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A review by bellesmoma2021
One Foggy Christmas by Kortney Keisel
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One Foggy Christmas by Kortney Keisel is a deeply emotional, highly engaging, unforgettable story. I sobbed. Not like I teared up a little. Nope. I sobbed. This story wrecked my heart, but in a great way. I also laughed, though. And I sighed super happy sighs. I cheered for Nash and Sadie the entire time. Yes, I wanted to throw the book at the wall, but I also wanted to hug it. Nash and Sadie’s story is real and raw and beautiful. I will not soon forget this romance.
On April 25, 2012, I suffered a traumatic brain injury. For 2 1/2 days prior, I had been leaking cerebral fluid, which caused bleeding into my brain. This, in turn, caused damage in the short-term memory and language sections of my brain. It took 2 years to physically recover and about a year or so to relearn all the words and concepts I had lost. I will never be 100%. I still get debilitating migraines that steal my words and leave me weak, and I have permanently lost about 6 months-1 year of short-term memories, but I am 1000% better today and so grateful to God for bringing me through all this trauma. The scariest part of the whole ordeal was losing emotions. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s like the part of my brain that feels love and joy and happiness disappeared. I know those feelings with my brain, but I no longer feel them with my heart. I tell my husband he’s the luckiest husband on earth because every single day I choose to love him. I know this sounds crazy. I actually never talk about my TBI because when I admit to people that I no longer feel love and joy and happiness, people get weird. It’s not that I can’t feel anymore. I still feel frustration and anger and pain. Those feelings surge through me. But the place where love, joy, and happiness resides feels empty. There’s a moment in One Foggy Christmas where Sadie is talking to her therapist after her TBI, and the doctor says, “The brain is such an unknown organ, and each traumatic brain injury is different. It’s hard to project how your recovery will go. This memory fog might last a few days or months, or it may always be like this. We just don’t know” (157). This is absolute truth. We are all different. We all have different brains. Even if we were to get injured in the exact same way, our brains would handle things differently, uniquely. I’ve been married to my brilliant, handsome, wonderful husband for over 13 years now, and I cannot tell you anything about our wedding. Those memories happened too close to my injury and are lost to me forever. I know I got married. I see the pictures, and my husband tells me about the night. But to me, it never happened. Unlike Sadie in this story, I can remember my husband. The doctors believe it’s because I knew Robert long enough before I was injured that he couldn’t disappear in my mind. But in all other ways, I truly related to Sadie. Reading the parts of her story after her accident were really difficult for me. All of her frustrations and fears were mine 12 years ago. This book was like a mirror being held up to me, and it forced me to deal with some things. In this, One Foggy Christmas was the therapy session I didn’t know I even needed.
Sadie and Nash’s story isn’t just about a horrific injury that wreaks havoc on their lives. It’s also one of the sweetest, most endearing love stories I’ve ever read. And it’s not just a sweet and endearing second-chance romance, but it’s also a second-chance familial-love story, too. That sounds odd, I know. But one of the issues that Sadie has to work through is her broken relationship with her parents. How do you fix a broken relationship with your parents when you don’t even remember that something had been broken? As much as I loved Sadie and Nash’s journeys (yes, plural) to love, I equally loved Sadie’s reconciliation journey with her parents. Seriously, this book is deep. It’s way more than just some sappy, happy Christmas story. But it’s also a happy Christmas story. LOL! Kortney Keisel is just that amazing a storyteller!
One Foggy Christmas is AMAZING. It definitely will be on my top-ten reads of 2024, and for sure it’s on my re-read stack. I truly loved every single moment and every single thing about this poignant story. If you’re in the mood for a Christmas Romance with endearing and flawed characters who feel very real and relatable, for a love story you won’t soon forget, for a story that tackles real-life issues then this is the story for you. Purchase a copy ASAP. You will NOT be disappointed you did.
I purchased a copy of this novel in eBook form from Amazon.com on November 4, 2024 in order to review. I am under no obligation to leave a positive review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
On April 25, 2012, I suffered a traumatic brain injury. For 2 1/2 days prior, I had been leaking cerebral fluid, which caused bleeding into my brain. This, in turn, caused damage in the short-term memory and language sections of my brain. It took 2 years to physically recover and about a year or so to relearn all the words and concepts I had lost. I will never be 100%. I still get debilitating migraines that steal my words and leave me weak, and I have permanently lost about 6 months-1 year of short-term memories, but I am 1000% better today and so grateful to God for bringing me through all this trauma. The scariest part of the whole ordeal was losing emotions. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s like the part of my brain that feels love and joy and happiness disappeared. I know those feelings with my brain, but I no longer feel them with my heart. I tell my husband he’s the luckiest husband on earth because every single day I choose to love him. I know this sounds crazy. I actually never talk about my TBI because when I admit to people that I no longer feel love and joy and happiness, people get weird. It’s not that I can’t feel anymore. I still feel frustration and anger and pain. Those feelings surge through me. But the place where love, joy, and happiness resides feels empty. There’s a moment in One Foggy Christmas where Sadie is talking to her therapist after her TBI, and the doctor says, “The brain is such an unknown organ, and each traumatic brain injury is different. It’s hard to project how your recovery will go. This memory fog might last a few days or months, or it may always be like this. We just don’t know” (157). This is absolute truth. We are all different. We all have different brains. Even if we were to get injured in the exact same way, our brains would handle things differently, uniquely. I’ve been married to my brilliant, handsome, wonderful husband for over 13 years now, and I cannot tell you anything about our wedding. Those memories happened too close to my injury and are lost to me forever. I know I got married. I see the pictures, and my husband tells me about the night. But to me, it never happened. Unlike Sadie in this story, I can remember my husband. The doctors believe it’s because I knew Robert long enough before I was injured that he couldn’t disappear in my mind. But in all other ways, I truly related to Sadie. Reading the parts of her story after her accident were really difficult for me. All of her frustrations and fears were mine 12 years ago. This book was like a mirror being held up to me, and it forced me to deal with some things. In this, One Foggy Christmas was the therapy session I didn’t know I even needed.
Sadie and Nash’s story isn’t just about a horrific injury that wreaks havoc on their lives. It’s also one of the sweetest, most endearing love stories I’ve ever read. And it’s not just a sweet and endearing second-chance romance, but it’s also a second-chance familial-love story, too. That sounds odd, I know. But one of the issues that Sadie has to work through is her broken relationship with her parents. How do you fix a broken relationship with your parents when you don’t even remember that something had been broken? As much as I loved Sadie and Nash’s journeys (yes, plural) to love, I equally loved Sadie’s reconciliation journey with her parents. Seriously, this book is deep. It’s way more than just some sappy, happy Christmas story. But it’s also a happy Christmas story. LOL! Kortney Keisel is just that amazing a storyteller!
One Foggy Christmas is AMAZING. It definitely will be on my top-ten reads of 2024, and for sure it’s on my re-read stack. I truly loved every single moment and every single thing about this poignant story. If you’re in the mood for a Christmas Romance with endearing and flawed characters who feel very real and relatable, for a love story you won’t soon forget, for a story that tackles real-life issues then this is the story for you. Purchase a copy ASAP. You will NOT be disappointed you did.
I purchased a copy of this novel in eBook form from Amazon.com on November 4, 2024 in order to review. I am under no obligation to leave a positive review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.