From Publishers Weekly
amiable third novel to feature the happy O'Malleys of Chicago (after A Midwinter's Tale and Younger Than Springtime) has a scant six pages devoted to the 1950 wedding itself, and not a sprig of holly in sight. The book primarily chronicles the 11 years following the holiday nuptials of Chucky O'Malley and his quasi-foster sister, Rosemarie Clancy. (When Rosemarie's mother died in an accidental fall when Rosemarie was in high school, the O'Malleys took her in.) At age 22, Chucky has already served time in the army, been kicked out of Notre Dame on false charges, and determined on a career in accounting. As the young couple's thoughts turn toward love and marriage, they must confront the demons from Rosemarie's past, including her troubling relationship with her father and the suspicious circumstances surrounding her mother's death as well as her predisposition to alcohol abuse. Greeley's habitual willingness to challenge Catholic dogma on matters such as sex and birth control, as well as his openness to ideas as far-ranging as those of Buddhism and evolutionary science, are in evidence here, and he is nothing if not politically opinionated. As a narrator, the gregarious Chucky, however, commits the sin of pride repeatedly and his self-congratulatory tone tends to grate. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Greeley, a Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, and best-selling author, is at the top of his game with his latest book, another light romance novel, this one revolving around the O'Malleys (his third work featuring this family). Set in 1950s Chicago, A Christmas Wedding tells the story of dapper young Chuck O'Malley and his new wife, girl-next-door Rosemarie Clancy. The newlyweds are blissfully in love--until Rosemarie starts to unravel a bit, in the form of drinking binges and episodes of manic behavior. Chuck eventually discovers the source of this pent-up anger; it turns out she was sexually abused as a child and is a suspect in the mysterious, violent death of her mother. Things start to look up for the couple after Chuck uncovers the truth about what really happened to Rosemarie's mother; she begins therapy and they live happily ever after. Although Greeley's fans (and there are many) will definitely enjoy his latest novel, newcomers may find the tone of the story a bit chauvinistic, much of the characterization cliched (particularly regarding Irish American stereotypes and nymphomaniac housewives), and the overblown sex scenes just plain nauseating. Let the reader beware. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
“Greeley is at the top of his game in A Christmas Wedding.”—Booklist “Snappy storytelling”—Kirkus on A Christmas Wedding "A master of the human heart."--Los Angeles Times



Review
"A master of the human heart."--Los Angeles Times



Book Description
"Happy families are all alike," said Tolstoy, and the O'Malley's are one of the happiest, if slightly crazy, families in current fiction. A Christmas Wedding continues the saga of Chucky, the youngest son who wants to live the quiet life of an accountant and raise a nice Catholic family. Fate, of course, has other plans for Chucky, in the person of the beautiful Rosemarie, his off-again on-again nemesis from the time he saved her life when he was a young man.

Thrown out of Notre Dame on trumped up charges, Chucky ends up going to the University of Chicago. The only problem: his lifelong enemy Rosemarie is a fellow student. They decide to be "just friends," and while they battle with each other, "just friends" turns into something neither of them expected.



About the Author
A native of Chicago, Reverend Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and bestselling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church-including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination, and sexual behavior of Catholics.

Father Greeley received the S.T.L. in 1954 from St. Mary of Lake Seminary. His graduate work was done at the University of Chicago, where he received the M.A. Degree in 1961 and the Ph.D. in 1962.

Father Greeley has written scores of books and hundreds of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of issues in sociology, education and religion. His column on political, church and social issues is carried by the carried by the Chicago Sun Times and may other newspapers. He stimulates discussion of neglected issues and often anticipates sociological trends. He is the author of more than thirty bestselling novels and an autobiography, Furthermore!: Confessions of a Parish Priest.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Happy families are all alike," said Tolstoy, and the O'Malley's are one of the happiest, if slightly crazy, families in current fiction. A Christmas Wedding continues the saga of Chucky, the youngest son who wants to live the quiet life of an accountant and raise a nice Catholic family. Fate, of course, has other plans for Chucky, in the person of the beautiful Rosemarie, his off-again on-again nemesis from the time he saved her life when he was a young man. Thrown out of Notre Dame on trumped up charges, Chucky ends up going to the University of Chicago. The only problem: his lifelong enemy Rosemarie is a fellow student. They decide to be "just friends," and while they battle with each other, "just friends" turns into something neither of them expected.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

amiable third novel to feature the happy O'Malleys of Chicago (after A Midwinter's Tale and Younger Than Springtime) has a scant six pages devoted to the 1950 wedding itself, and not a sprig of holly in sight. The book primarily chronicles the 11 years following the holiday nuptials of Chucky O'Malley and his quasi-foster sister, Rosemarie Clancy. (When Rosemarie's mother died in an accidental fall when Rosemarie was in high school, the O'Malleys took her in.) At age 22, Chucky has already served time in the army, been kicked out of Notre Dame on false charges, and determined on a career in accounting. As the young couple's thoughts turn toward love and marriage, they must confront the demons from Rosemarie's past, including her troubling relationship with her father and the suspicious circumstances surrounding her mother's death as well as her predisposition to alcohol abuse. Greeley's habitual willingness to challenge Catholic dogma on matters such as sex and birth control, as well as his openness to ideas as far-ranging as those of Buddhism and evolutionary science, are in evidence here, and he is nothing if not politically opinionated. As a narrator, the gregarious Chucky, however, commits the sin of pride repeatedly and his self-congratulatory tone tends to grate. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Third installment in Father Greeley's ongoing O'Malley family saga begun in Chicago with A Midwinter's Tale (1998) and Younger Than Springtime (1999). In the last volume, Chuckie O'Malley was tossed out of Notre Dame, following WWII, for having a picture of Rosemarie Clancy in a twopiece swimsuit, for reading Joyce's Ulysses, and for having beer under his bed. And back in book one, when they were kids, he saved Rosemarie from drowning. Now Chuckie and Rosemarie both go to the University of Chicago, he to be an accountant, and she, in part, to forget her psychopathic father and alcoholic mother (who has recently died from a fall down the cellar stairs). Chuckie and Rosemarie plan to be "just friends," but the reader knows that hormonally—and from the title—the notion of mere friendship is foredoomed. Chuckie becomes an artistic photographer, Rosemarie his sometime model (capturing her doing a cartwheel he sees "a woman's soul transparent in her body"). Later, she's recovering from a heavy bottle problem herself, seeing a shrink, and with the death of her father becomes a wealthy woman.