Christmas Book Reviews: 3 Sweet Holiday Reads
Christmas book reviews seem to be a theme this season on The Candid Cover! Some of them have been a lot of fun and interesting to read. It has definitely been a nice change of pace leading up to the holiday season. This post contains some short and sweet Christmas book reviews for The Best Girl, The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman, and Sock it to Me Santa.
Review: The Best Girl
Title: The Best Girl
Author: Emma Harrison
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: November 27, 2007 
You Are Cordially Invited . . .
to your brother's wedding where he will marry rich, famous Marni Shay, at the River Lodge, the most elite resort in Colorado, the state you chose to go to college in so you could escape your family, except they'll all be there. Enjoy ten fun-filled days of avoiding your mother, who still thinks you're not girly enough; planning your brother's bachelor party, because you are his best man, er, girl; and, oh yeah, trying not to drool all over Hot Connor, who happens to be in your English seminar and work at the River Lodge. Put your best foot forward, and . . .
Don't miss the most joyous celebration of the year!
Yeah, right.
This is a fun read about a girl who becomes the “best girl” in her brother’s winter wedding. However, she finds herself falling in love with a boy who works at the location of the wedding and is determined to impress him. I enjoyed reading about all the wedding prep and the strong bond between the main character and her brother. Despite all this, I was very frustrated with the main character. She feels as though she has to change herself to be likeable, and the whole relationship between her and Connor is based on lies. The story is still interesting, though, and I didn’t hate it.
Review: The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer
Title: The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman
Author: Louise Plummer
Publisher: Laurel Leaf Library
Publication Date: October 6, 1997 
Hi, I'm Kate Bjorkman. What do you do if you've lived a real romance with a great guy and he loves you as much as you love him? Simple, I wrote a romance novel with help from THE ROMANCE WRITER'S PHRASE BOOK. Nothing is made up. I want truth and conflict even in romance. I'm betting you'll want the same.
The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman is a cute and festive romance, and I found it so interesting how the book is written as though the main character is writing it. It tells the story of a girl who falls in love with her brother’s best friend, and it is still relatable despite being written in the 90s. I personally thought the book went a bit overboard as Kate tries to describe events happening in her life just as a cringey romance author would. The first few lines were funny, but once every paragraph is filled with bad descriptions and cheesy metaphors, the story becomes a cringey romance itself. I just wish there was a bit more to the plot than the main character writing her book.
Book Review: sock it to me santa
Title: Sock it to Me Santa
Author: Madison Parker
Publisher: Smashwords
Publication Date: November 12, 2012 
Ryan is assigned to Jamie Peterson for his class's secret gift exchange. If word gets out that he has to make a handcrafted gift for flamboyant and openly gay Jamie, Ryan will be the laughing stock of the school. It's a good thing no self-respecting boy would be caught dead in a craft store, because otherwise he'd be at risk of being spotted when his mom drags him to her weekly craft workshops. He hopes Jamie will appreciate all the trouble he's going to for this assignment. Finding the perfect gift is gonna be tricky. Jamie deserves something good, though, after all the crap he has to put up with at school. At least, Ryan tells himself that's the reason he's putting so much thought into the gift. It couldn't be that he has feelings for Jamie, could it?
This novella is short and sweet as it tells the story of a Secret Santa exchange. Ryan, who is in the closet, must make a gift for Jamie, who is openly gay and harassed for it. I enjoyed the theme of family, and the interactions Ryan has with his mom are adorable. However, as it is a novella, the plot felt very rushed, and I wasn’t able to get to know the characters as much as I would have wished. As well, there are so many homophobic remarks/actions in the book. I understand that the point is to educate others and show that this is wrong, but I don’t feel like the book pulls this off very well. It just didn’t feel like a very Christmassy read to me.
Glad you found some mostly fun Christmasy reads in spite of the issues they had. And hope you have a great merry Christmas!!
Greg recently posted…Travelers 03×04 Perrow
Thank you so much, Greg! 🙂
They all sound like fun . I don’t expect much in cute holiday reads. If I can have fun and like the characters I’m happy. I have a huge pile yet to read. Probably get them finished by this summer. LOL
Laura Thomas recently posted…Merry Christmas!
Exactly! I try to enjoy these kinds of books for what they are as well. 😉
Thanks for sharing – I haven’t seen any of these. Sorry Sock It To Me wasn’t that Christmas-esque for you. I still have some Christmas themed books I hope to read…I’m giving myself all Winter. LOL
-Lauren
ShootingStarsMag recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Hope I Find Under My Christmas Tree This Morning
I have so many that I would like to get to as well. I hope that you enjoy the ones that you have planned to read some day! 🙂
Great reviews! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I don’t read holiday romances much but these all sounds pretty fun!
Raven @ Dreamy Addictions recently posted…The City Of Brass By (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty [Review]
I have been on a little kick this holiday! 😉
These all sound great! I’ll have to put them on my list for next season. 🙂
These all sound super cute, and I just needed a reminder of Christmas…. New Years has been a little rough so far, and Christmas was fantastic
I want to find some cute, short reads for my daughter for Christmas. Enjoying catching up on your posts about YA Christmas books!