Pages: 288
Published: 10/4/16
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Summary:
Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a particular challenge. No matter how hard she’s tried to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn, preferring to keep to himself. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper from the lobby of their apartment building, that’s the last straw. She’s going to break through Cain’s Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness.
To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won’t even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie’s blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain’s gruff façade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain—and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love.
My Thoughts:
This is an okay short read. There were some major issues with the plot that didn’t make me give it a five. One of the main reasons was the entire blogging issue. Julie kept on agonizing about how she wanted to keep it a secret yet didn’t want too. I found it very childish that a twenty some year old woman would try to blog about how to “give some love” to a man her age. Those blogs made Julia the exact opposite of what she is. It made her seem cynical and a big privacy violator.
There wasn’t much substance or drama in this book. I felt that the chemistry was very forced. The entire opposites attract thing just didn’t work. You have a sweet girl trying to soften a guy who was tough and unbreakable as nails by Christmas presents? Didn’t really feel it. It was a sweet idea, but the book did not turn out as good as the idea. Also, the arguments and banter between the characters did not show much chemistry. Julia and Cain were placed together just because of their personalities, not their personal qualities.
The romance in this book just didn’t do it for me. I don’t understand how Julia can fall for someone who acts like a plain d-bag. If I were Julia, I would have slapped Cain right then and there. A good “Pow” would have made the plot much better. I didn’t really get why Cain had to act like a d-bag. I felt his reasons were unjustified and for Julia to be falling for him was just stupid. He had no redeeming qualities.
I didn’t really get this book. Want some holiday fluff and cheer, sure this is the book for you. But there are many better books out there.
Rating:
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