Christmas Candy

By: Samantha Jacobey

Narrated by: Vanessa Hensley-Mayes

Length: 3 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Life isn't always sweet, even for girls called Candy.

Candice Parker's life has never been easy. Plagued by losses and setbacks, each day is a struggle for the petite brunette and her young son. When fireman Gary enters her world, he is one mistake she refuses to make; but after tragedy strikes, she may not have a choice.

Gerald Ford has never been what anyone would call settled. Always keeping things simple, he lived a fast and furious lifestyle, with no intentions of slowing down. However, when he inherits his family's ancestral mansion on his thirtieth birthday, he considers the possibility that it's time for a change. Could this complicated young woman be his Christmas Candy?

©2015 Lavish Publishing, LLC (P)2016 Lavish Publishing, LLC

Firefighter Romance

This was a sweet Christmas story. I would say this has a friends to lovers vibe (which I love) even though Candace and Gary are not friends to start. I love that despite how horrible Candace treats Gary at first, he continues to show love and support (just like the Gospels.) At three hours this was a perfect length,I did not feel the story was rushed or dragged.

Vanessa Hensley-Mayes does a great job with the narration, with very distinct voices.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request, and I have voluntarily left this review.

Cute Christmas romance

Any additional comments?

This is a stand alone book by author Samantha Jacobey It was narrated by Vanessa Hensley-Mayes. While the story had a great theme of love conquerors all, I thought the story was too short for everything the author tried to have occur.


Candy has not had an easy life, losing her dad when she was very young. Not soon after to move in with her mother and handicapped child. Her son is her life. She has no desire to want to date, even when fireman Gerald enters her life. Recently transferred from another fire station, Gerald sees something in Candy and doesn’t give up even when she tells him no over and over again.


There were so many times that Candy was on my nerves and I wish that I could of giving her a slap across the back of the head to tell her to wake up. She just needed to open her eyes and even with their age difference Candy and Gerald seemed made for each other. Now there were times that was very clear and with the issues from her dad passing she was reluctant to get involved with anyone working in public services. So Gerald had two strikes against him. Then add in her son and the issues she had to deal with his handicap made these two getting together seem impossible. When tragedy struck, Candy leaned on Gerald who shows just how great and persistent he is.


This is a sweet story, but listening to the story made me confused specifically in the beginning of the story. I was further confused by the narrations because there wasn’t much change in tone between the different characters and it confused me who was speaking.

Cute story!

What a cute story! I enjoyed the storyline but the narrator's voice was very 'pitchy' and wasn't fit for the variety of voices needed for the story so it took away from the book. Enjoyable read to listen to next to the pool relaxing!

Terrible narrator.

It’s painful to listen to with such terrible narration. Over dramatic and whiny Please use someone different in the future

Okay story but not for me

This was too easy; too predictable and a tad boring. The lead female is too naïve considering her upbringing and has no backbone. She comes off as a flake and the lead male is no better. The mother in law hates the fiancé but then all of a sudden will do anything to help her???? Not believable.
I was given a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review,

Great Read

Christmas Candy was a great read by Samantha Jacobey. Candice is living a really hard life that is riddled with losses and many setbacks. She is struggling everyday with her young son and trying to get by. Gary is a fireman who shows interest in Candice, but due to past loss, she didnt want to start a relationship with him. A tragedy brings them together for a Christmas they wont forget. I loved reading Candice and Gary's story and can't wait to read more by Samantha Jacobey.

okay story, annoying narration

I didn't love this book. The characters did not seem to like each other, even though they develop a relationship. The idea of the story was good, but the execution was just ok. I find the narrator's voice annoying, especially when voicing the male characters.

Probably won't be continuing this series...

Unfortunately, I'm not certain whether or not I would like to continue with this series. The book wasn't downright bad, but there were many things that irked me. In general, I didn't much like the character of Candice. Some of it might be able to be attributed to the fact that she's only 20, but I don't think her age explains away all of it. First off, she was exceedingly and unfoundedly suspicious. So Gerry had been coming into her gas station pretty much daily for quite some time - he thought she was cute, enjoyed talking to her (for some reason), and worked just down the street at the fire department. He'd always been good natured and nice to her. He asked her out several times and she declined every time, which was completely her prerogative, but he was never creepy toward her, simply nice - even though it sounds like she wasn't always so nice when saying no.

Let's move to Gerry, who for some reason was very interested in Candice and wanted to get to know her better. They started with a nice friendship and then he decided to ask her out. She rebuffed him and then became a bit weird around him. Regardless, he periodically asked again because he still wanted to get to know this woman. Each time she declined. I can understand persistence, but I don't understand why, after so many rebuffs (a lot of which weren't exactly nice) and her being strange toward him since he asked, he still wanted to get to know her that bad. For some reason there's "just something about her" that kept him coming back I guess, if only to still chat and try to carry on the friendship.

So Gerry wanted to do something nice for Candice and her family by purchasing a few gifts for them. Why on earth did she react SO negatively to it? She was downright rude to the man. He told her there's a firetruck for her son because that's what he asked for for Christmas and she freaked out that he know that (only because he happened to be the Santa that went to his school and he remembered, which he explained to her). Obviously, he so badly wanted to get close to her that he finagled his way into playing Santa for her child's school... NOT. This was something that he and his fellow firefighters did yearly for all of the area schools (play Santa). He had no idea what kids he might be visiting, much less who their parents were. Heck, it wasn't until he arrived that she even had a child at all. Despite this perfectly reasonable explanation, she still found Gerry suspicious?

And it just gets better....

Candice's paranoia (and possibly sense of self importance) hits a new high when Gerry rescues her son and mother from a fire in their apartment complex and then, knowing how much Candice loves her son, goes straight to her to inform her they were being taken to the hospital and offering to give her a ride there. Clearly, that means he must've found where she lived, intentionally set the fire, all so he could save her son in order to get closer to her. That makes perfect sense... (I say that with the utmost sarcasm.) Candice thinks the man is so obsessed with her because she is so freaking awesome that he learned where she lived and then turned to arson and potential mass homicide by starting a fire that endangered the lives of not only dozens of civilians (not to mention destroying their homes and the bulk of their earthly possessions), but himself and fellow firefighters sent to fight the blaze and rescue those still inside? Once again, woman, your logic is infallible... (Insert eye roll here.) When the two got to the hospital and Gerry came inside to make sure she and her family are alright, Candice completely turned on him. She surpassed rude and went to mean.

After all of this, Gerry started to wonder if wanting to get to know her better was really the best idea. Based on her behavior and treatment of him, I think that's a very good thing to wonder. But, despite so much of your knowledge of her now being negative, he still wants to be with her. Perhaps that part wasn't so smart, but to each their own, I suppose.

Overall, Candice was overly suspicious and sometimes downright whiny. She didn't want to date Gerry because her father was also a public servant doing a dangerous job (a cop) and died on the job. Not wanting to lose someone you love again makes sense. Unfortunately, Candice's view of what her father's death meant was definitely off base. She believes that in dying he left them. Even though she realized that his death wasn't him intentionally leaving her and her mother, she believed that if her father truly loved her and her mother, he would've never become a cop. This is where I feel like immaturity might be the cause, but still, it's sad she thought that all this time. Thankfully her mom was able to set her straight on the matter upon waking up.

The book does feature a HFN ending (as their story isn't over yet) with Candice, Gerry and Candice's son having Christmas together and Candice and Gerry seemingly in a relationship. I'm not sure what will happen next, but I'm sure there will be road bumps, but it will all end well.

So, I started this review by saying I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with the series. Part of that is due to the reasons I listed above, but it was also in part due to the narration. Vanessa Hensley-Mayes voiced Candice in a way that it sounded like she was constantly whining and/or complaining. That whiny tone got irritating real quick. The only reason I might consider continuing to listen to the Audible version of this series is that the next two books are narrated by a completely different person (Christine Kelly). In the past I have continued series though I wasn't certain about them or didn't absolutely love the books, but they had enough to keep me intrigued and coming back, wanting to know what happens next. In this case, I might be perfectly content to just let it end with this book - there was nothing attention grabbing enough to make me want to know more.

Cute Christmas Romance

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This was such a cute Christmas romance. I was annoyed at Candy at first but as I found out her story I understood her better. Gary is so sweet. I cannot wait for more.

Pretty cute

This was a pretty cute book. Candy is more than a hard head and Gary is a sucker for a damsel in distress. Some of it was pretty convenient but also a bit tragic. Candys sons actual condition was never fully explained. Not a lot of men would take on a woman and her mother and a disabled child in tow. Such a story is definitely a fairytale of sorts.
Still it was cute and short and sweet.
Narration was really good, Vanessa did a great job.
I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.