The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas Humbug Amanda Radley, 2021 New Release! A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley for the purpose of review.  Premise: Ellie is in the wrong job, but she figures she can just keep her head down. But when her love of Christmas decorations gets her promoted and tasked with saving the company Christmas party, she'll have to rise to the occasion, despite a debilitating fear of heights and a growing crush on her Christmas-hating new boss.  Oh, this was lovely. It might be one of my favorite Christmas romances I've ever read, in fact.  Ellie's obsession with Christmas is important to the plot, but her heartfelt reasons for it don't step over the line into too schmaltzy. Rosalind's dislike of the holidays is grounded, not extreme or petty, so their eventual compromises seem reasonable. The romance builds steadily and sweetly. They both respect each other's competence, which I love, and work around each other's particular ne...

The Mice Before Christmas Anne L. Watson, Wendy Edelson, 2021 New Release! A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley for the purpose of review.  Summary of my review: Awwwwwww! This cute little book posits that those mice who weren't stirring the night before Christmas must have had an awfully busy day. Playful verse and charming illustrations follow a sprawling mouse clan coming together for a massive party. It's a bit reminiscent of the opening of The Nutcracker and dozens of other stories that feature a party in a grand family house.  The writing is sweet, but the art is the real star here. Big illustrations full of tiny details, down to the patterned fabric of tiny mouse frock coats.  In case it isn't already clear, this leans heavily into a prosperous European image of Christmas in which a holiday party features hundreds of participants, multiple courses for dinner, plus live music and dancing. I think the art is adorable, but I wanted to point that out. Many sto...

Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas A Christmas to Fight For Jessica Frances, 2021 New Release! A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley for the purpose of review. I was amused enough by the premise of this book to request a copy for review: a romance between a krampus and a Santa Claus (both appear to be magical races in this world).  And on reading it, I was amused by the book and overall enjoyed it, but I need to address a couple problems.  First, the author advertises the fact that the book was professionally edited, but the book needs another edit. Or better editors. The copy I read had enough typos and mistakes in the beginning that I almost stopped reading (and likely would have were I not planning to review it for this site). Missing words, incorrect verb tenses, and awkward phrases all abound early on. The errors drop off at some point, although they did appear occasionally all the way to the end. I did get this from Netgalley - maybe this copy wasn't final? Ho...

Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas In a Holidaze Christina Lauren, 2020 I saw this listed in a few places as THE holiday romance novel of 2020, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. And ... it was pretty good. Easily as good as a surprisingly high quality made-for-tv movie, maybe a bit better.  The premise is classic: Maelyn Jones is trapped in a holiday time loop until she can fix her life. But the execution is not only charming, it's surprisingly thoughtful. For her entire life, Maelyn and her parents have been getting together for the holidays with a chosen family consisting of her parents' closest friends from college and their assorted partners and kids. Since she was a teenager, she's had a crush on Andrew, one of said kids. Unfortunately, when the book opens, she's just had an unsatisfying drunken makeout session with Andrew's brother Theo. (Maelyn and Theo/Andrew aren't related at all, but I was very confused at the beginning until I figure...

Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas A Boy Called Christmas Matt Haig, 2015 I knew the movie based on this book was coming out this year, so I decided to give it a read first. I'm writing this review before we see the film, or even watch a trailer. Hopefully, the adaptation will decide on a tone. I need to preface this review by admitting that I have never been a fan of Roald Dahl. This book often dips into a very similar style, so if that kind of violence-for-laughs from absurdly cruel or nonsensical characters is something you enjoy, you might enjoy this book, as so many apparently have.  I enjoyed parts of this book, but the tone kept swinging between absurdist children's book, outright farce, mythic/fairytale, and actually serious adventure. Every time I started to really get interested, the story took another weird turn. It's a story about a boy who "believes in magic" and grows up to be Santa, but it's vague and inconsistent in its historical setting. A...

Whiteout (Seasons of Love, Book 1) Elyse Springer, 2017 Premise: Noah wakes up in a cabin decorated for Christmas, snowbound with a man who says he's Noah's boyfriend. But he can't remember what's true, and something feels very wrong.  First I need to say that I read this book because I was hoping to feature it for Mainlining Christmas , but I think it ended up not quite being Christmassy enough, and that itself was disappointing to me.  My larger problem with this book is that it falls neatly into two halves: one is an intriguing and fascinating mystery, the other is a somewhat bland romance. Is it a coincidence that the book goes rapidly downhill after Christmas? Maybe.  The first half of the book is unique for a romance. Noah had an accident and has temporary amnesia. On the surface, Jason does all the right things for a loving partner to do, but something's off. Noah doesn't know whether it's something Jason's currently hiding or something else hidin...

Iron Widow Xiran Jay Zhao, 2021 Premise: When Wu Zetian finally allows her family to sell her into servitude and certain death, they don't know about her plan. All she wants is vengeance for her sister, but how far will she eventually go? Wow. Big, big wow. I've been following this author on YouTube for months for her funny and insightful takes on Asian representation in media, so I reserved her book at the library when I heard about it. I was unsure during the first prologue chapter - by that time I'd heard only that the book had done very well. Then I hit Zetian's narration in chapter one and there was no turning back. This book is a rocketship: holding on is terrifying, but letting go is impossible. It somehow fulfills the marketing promise of being a blend of Pacific Rim, The Handmaid's Tale, and Chinese history and mythology while being an incredibly compelling read. Like, an if-I-wasn't-a-parent-with-a-full-time-job-I-would-have-stayed-up-all-night kind of...