Holiday Reading Challege -Completed

For this challenge, I read

1. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
2. Snow Globe
3. Chesapeake Shores Christmas (no review - but excellent read)
4. Perfect Christmas
5. I'll be Home for Christmas (no review - an interesting read dealing with Time Travel)
6. Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor
7. Mischief of Mistletoe
8. Holiday Affair
9. Mrs Miracle
10. Diva Cooks a Goose (review coming soonish)


I really LOVE Christmas Reads and will participate again next year!

Review: Snow Globe

One snow globe changes the lives of three women. Kylie finds the antique snow globe in a shop during a girls' weekend. She's been having the worst luck lately. Her boyfriend dumped her for her sister. She doesn't have a job. Kylie will do anything to change her life around. When she hears the story behind the snow globe, she knows she has to purchase it. Maybe it can change her luck.

When she brings it home, she can see something different inside. There's a different toy store. With a little bit of research, she hunts down the very same toy store and goes there the next weekend.

Kylie meets a the new owner. He makes her smile. Could her luck finally be turning?


My Thoughts: This is billed as a novel - when in actuality it's three short stories intertwined together. While I enjoyed reading their stories, I felt cheated. I wanted more. I wanted to know more about the relationship, more about the change of heart, more about the new friendship formed.

Cover Thoughts: a pretty Christmas cover - but has little to do with the book.

Source: My Library

Challenge: Holiday Reading Challenge

Review: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Two teens alone at Christmas in New York City - discover a new world.

Lily's parents went on vacation without her at her favorite time of year. Her grandfather left for Florida. Her brother's supposed to be watching her. He's in love. So in order to get her out of her shell, he writes down a set of instructions for a boy in a notebook and leaves the notebook in The Strand.

Dash finds the notebook and unravels the clues. Instead of playing along, he adds a dare to the notebook.

Lily sees the notebook for the first time and responds.

Chaos ensues. Dares are followed. Inner most thoughts reveal. Dash and Lily come to understand each other - on paper. Should they ever meet and see if they mesh in real life?

My Thoughts: I loved this book. What a great romance, but it's much more than a romance. Which is why for me, it wasn't a quick read. There was so much depth to the novel - the exchange of revealing thoughts, the pop-culture references, the book references, the obscure references that I probably didn't understand. I loved the dares: especially the one involving Santa Claus. I loved the exchange of the notebook. I loved the idea of Jane Austen thumb-wresting. I loved how the first meeting was terrible and the second meetings was hilarious. I laughed, I sighed with happiness, and I wanted my own Dash.

Cover Thoughts: Adorable! I love the heart-shaped snowflakes and the street signs.

Source: My Library

Fun Fact: I met the authors last week at R.J. Julia's. They were charming and hilarious. I cried from laughing several times. They were sweet enough to pose for a READ poster for me. Here's the creation:

Matt de la Pena was also there. He also posed for me - check out his poster.


Challenge: Holiday Reading Challenge

Adult Review: Perfect Christmas

Cassie wanted to find her perfect match. She wants it all: the perfect husband, the perfect kids, and most of all the perfect Christmas. In talking with her best friend, Angie mentions a matchmaker. He costs an absolute fortune and he's rude, but he's worth his weight in gold because he guarantees the outcome.

Cassie bits the bullet and contacts him for an appointment, Right away she finds him abrasive, arrogant, and annoying. Yet, she complies with his wishes to complete three tasks before Christmas. Each task will show him insight into her character.

As Cassie completes each task, she comes to realize love might already be in her heart...

My Thoughts: Another sweet holiday romance tale. I do love Debbie Macomber's way of storytelling. It doesn't matter that I knew the ending of the story, because the pleasure was reading it unfold. It was amusing, sweet, annoying, and wonderful in all the right places.

Cover Thoughts: Love it! It's the dinner table from one scene

Source: My Library

Challenge: Holiday Reading Challenge

Adult Review: Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor

Mark Nolan never thought about being a father until one rainy night, his sister died in a car accident. Now, he's a father to six year old Holly. Ever since the accident Holly hasn't said a word. Mark isn't sure how to reach her, but he knows that he'll do anything to protect her and make her smile again.

He bullies his brother into letting them live in his fixer-upper. The three of them start adjusting to their new situation. One day in town, Holly and Mark walk into the local toy store. There they meet Maggie who believes in Magic. Although she's struggling from her own heartbreak, she might have some to share.

My Thoughts: I loved this Christmas tale. My heart when out to all the characters who made me smile and laugh, but who also tugged at my heartstrings. I would love tales about the other two brothers.

Cover Thoughts: I Love this cover. I love the blend of Christmas with landscapes - simply beautiful.

Source: My library

Challenge:

Mysterious Saturday Review: Mischief of Mistletoe

Jane Austen's friend Arabella Dempsey's life took a turn for the worse. She's spent the last several years as a companion for her Aunt. Recently, her aunt married a man Arabella thought would ask for her hand. Now, in order to save her pride and gain some sort of freedom, she's taking a teaching position at Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies in Bath.

After her interview for the position, she runs into a gentleman. As she falls to the ground, his Christmas pudding falls with him. As she leans over to pick up the pudding, she notices writing disguised within the pudding.

Together Arabella and Turnip reveal the message - stating a location and meeting time at an outdoor party. They immediately suspect French spies surrounding England. Arabella agrees to accompany the blundering gentleman to sniff out the potential spy.

Will the uncover the spies and their plans or will danger find them?

My Thoughts: This book takes places after The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and before The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. I love this series for its blend of Regency Romances with spies! Plus, this edition to the series holds a favorite historical person: Jane Austen! As the adventure unfolds, the characters make way for a Yuletide house party - which the readers have witnessed from a very different perspective which I quite enjoyed. This installment of the series stayed in the Regency era and did not mention the modern day characters. Plus, Turnip's blunders, while funny, often work in his favor.

Cover Thoughts: I really like it. I love the mistletoe around the cover and the title wrapped up like a present.

Source: My Library

Challenge:

Adult Review: Holiday Affair

Karina's determines to make this Christmas magical for herself and most importantly her three children. It's the first holiday season since the divorce. She's so worried about them.

When the opportunity arises for a free vacation at The Christmas House B&B, she jumps at the chance. Sure, she'll have to evaluate the B&B for her sister, but it will be worth the quaint holiday experience.

She and the kids head from sunny California to cold snowy Michigan where they meet Reid and his daughters. Together they share a Christmas they'll never forget.

My Thoughts: A cute holiday romance read. It dove a little too fast into the romance for me. I loved the sabotage parts and how they solved all the issues that popped up. I loved how the kids interacted with each other and Karina and Reid.

Cover Thoughts: Cute cover, but it doesn't match the book. I wish it had a picture of the B&B on it. I know there are tons of books with houses on the cover, but I just feel like this doesn't match at ALL.

Source: my Library

Challenge:

Adult Review: Mrs. Miracle

Both Seth and Reba can't stand the Christmas holidays due to tragedies in both their lives.

Seth's wife died leaving behind twin boys. For the past several years, the boys have been living with their grandparents. Now, the boys have come home. Seth isn't sure how to go about raising them. His job requires tons of hours, which leaves the boys with a housekeeper. All of the housekeepers have quit. It's beginning to look hopeless until Mrs. Miracle shows up on his doorstep.

Betrayed by love, Reba isn't sure how to go about handling the Christmas season. She refuses to talk with her sister or even be in the same room with her. This makes dinner at her parent's house hard to plan. All she knows is that she can't forgive her sister.

Can Seth and Reba learn to trust in the magic of Christmas once again?

My Thoughts: I love Christmas books and I'm a huge Debbie Macomber fan so this was a perfect read. It's actually the first book - the second book Call Me Mrs. Miracle came out this year. I read that book without knowing about the first. Even though I'm very particular about the order in which I read books, in this case, it didn't matter. Both books are sweet, light-hearted and full of the wonder of Christmas. I enjoyed how both adults look a hard look at their lives to see what might be missing.

Cover Thoughts: This is a new cover - a bit different than the one I read, but it's lovely. I'm a sucker for Christmas covers

Source: Inter-Library Loan

Read for:

Holiday Reading Challenge

I'm SUCH a sucker for tales of Christmas, so I was super excited to see this challenge up at
All About {n} (a new favorite blog).

Here's the list of books I'll be choosing from - though I'm not sure yet which ones I'll be picking as they all look so good.