A Christmas Gift: Festive Romance

I liked this sweet, clean read for the most part. Caleb and Holly were best friends growing up. Practiced kissing each other at twelve to prepare for the real thing but then things began to change. Caleb lived on the rich side of the street while Holly lived on the poor side. I didn't realize that was quite possible but ok moving on Caleb got mixed in with the wild crowd and so hanging out with the sweet Holly didn't look good. Well at 16 the two haven't spoken for some time Caleb wants a favor of sorts but he also starts to show signs to Holly that the old Caleb is just under the surface. The length of story made things a little difficult to believe all would change as it did but in the spirit of the season I wanted to believe. I would have liked an older couple for the true promise to be real at the end but teens would probably enjoy this book. I found it fun a little "pretty in pink flare."

For the younger readers that's a movie from the 80's. Enjoy!

Former childhood friends have grown apart as they entered high school. Popular Caleb enlists shy Holly's help in buying a Christmas gift for his girlfriend. Soon he is taking a second look at Holly. This cute teen story is well written and the characters are well developed. It was easy to feel a connection to both of the teenagers and remember a little of my own teen years.

I love romance stories, especially ones that I am comfortable having my kids read. This book achieves that. But there is one thing I don’t quite get. Caleb clearly planned to go after Holly, but the author plays it off as if romance suddenly hit them both and they didn’t see it coming. This leads to Caleb being painted as some kind of changed man who suddenly realized who his true love really is while gift shopping. The whole gift thing was clearly a ruse to get her to fall for him, which she did. At the end of the day Caleb is a douche bag who decided to hurt Amber’s feelings to fulfill his selfish desires, and he is not the love struck saint the author makes him out to be.

Short and sweet story about appreciating inner beauty
My view is that is aim for pre-teens / early teen readers

3 stars for me as it an average book and I would read other books written by this author

Short and sweet story about appreciating inner beauty
My view is that is aim for pre-teens / early teen readers

3 stars for me as it an average book and I would read other books written by this author