Disclaimer: The reviews I post on The Self Rescue Princess won’t be the usual style of book review that talks about all the points and elements of a novel. My intention is to focus on heroines that I believe exemplify the spirit and character of a self-rescuing princess or are on their way to achieving that status.
During this month, the reviews I post on The Self-Rescue Princess will have a different focus as my reading habits change. From Thanksgiving until the New Year, I only read novels set during the holiday season or have a seasonal theme. The Holiday Edition reviews will focus on the holiday spirit in the stories, and I plan to review more than one book in each post. I decided to go with more than one because I find I read more at this time and I want to share as many holiday short stories, novellas and books that I can during this time frame.
The holiday season is winding to a close. I’ve been able to find time for reading, but not so much for reviewing. A good and bad thing. It means I’ve been enjoying choices so much I wanted to jump into the next one rather than pausing to write a mini-review. The bad news is trying to catch up and finding the notes I made. I have a habit of putting things in ‘safe places for later’ and totally forgetting the location of the safe place.
Now on to my reviews:
Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs. A couple of my favorite holiday (and general) book elements were in this story; Christmas time setting, a librarian as the heroine, and a love of Christmas by one character and the other who dislikes it. I love these types of holiday stories where the hero and heroine are at opposite ends of the spectrum and land up coming together in the end. I loved the fact that the hero had been a child star made famous by a holiday movie and how that factored into his dislike of the holiday. At times, I kept debating which movie the author had in mind when writing the story. This is a contemporary love story and has a part that is a little steamy (very tastefully done). Lakeshore Christmas was one of those stories that had me totally immersed in the setting and the town. I’d lose track of time and didn’t want to put the book down. I wish I could visit Lakeshore next holiday season. There was one element of the story I found myself a little disappointed in as there was no ‘announcement’ from the characters about something they discovered or suspected, but as I thought about it was the perfect ending. I checked this book out from the library but will probably go buy a copy as I know I’ll want to read this again.
Next is Decorating for Christmas by Kasey Rogers. It does seem a little strange to read this in the middle of the holiday season, but I had a decorating plan for our house this year. I’ll admit this year’s decoarting was pretty similar to last year’s except for the addition of my ‘Finding Nemo’ tree. I thought I give this a read to prepare for the after Christmas sales and see what I’d need to pick up for next year. I do love and enjoy decorating for the Christmas holiday season. I liked how the author used themes and gave you ideas on how to incorporate it throughout your house. While I like using themes in certain locations, I can’t see myself doing my whole house in one theme. For one, I’d have to buy a lot more stuff (and we have plenty on hand already) and even though I loved some projects and they’d work in a room of ours, the thought of using tools to build holiday decor kind of scares me. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to give it a try.
The last book I’ll be talking about in this post is Christmas with Hope by Anne Patrick. Anne Patrick is one of my favorite suspense authors and I was thrilled to pick up this free read from Desert Breeze Publishing. Christmas with Hope had one of the most unusual Christmas settings I’ve read. It takes places in Iraq and the heroine and hero are soldiers serving in the war. It’s a bit of an intense story at times because of the setting and the realness the author gives us with details, but I enjoyed seeing a romance bloom in an environment with danger lurking around the corner. I was glad I stepped outside of my ‘holiday reading comfort zone’ as I enjoyed ‘seeing’ how Christmas would likely be for those serving our country in a war environment.
The Self-Rescue Princess 
Or imagine tall cylinders filled with coloured water to match the party colour palette, and small floating candles flickering in each.
Paint your walls a different color to give the room a whole new look.
For a striking tablescape, use a tablecloth in darker hues like red or navy
blue.