December Read: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Susan Wiggs

 

This is a quick, feel-good holiday romance complete with lots of doggies. The cover art is just so stinkin' cute! 

Brenda Malloy does not like Christmas. Not anything about it; especially now that she's found out her husband is cheating on her on Christmas Eve. She used to love Christmas as a child, until a family tragedy one Christmas Eve left her feeling guilty and full of grief. Now she's starting over again, and a volunteer gig with the local animal shelter is going to change her world. 

Brenda volunteers with a dog rescue organization in Houston, Texas. It's been a year since her terrible Christmas Eve, and she's divorced and moved on--kind of. A series of mishaps within the dog rescue organization give Brenda a chance to travel with twelve dogs to their new adoptive homes in Upstate New York--just in time for Christmas. Loading up the van and traveling with her friend Dolly, all seems to be going well until a snowstorm sends the van off the road and Dolly into the hospital. Now Brenda has to coordinate the delivery of all twelve dogs to their forever homes, get the van fixed, and drive home to Houston by herself. 

Enter handsome paramedic Adam Bellamy, who is immediately attracted to Brenda and is also the new owner of Olaf, a big doggie that loves to run, jump, and play. He's divorced, a single father, and ready to take a chance on a new love. If only Brenda wanted to stay in Avalon, and get into the Christmas spirit...

This was just pure fun to read. Lovely characters; the dogs are all sweet and add to the festive atmosphere. The town of Avalon is very Hallmark-ish and there are some bumps in the road to happily ever after, but it's a fun journey. If you want to read a gentle holiday romance, this is your ticket. 

Rating: 4/6 for a quick romantic holiday read chock full of dogs and holiday spirit. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio book. 

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December Read: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Susan Wiggs

Christmas by the Book by Anne Marie Ryan

 

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 There's nothing I like better than to recommend books to people. It's no surprise, then, that this novel gave me all the feels and a lot of sighing over my "if I could do it all over again" wish to own a bookstore in a small town. 

Nora and Simon operate a small bookstore in the village of Stowford, England. Nora inherited the shop from her mother, and they've been a cornerstone of the village for thirty years. 

Unfortunately, unpaid taxes and a slowdown in sales has meant Nora is keeping some important news from Simon: they are in danger of losing the shop if payments aren't brought up to date by the end of the year. 

Simon is oblivious to the financial pickle they're in because Nora is worried about his heart (he had a minor heart episode previously) and won't let him help much in the shop. 

An elderly man stops in and purchases a special book--it's the one book that has gone unsold in the shop for thirty years. He's buying it for his grandson, who has a school project due and is ill. 

This, along with a late night bottle of wine, gives Nora and Simon the idea to give six books to random people who have been nominated by others in the village. It's a way to spread the happiness that books can bring and hopefully drive more business to the shop, too. 

Nora picks out the books and delivers them to each recipient. All the books are wrapped and the same size, so she doesn't know who gets what book. However, book magic happens, and each person who receives a book gets exactly the book they need at that time. From a young actor struggling to get a break, to a single father who's lost his job and worries about presents for his twins, to a retired school teacher who feels lost and alone, each person discovers something important in the book they receive. For all of them, the books are life-changing in small yet significant ways. 

As Christmas approaches, Nora stresses about losing the shop and how to tell Simon. Will she finally come clean to Simon? Can they save the shop or will they be forced to sell it? 

I absolutely loved loved loved this novel. Gentle, warm, full of books; a village full of interesting characters, and holiday cheer. People looking out for people. The magic of books and the way they bring people together. Heck, there's even a snow storm on Christmas Eve. Some folks who receive the books have serious problems: depression, grief, loneliness. But the bookshop brings them together in a really wonderful way. 

I hope you get a chance to read this novel. It was perfect to read in the week leading to Christmas. I have a few more holiday books here, but I think I'm going to end my holiday reading with this novel. I have a few non-holiday books I'm going to try and finish before the end of the year, and I'll have my top ten reads out before January first. 

Rating: 5/6 for a novel about the power of books, community, and the Christmas spirit. Book lovers will enjoy this book very much. 

Available in paperback and ebook. 

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Christmas by the Book by Anne Marie Ryan

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz

I can't say Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is my most favorite book ever, but I definitely have a soft spot for it, and of course I love the BBC series version with Colin Firth.  So much so, that I bought it on VHS tape years and years ago.  And, Colin Firth remains the only Darcy in my heart.  

I thought this would be a fun read-a modern version of P&P with the roles reversed:  Darcy is a 29 year old super smart woman who has risen to partnership in her hedge fund financial corporation in New York City.  From the town of Pemberly, OH, she's avoided going home for eight years after a falling out with her father over her refusal to marry Carl, who looked good on paper, but whom Darcy just didn't love.  Instead, she left for New York City and became a very rich woman working on Wall Street.  Her life is fairly empty except for work; she can buy anything she wants, but just isn't very happy.  A family health crisis sends her flying home just before Christmas.  She's uncomfortable in her family's very plush home (Dad is a very successful businessman) and running into old family friends-namely, the Bennets, a family of men who Darcy's known all her life.  There's Jim, who makes an immediate connection with Darcy's actor friend Bingley, and there's Luke.  He's annoyed Darcy all through high school, and their drunken make out session under the mistletoe at her family's Christmas party is a shock to Darcy.  A shock, you say?  Yes, because she realizes she's got feelings for Luke.  

There are all sorts of complications, and the path to true love for Darcy and Luke isn't smooth.  I got tired of trying to compare P&P to this story, and I wish De La Cruz hadn't even tried to make this a modern version.  It would have been a perfectly good story without trying to force it into the P&P mold.  It strayed enough away that I just got annoyed, and the flimsy pivot in the plot (two Bennet boys are juvenile delinquents, and Darcy basically pays off the high school principal to let them stay in school) was lame-o.  This novel would have been heaps better if it was just about two people who discover they don't dislike each other, but actually quite like each other-without all the extra junk that mucked up the story.  I also found the nonchalant way Darcy talked about money a bit off-putting.  It was a Hallmark movie gone wrong, I'm afraid. 

Oh well.  It's a quick read, and enjoyable enough, just disappointing for me. 

Rating:  2/6 for a plot that tries to force itself into a clever, modern twist of Pride and Prejudice, but fell short for me.  I didn't much like Darcy, either.  

Available in hardcover, and ebook.  

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Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz

2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

Madeline is nine.  She wants to be a jazz singer.  And she's amazing.  

Madeline is the center of this wonderful little jewel, 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas.  It's the Eve of Christmas Eve in Philadelphia, and Madeline is heading to school.  She attends a catholic school, and before class, they have to go to church.  Claire, the prissy perfect girl in Madeline's class, is going to be singing a solo  hymn in church.  

Until she gets hits by a bicyclist on her way to school.  Oops.  Cue Madeline.  Her teacher, the wonderfully smart and sassy Sarina Greene, suggests Madeline sing in Claire's place.  It's a dream come true.  Madeline stands up front, opens her mouth, and just as her glorious singing is about to begin, Claire bursts through the church doors:  "I can sing!  I am here!"  

Dammit.  

And so begins Madeline's lousy Eve of Christmas Eve.  Her birthday is on Christmas Day, but her mother is dead, and her father sits in his bedroom, paralyzed by grief and listening to old jazz records.  Madeline is on her own.  The Cat's Pajamas is a jazz club in the neighborhood, and it is in trouble.  Citations mean if they're not paid, the club closes.  It's the last chance for Lorca to have a great time and maybe, just maybe pay the citations and keep his legendary club open.  But he's got problems of his own...

There are so many wonderful, quirky characters in this novel it's hard not to talk about them all.  You'll just have to discover them as you read.  I can assure you there are lines where you will laugh out loud.  Did I mention that Madeline has a mouth like a sailor?  Yes she does.  

This novel is about people all standing at a crossroads and deciding where and what to do.  Which path to take.  Do they put the past behind, and move forward?  

Anyone who read Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple will find themselves enjoying this tale of jazz, Christmas, and a little girl's dream.

Rating:  8/10 for a fantastic main character and a story that left me reluctant to turn the last page.  

Available in hardcover, e-book, and audio.

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2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino