Tag: Christmas

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#BookReview: The Death Claus by Dzintra Sullivan

When Death Inadvertently Takes Santa. This is one of those short, quick read (sub 100 page!) laugh out loud / high WTF per minute type comedies that is perfect for end of year reading when you want something completely different and offbeat, but also something that isn’t so heavy or dense. Based on a sort of Meet Joe Black meets The Santa Claus (the Tim Allen movies of old) mashup, Sullivan does a great job of telling a compact yet fun story perfect for those (like me) who may not be familiar with her work going into this text. And for those fans of Kent Holloway’s Silas Mott… it seems Ms. Sullivan may be continuing with her version of this type of character, so absolutely check these books out too.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Death Claus by Dzintra Sullivan was originally written on December 31, 2024.

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#BookReview: A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans

Heart Filled Novella Packs A Compelling Story In Short Form. This is one of those novellas that by the time you’re finished, you’re going to *think* there *had* to be at least twice as many pages given just how much story Evans manages to pack in here. And yet because it *is* barely 100 pages, its *actual* brevity makes it a great holiday read while you’re waiting for things to cook or you’re waiting the 5 minutes of commercials between every possession in a football game or you’re needing five minutes of peace from the chaos of so many family and friends around or… you get the idea. Quick books make great books to read in limited time slices, and this is absolutely that type of tale. Also great for those looking to add a quick easy read (with a lot of heart) to help with those annual reading goals.

Oh, and Evans shows a love of pizza here I honestly didn’t know she had. This entire novella is almost as much a love story for the hole in the wall pizzeria our couple winds up working together at as it is a romance between the couple themselves. Both play off each other well in all the best ways, and along the way everyone from foodies to Hallmarkie types will be quite pleased with the results.

Very much recommended.

This review of A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans was originally written on December 4, 2024.

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#BookReview: We Three Kings by Kristen Bailey

If Charles Dickens Wrote A Hallmarkie Christmas RomCom. Seriously, this is one of those Christmas Hallmarkie type tales that in its basic set up brings to mind almost a modern version of A Christmas Carol… but as a romcom rather than a “glimpse” based drama. Here, Bailey works her usual comedic genius in the various situations Maggie finds herself in, even if the ultimate outcome (not just the romantic one, but the specific plot one) was rather obvious almost from the moment the “problem” is introduced in the tale. But there again: Hallmarkie. As in, such obvious outcomes are damn near a reason to read the book to begin with – there won’t be much unexpected here, and what does show up unexpectedly will be used for either comedy or light drama that won’t really go much of anywhere other than to add a few dozen more pages to the tale.

I will note that as someone in tech who actually experienced an unexpected “reduction” earlier this year, this one hit a touch harder than many for me personally – and given the blood bath that tech has been experiencing these last few years, this will likely be the case for many readers. One of the better things here though is that Bailey captures our world so well that one begins to suspect she may have been one of us before beginning her writing career.

Ultimately a feel good Christmas romcom, this is going to be exactly what some people want… and exactly what at least a few others want to avoid. Know thyself and which camp you’re in and read (or not) accordingly. 😀

Very much recommended.

This review of We Three Kings by Kristen Bailey was originally written on November 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: The (Not So) Perfect Second Chance by Maggie Dallen

Short. Quick. Hallmarkie. Perfect For Holiday Season Or Any Time You Need A Quick Break From Reality. Let’s face it, particularly barely two weeks out from polls beginning to close in the 2024 Presidential Election, we could *all* use a break from reality… but we don’t all have hours to spend in some 300+ page book, much less a 700+ page fantasy tome. Enter this short story originally written as part of an anthology, but now available independently. I read it in I want to say 2.5 hrs or so, it really is that quick. And can be mostly read in shorter chunks still, if that is all the time you have. It works *best* as a finale to the Falling In Friar Hollow series, as it was written as, but in all honesty, if you don’t mind knowing that the couples featured in a *romance book* wound up together… this could also work as an introduction of sorts to the series. Similarly, if you’ve never read Dallen and/ or her contemporary books, this is a solid introduction to her general style for that type of tale. Very much recommended.

This review of The (Not So) Perfect Second Chance by Maggie Dallen was originally written on October 22, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy

Solid Hallmarkie Christmas Romance That “Officially” Has The Weirdest Personal Story Ever For Me. This is one of those damn near prototypical Hallmark Christmas movie type romances, and that alone will tell most people whether they’re going to like this or not. Obviously, with how much success Hallmark has with these types of movies every year (and with so many of the romance authors I’ve worked with over the years now getting chances to write some of these actual movies), there is quite a considerable market for exactly this type of story, so kudos to Cassidy (and the actual person behind her) for branching out into this realm. Here, Cassidy even manages to introduce a few wrinkles not *always* seen… but this also ties into the personal story I have to tell.

For those who don’t care about my very weird personal history with this book, what I said above is everything you need to know. It was really good for its type and had some interesting wrinkles, and is absolutely worthy of your time if you like these types of tales. Very much recommended.

Now, for the weird personal tale:

As I was reading this book in the week before release in October 2024, I *absolutely knew* I had read this tale before. To the level that it was an exact duplicate of the tale I knew I had already read, which I recognized 100% from one particular scene, among others. As I’ve known the actual person behind the Cassidy pseudonym online for many years now and have read and reviewed many of her books under her real name, I knew such blatant plagiarism simply *was not* possible. Not the author I’ve known for so long. And yet… I *knew* I had read this story weeks earlier, back when I last reviewed this author’s 2024 release under her real name.

And yet… I had *ZERO* record that I had already read this book. Which is statistically damn near as close to zero as you can get, as I have *extensive* record keeping about literally every book I read in *numerous* different places.

I have an Excel file where I have three different sheets containing different data about every book, and I mark each sheet as I complete a given book. I download the cover to my phone and then create two separate images – one with my Hardcover.app profile on the side and one without – with my rating of the book on both. I then post the one without in a Facebook group on my personal profile where we keep track of all the books the group reads. I then Facebook Messenger my reader profile both images. I then save both images in a particular folder on my computer. Then I begin to actually write the review in Hardcover.app. I then copy the text of the review into Goodreads, BookHype.com, BookBub.com (if the book is there), TheStoryGraph.com, NetGalley.com (if the book came from there, as both the earlier book under this author’s real name and this book did), my blog, and at least two separate Facebook reader groups, and I’m trying to get better about making it at least three. (My own group there, Reader Garage, as well as at least Readers Coffeehouse and I’m trying to get better about My Book Friends). I then finish out my review on my blog with imagery and some links, then post the links from my blog to the Hardcover.app review and to the NetGalley review. I then copy all of the other review site review links into the NetGalley review and submit that. Finally, I place the link to my blog review in my LinkTree and get the Hardcover version of the cover image out on my Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook Blog Page. I then share the Facebook Blog Page post publicly on my reader profile there.

So there are a LOT of places that *some* record of me reading this book back then *should* have existed in some form. 25 by my count, 26 counting the My Book Friends group.

And YET, I found record that I had read this book in just *ONE* of them – It had been removed from the Excel tab where I remove books as I complete them. Even this isn’t conclusive, however, as I’ve been known to make mistakes and cut the wrong book from time to time over the years.

But y’all, I *KNOW* I read this book, and I even remember having the plan back in July, when I read the other book under this author’s real name, that I would read this book immediately after – along with then doing the same thing with another author who had two books releasing around the same time as both of this author’s books. (IIRC, the other author’s first book released a week or so after “Cassidy”‘s first book, and the other author’s October book released last week, a week before this book.)

So what I *suspect* and *believe* happened – yet have almost exactly zero evidence of – is that I did in fact read this book back then. It is the only thing that makes sense with everything that I know to be true about everything surrounding this very weird experience. I then noticed that I simply had too many books releasing in August to follow through with my plans for working the other author in a similar manner, and clearly I somehow forgot to go through my review process for this book back then. I honestly have no idea what caused such a lapse, but such a lapse happening is the *only* thing that actually makes sense with everything else I know.

So there you have it. Even the “machines” of the book review space, as some authors have called me over the years, have our breaking points. It seems that August 2024 – whose books I did not fully clear until September 30, with my review of James Rollins’ Arkangel – may have been too close to my own for comfort. But at least I’m on the back side of that, and some new opportunities are arising as I begin to slow down the ARC work that has kept me so busy for so many years now.

Hopefully y’all will continue to follow me on these new adventures… and hopefully you’ll continue to follow Ms. Cassidy under both this identity and her real one. 🙂

This review of The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy was originally written on October 22, 2024.

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#BlogTour: One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Hallmarkie “Messy Family Comes Together” Type. This is a Susan Mallery book, and it is Christmas book from Susan Mallery – so you know you’re going to get a lot of drama, but in a very Hallmarkie manner where the drama never gets *too* intense and everything wraps up with a nice dose of Christmas magic by the end. Considering the popularity of both Mallery and Hallmark Christmas movies, this isn’t exactly a losing strategy… if a bit “been there, done that”.

Where Mallery manages to spin things with this particular one are, well, the particulars – and there are a lot of things here that aren’t exactly typical. Irritable Bowel Syndrome shown in all of its complexities in a book? Happens some, not exactly overly common in my experience. Female tow truck company owner? I actually am related to one – a cousin – but she’s literally the only one I had ever heard of before reading this book. Age gap romance where the *woman* is the older *and* is on the back side of “middle age” to boot? Done, somewhat, but rarely in this particular combination/ age range. On and on it goes.

Oh, and for anyone who says that this gets way too far out there with just how “together” everything gets… if you’ve read a few of my other reviews over the years, you know about my own family history – same side as the cousin above, actually. You see, both sets of my grandparents were divorced long before I was ever alive. But my mom’s parents in particular? My grandmother remarried, also before I could ever remember anything. My step grandfather was my “second grandfather” (the other died 5 weeks after my birth). And yet there was more than one instance of my grandmother and step-grandfather living on my grandfather’s land over the years, including at least one stint in his house with him. So my sense of “weird family relationships” may be a bit skewed, having seen this type of thing – along with several of the exact scenarios Mallery includes in this book – in my own (extended) family over the years.

Ultimately a solid book of its type, and one for anyone looking for a good Christmas family drama to check out.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery”

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#BookReview: The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan

Forced (Yet Needed) Christmas Break. Another year, another Sarah Morgan Christmas tale. And yet again, if you like Hallmark Christmas movies – and so very many people very clearly do – you’re going to like this one. Perhaps more drama than many of those movies here, Imogen is truly broken – and with good reason, when we get her full backstory. She’s coping – she thinks – but even then, she *barely* has her ducks in a row. They’re more like cats than ducks, and they *really* don’t like walking in rows. Of course, much of this – she admits – she brought on herself.

Let’s face it, this is 2024, and it almost doesn’t matter your generation, from Boomer all the way down to Zoomer, far too many of us can identify *all too well* with Imogen.

But really, it is the *rest* of the tale – where Imogen is forced into exile and ultimately comes face to face with her past and all of its traumas that created the version of herself she now knows – that is where the true heart of this story is, the true magic – yes, with a bit of Christmas “magic” thrown in to boot. It is this part of the tale that gives it both its gravitas and its wonder, even as it also makes its characters ever more *real*.

Christmas has few Santas, but also few Scrooges. Few Grinches. Just a lot of Whos living their who-lives in their little who-world, doing the best they can.

And here, Morgan hits that particular message out of the ballpark. Kudos to Morgan, and, since I’m writing this review on the day my beloved Atlanta Braves begin their extremely unlikely 7th straight Major League Baseball postseason run, let me just toss in a “Go Braves” and a #ChopOn as well – even though it has *nothing* to do with the book at all. 😀 May they get a bit of the magic of this book and make a *truly* unexpected season.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan was originally written on October 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelley

If Bobby Flay and Candace Cameron Bure Had A Baby. Particularly a “baby” in the business sense (aka, a company 😉 ), this is probably what it would look like. Fans of both the Hallmark Channel and the Food Network are going to love this, as the plot itself *is* very stereotypically Hallmarkie (and, given that their Christmas movies in particular seem to be looked forward to all year by *millions*… perhaps this isn’t a bad thing) and yet the level of detail Kelley goes into when describing the food… well, I daresay Gordon Ramsey himself would have a challenge trying to make words on paper sound so utterly delectable.

Now, if this isn’t your scene… eh, maybe you like the women’s fiction and/ or romance elements here and don’t care so much about the foodie side or the Hallmarkie side. In which case, you’re still going to enjoy this book. But if you’re looking for Michael Bay action where there are explosions just because the “camera” turned… yeah, this isn’t that. If you’re looking for a Jeremy Robinson style balls to the wall scifi action… yeah, this isn’t that either. But for what it *is*, it is done quite well – well enough that if Kelley can get this into enough hands, she’s going to have quite the success on her hands.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelley was originally written on October 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: A Paper Snowflake Christmas by Maddie Evans

Solid Short Hallmarkie Christmas Read. Let’s face it, as we all go into Christmas weekend, every single one of us *knows* we are *going* to need a break from the extended family at some point for at least an hour or two, right? Well, at just about 130 or so pages… this is the perfect book to snatch up this Christmas and read over that very hour or two break you’re going to need anyway. It’s got all the family drama and Christmas magic – and Christmas hijinks – one would expect in such a tale, all wrapped up in such a short story that it really, truly is that perfect little breather from the real world and the real family drama. And bonus, new fans of Evans will get a solid introduction to her overall style…. in which case she has several more books ready for you to grab up with those gift cards so many will be getting. 😉 But seriously, this is jus another excellent tale from a truly strong storyteller. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Very much recommended.

This review of A Paper Snowflake Christmas by Maddie Evans was originally written on December 18, 2023.

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#BlogTour: Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey

For this blog tour, we’re looking at one of the funniest Christmas romcoms I’ve ever encountered. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey.

Here’s what I had to say about it on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph.com, BookHype.com, Goodreads):

Solidly Silly Yet Hallmarkie Christmas RomCom. The opening of this tale is actually somewhat reminiscent of the opening of Luke Young’s Seriously Messed Up – another great romcom from several years ago now – though reversed (there it was the male main character, here it is the female main character). Which admittedly set the bar quite high for me, as that particular book is one I routinely list as among the funniest I’ve ever read.

But y’all…. Bailey delivers here. Seriously, this is comedy gold in some of the best possible ways, while still having enough serious aspects to ground the tale and give it at least a touch of gravitas. All centered around Christmas and in particular a very specific Christmas carol, but with a unique spin on it I’d never encountered before.

If you need some laughs this holiday season, for any reason, and you don’t mind staring maybe uncomfortably long at a naked dude going full frontal in the opening scene… you’re probably going to like this one. Even if you *don’t* like staring at naked dudes uncomfortably long… you’ll probably still like this one… once the opening scene moves on from that particular moment. 🙂 Told with a great amount of comedy but also enough heart to make Captain Planet proud, this really is one of those feel good Christmas tales with lots of holiday cheer and maybe a few holiday tears. Very much recommended.

Continue reading “#BlogTour: Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey”