During the holiday season, 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, books, and movies that I can during this time frame.
Editing a book and having two trips in November and one two-week trip in December has me a little behind in my holiday reading. The reason I’m behind has more to do with one of the trips (Disney!) “required” a lot of crafting time as I personalized shirts for my family for the trip. Eight shirts for four days took a lot of time. But, the pictures for my scrapbook will be awesome. Well, anyway…time to focus on the purpose for this post–holiday reviews.
The first review for the year is Blue Christmas: A Snow Valley Romance by Lucy McConnell.
The Christmas season is Paisley Hackett’s busy time of the year. She is in charge of Snow Valley’s Hospital fundraising drives and a lot of the activities that bring in money are held over the holiday season. Paisley throws every ounce of herself into her job, but still makes sure she finds time to participate in holiday outings with her brother, his wife, and two children. When she spots an attractive guy at the tree lighting ceremony, she is surprised to discover it is someone she knew in high school. Grown-up Clay Jett is much different than his teenage self and Paisley is intrigued by the changes.
Clay Jett arrived back in town to redirect his life, trying to find a balance between being a sought after producer and having a life that was more than music. He remembers Paisley and while she tries to ignore the sparks between them, Clay wants to see if they can be fanned.
I enjoyed this sweet romance set during Christmas time. I loved that the couple were getting to know each better during Christmas events around the town. There were times I thought Clay was a little too heavy-handed in trying to immerse himself back into the town that he had left–and in doing so tried to take over some elements of Paisley job. Paisley wasn’t a pushed over and refused to allow anyone, even the guy she was interested in, walk over her. Go Paisley!
The next book is The Christmas Wedding by KL Ramsey. This is a steamy romance that ends around Christmas Day.
Lorna Sanders has spent a lot of time helping others, including stepping up to raise her niece after the girl’s parents died. Lorna has been content in her life though sometimes her heart still yearns for romance, love, and her own children. When Jonathan Sawyer enters her world, she is intrigued by the man and while she fantasies about time with him, knows it won’t work because of an age difference and a voice in her head saying she’s too old for her dreams to come true.
I enjoyed getting to know Lorna and Sawyer. Sawyer (Jonathan) wasn’t a man who gave up though Lorna wanted him to, but I was glad that he wasn’t too pushy. Sometimes heroes can be a little too forceful in pursuing the heroine and I was happy to see that wasn’t the case here. The couples romance progressed through the months and wrapped it around the Christmas season. It was a fast paced read so if you’re short on time this holiday season, this the book is perfect to indulge in some reading. It’s not overly Christmas (for those that don’t like too strong of a Christmas theme) but has enough of the spirit and setting for those, like me, who want those aspects in a story.
The Christmas Chronicles, a Netflix original movie. I love Christmas movies and was excited when I saw the trailer for a new one coming out this year. And I’ll admit I was intrigued about watching Kurt Russell play Santa Clause (and I’ll admit I loved his Santa Clause). Teddy and Kate are trying to get through the first Christmas without their dad. Teddy is sullen and seems to want the holiday just over, while Kate is trying to find the magic again. While watching old family movies of past Christmases, Kate sees Santa’s hand and blackmails her brother into helping her catch Santa in the act. Things don’t go quite as planned and Kate and Teddy end up “helping” Santa complete his mission of delivering all the gifts on Christmas Eve.
I loved this movie and it will be on my “watch to start the season” list. Usually, I don’t like holiday movies that are about a parent dying. But while the event explains the reason for the children’s behavior, especially the son, the movie doesn’t center around it. I loved the holiday spirit of the movie and the message. And Santa’s new look was awesome and how it was addressed. The humor was a great mix of sarcastic, heart warming, and laugh out loud…occasionally leaning toward cheesy camp–but that is what I love most about holiday movies…the fun. The ending (especially the very end) was perfect. I hope A Christmas Chronicles II is the new works!
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