On the twelfth day of Christmas, it's appropriate that I review Debbie Macomber's Twelve Days of Christmas (#1,290). I must say, it was a bit of a letdown for me. I normally enjoy her writing enormously, especially her holiday books, but this one didn't quite do it for me.
Julia is caught up in her job and volunteer activities as Christmas approaches in Seattle. But she is seriously annoyed by Cain, the rude and grumpy neighbor across the hall. The day he steals her newspaper in the lobby right in front of her is the last straw. Her best friend suggests that "killing him with kindness" could be her best revenge. If she blogs about it, it could help her achieve her ambition of landing a job in social media. The Twelve Days of Christmas blog becomes an overnight sensation, of course. Her kindness campaign is also working, though...
I guess my main problem with this book is the character of Cain. He is so aloof and unpleasant that I could not buy the speed at which Julia won him over, or that she fell so hard for someone who so obviously wants to be alone. Just something about his chauvinistic character never appealed to me in the least. And if you can't root for the protagonists, who are you going to root for?
The book includes the first few pages of the next holiday book by Ms. Macomber, Dashing Through the Snow, and reading those few pages of a book I do remember fondly was enough to carry on with a Christmas tradition. There's always next year!
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