3 Stars. I adored Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, the first book in this series. Dash was just enough of a curmudgeon and Lily was a delight. They were quirky together, they had funny friends, and seeing their relationship develop against the backdrop of Christmas in New York was the stuff that holiday rom-coms [...]
4 Stars. It's been quite a while since I read any books in this series because I somehow missed that a fourth one existed! I can't say that there was a whole lot going on here, plot-wise. There were a few things but they felt and largely turned out to be low-stakes. Mostly I just enjoyed re-visiting Weezie [...]
4 Stars. I’m not a huge romance reader and even less of a young adult romance reader but I’ve watched my share of rom-coms and this is a rom-com with the cutest of meet cutes. I adored it. And what reader could resist its charms? Dash and Lily’s paths cross when Lily leaves a red notebook with a dare hidden [...]
4 Stars. I listened to Connie Willis's collection of her own Christmas stories (A Lot Like Christmas) last year and went searching for more of her work. I stumbled on this anthology that she edited and decided to give it a try. The quality of the stories was remarkably consistent! The stories are arranged [...]
4 Stars. This is a great collection of non-traditional Christmas stories in the fantasy and science fiction vein with bits and pieces of other genres thrown in here and there. It sounds quirky and it is but it really worked for me. It was a nice change of pace during the holiday season. The quality is [...]
4 Stars. I read quite a few books by Rosamunde Pilcher when I was in my late teens and twenties but I haven't read much of her work since then. But somehow I stumbled on this title when I was looking for Christmas-y books that weren't too sentimental. That's just not my taste. But Rosamunde Pilcher seemed like a safe bet. And [...]
2.5 Stars. I'm not really the audience for this book but I wanted a Christmas-y audiobook and it was either this standalone romance or other romances or cozy mysteries that were roughly number 52 in a series. (Yes, that's an exaggeration but not as much as it should be.) Standalone romance it was, even though I'm not really a [...]
I tried, but I give up. The first story, "Santa Land Diaries," was great. Sedaris's tale of working as a Macy's department store elf is hilarious! Those people who inevitably make the news every Black Friday by pepper spraying and punching their fellow shoppers? I think they all go to Macy's at Christmas. Sedaris writes about them with his usual biting wit. My favorite scene had to be when he gets fed up with this awful Santa who keeps making him sing Christmas carols with the kids. Sedaris sings "Away in a Manger" in Billie Holiday style. I have never heard anything like it in my life, but it is absolutely perfect. You have to listen to the audio for that alone! I was cracking up alone in my car! There are a few poignant moments as well, especially from one Santa who likes to remind people what Christmas is really all about. One of the local theaters does a stage production of this story every year, and my husband and I have always been curious about it. We will definitely be going to see it next year. Oh, but then. The second story, "Season's Greetings to Our Family and Friends," was horrible. Absolutely horrible. It's supposed to be a spoof of a Christmas letter gone horribly wrong. Something's gone horribly wrong alright--Sedaris's attempt at fiction. I kept listening, thinking it had to get better, but it just kept getting worse and worse. Disturbing only starts to cover it. I wish I could scrub that half-hour listen out of my brain. For real. This one was told from a woman's point of view, so it's read by David's sister, Amy Sedaris. I have to admit the tone and reading were absolutely perfect for the story, but it set my teeth…
Twinklestar, the last reindeer, panics in a thunderstorm and sends Santa's caravan plunging toward the ground. After making sure everyone is okay, Niklas Goodfellow, the last real Santa, realizes that he has come to earth in a territory controlled by the evil new head Santa, Gerold Goblynch. Niklas is on the run from Goblynch and his cronies, trying to maintain the real meaning of Christmas despite Goblynch's greedy schemes. The caravan is broken and it will take Niklas's elves a while to fix it. Not to mention that no one can find Twinklestar because he's invisible. Niklas befriends two of the neighborhood children, Ben and Charlotte. They try to help Santa and protect him from Goblynch and his henchmen. They also try to spread the Christmas spirit. I listened to this on audio, read by the author. I had a little bit of a hard time understanding her German accent. I had to pay very close attention. Also, her voicing for Matilda, Niklas's angel assistant, was way irritating--very high-pitched and bossy. Admittedly, Matilda was a bossy little soul, which would have irritated me enough without the ear-piercing pitch. There is a good message about the true meaning of Christmas here. Ben and Charlotte learn about friendship and standing up for what you believe in. There's even a little message for parents about maintaining a sense of Christmas wonder. I am definitely not the target audience for this book. Children will probably like it more than I did. It would probably be nice for them to think about children helping Santa. The little adventures, like searching for Twinklestar and making snow, will be more exciting for them. I can't really recommend the audio, but the print version will be fun for the younger crowd. Read an excerpt. Buy When Santa Fell…
Gumdrop Coal has gotten the axe. Founder of the Coal Patrol, those elves who deliver coal into bad little kids' stockings, Gumdrop is out on his ear when Santa decides that every child deserves a real gift on Christmas. Gumdrop takes it hard. His methods might be harsh, but he believes they're fair and they mostly get results. He's promised Santa that he'll stay away from children, but he hasn't made any promises about parents. Let's face it--someone is responsible for little monsters turning out the way they are. After a few violent encounters, parents and children have changed their ways for the better. Then one of the parents Gumdrop roughed up is found dead. Everyone in Kringle Town thinks Gumdrop did it. Gumdrop sets out to clear his name. Can he nab the culprit before his own goose is cooked? This was fun, if a little hard to sustain over the length of a short novel. I can't say that I've actually read any noir, but I'm somehow familiar with the tropes, either through movies or the collective subconscious. Harmon stayed true to what I know. The good-looking dame with questionable motives. The hard-boiled MC. Over-the-top villains. Very cool. What was a lot of fun was seeing how Christmas lore fit into the book. There can't be many Christmas songs and stories that Harmon didn't work in here. Tiny Tim, Ralphie, It's a Wonderful Life, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"--he really covered a lot of ground. I mostly liked the way that familiar sayings had a Christmas twist. "Son of a blitzen." "I didn't know it yet but someone back at the North Pole was about to start playing reindeer games for keeps." "For a little while, things seemed too foggy even for Rudy's schnoz and the whole tale…