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.
A Wish for Christmas by Michele Brouder.
In a Wish for Christmas, we meet India Ramone, a single mother who also helps her grandfather take care of her younger brother (early teens). India is juggling work, caring for family, and trying to come up extra cash for Christmas. The last few years has been tough on the whole family and she wishes to make things a little brighter for those she loves. India takes a job as a temporary personal assistant to a billionaire…a difficult and demanding man who rather Christmas just goes away.
John Laurencelli does everything he can to avoid Christmas, including ignoring his sister and nephews. No one seems to understand that the holidays that are a merry time for everyone else just brings painful memories back to him. But, his new assistant has a way of making him see the holiday as less about him and more about others.
This story is a sweet love story that takes place around the holiday season and I love how India opens up John’s eyes by just being herself, even extending forgiveness when others might not have done so. While reading the story, I couldn’t help but smile as I got caught up in the couple’s growing relationship and in the Christmas spirit. The book brought to mind a Hallmark Christmas movie (which I love).
Four Days of Christmas by Emma St. Clair.
This is a clean (no sex scenes) romance story that takes place around Christmas time. To earn some extra money for law school, Natalie takes a job as an elf at the booth where children get their photo taken with Santa. Natalie isn’t thrilled with her elf costume but is intrigued by the kindhearted Santa. I don’t want to give too much away (especially about the subplot) so won’t mention the other guy in the story. I do wish there had been more about the developing relationship and less story devoted to the subplot, to me it took away from the sweet, Christmas feel of the story. There were some funny moments, sweet and tender moments, which all added up to a nice read.
The Man Who Invented Christmas.
When the movie came out last year, it didn’t play in the theater near us so I’ve been waiting for it to come out on DVD (on Amazon Prime video which is how I saw it). I love the Christmas Carol, have read it a few times and have watched–and own–several different versions of the movie. (My favorites are the ones with Patrick Steward and Scrooged).
Saturday, my husband and I sat down and watched it. Being a writer, I loved seeing how the characters came to exist and watching them follow Charles Dickens around while he wrote the story. I laughed during the scene where he was coming up with Scrooge’s name, I could relate as I can’t get a character to come alive if they don’t have the right name, sometimes even changing during the midway point of writing the book and then having to use the find and replace function.
It was interesting to see how he come up the story, and how some of the lines were inspired by people. I have to say I was a little surprised to learn the people who inspired the character of Scrooge (or at least what I took away from the movie). I don’t want to give it away for those who haven’t watched so I won’t mention any names.
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