to fend for herself, and later finds out that her granddaughter – Sydney – is doing the best she can.

The main focus of this book is on the relationship between Finn and Callie as he sort-of becomes her personal driver.  He takes her on errands and learns quickly that this old woman has no filter, which I found hilarious and it reminded me of my grandma.  Then a romance develops later in the book between Finn and Sydney, but really, the focus is on their relationships with Callie.  I actually found it refreshing that it wasn’t focused on the romance aspect.

Overall, I enjoyed every moment of reading this book, even the parts where I cried.  Finn, Sydney, and Callie were great characters to read becuase they were real.  They weren’t perfect – they had their flaws – and they are just characters I can imagine in real life.

Rating: 5/5 stars