Book Review: Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Book Review: Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

Debbie Macomber proves that she is the queen of light, fun Christmas romance novels. This book is perfect to curl up with on the couch by the light of the Christmas tree. Unless you have the cold heart of the Grinch, this is a fun book for you.

“Kill him with kindness” is what Julia decides to do after a few rough encounters with Cain, her handsome but jerky neighbor. The plus side to her project is that she is going to blog about it in attempt to get a promotion at her job. She buys Cain coffee, bakes him homemade cookies, but nothing seems to work.

She is bent and determined to win him over and eventually finds herself falling for her own personal Ebenezer Scrooge. Fortunately Cain seems to be falling for her as well. Her blog readership and comments explode and she is soon faced with a dilemma. Is getting the promotion at work worth alienating Cain when he finds out he is being used for blog material? Will he understand that he started out as a project but soon turned into something more?

The interactions between Julie and Cain were fun to read. Both characters have experienced pain in past relationships and though both are hesitant they both end up falling for the other. This is a quick, festive read and will leave you with the warm fuzzies of the Christmas season.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg

Book Review: The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Random House

This book spans the happenings in a small town over a hundred years. While it may sound like a boring history lesson, it is anything but. Elmwood Springs is a town in Missouri founded by Swedish immigrant Lordor Nordstrom. The book starts with him founding the town and then sending away for a mail order bride.

Every character in this book is fleshed out really well. I felt almost as if I knew them by the end of the book. They were good people, flawed, but came together as a community of people that loved one another. Well, some of them more than others. It’s a testament to Flagg’s writing that the characters have so much life to them.

I don’t want to spoil a key part of the book but I do want to say that it really made me think about life and what you would do if you had just one more moment to talk to that special someone or best friend.

The chapters are short which makes the book go by really quickly. I enjoyed how the story was told from many different points of view and yet remained cohesive. The historical events that were mixed through out reminded me of a few things that I had forgotten.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light hearted yet thoughtful read. It’s a book that I will come back to whenever I need that feel good feeling.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.