Mini Book Reviews: Three Holiday Books

Happy Boxing Day! Not a holiday we celebrate in the States, but one I always sort of admired. Well I hope you all survived either Christmas or Hanukkah or any other holiday you celebrated this week. My holiday was great and included reading three fantastic holiday books. Now I get to share my thoughts on all of them, so buckle up and enjoy!

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Confession:

I saw this on book on Books are 42 on Friday, bought it on Saturday and finished it on Tuesday. It was such a great and fun little cozy mystery romance. If you haven’t already read it, you really must. It has great characters, a wonderful locked room mystery and an awesome cast of suspects. Plus the slow burn enemies to lovers was the perfect way to spend the days leading up to christmas.

Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt are rival authors. Maggie despises Ethan and is upset that he beat her out on a coveted national book club pick ( think Oprah). I loved how much she really hated him and how she totally misunderstands him in all of their flashbacks. Maggie is an introvert and coming off a bad divorce and really needs something good in her life. Ethan has his issues too, as well as a mysterious past. The two of them are a perfect pair, as detectives as well as in their slow growing relationship.

The mystery was great. All of the clues were there, but putting them all together was hard. There was lots of action as well, with the couple finding themselves in danger many times as they hunt for clues. I loved all of the witty banter, which this author is known for. The suspects were great and I was really stumped as to who was going to be the last suspect standing. It was really charming that the setting was christmas as both characters had bad memories of this holiday.

Highly recommend that you read this anytime of year, but the week of christmas was the perfect time for me.

Spectacular (Caraval #3.5) by Stephanie Garber

Publication Date: October 22, 2024

Confession:

This delightfully illustrated novella was such a fun little read. I think I might have loved it more if I had read the trilogy recently, but many years have past and I found myself struggling with the characters personalities a little bit. It also got a little bit dark in the middle which was a little weird for a holiday story, but it all works out in the end.

The story mostly focuses on Tella and Legend, with some scenes featuring Scarlett and Julian. It is also mostly told through Tella’s viewpoint as she searches the city for the perfect gift. She is struggling as she is unsure about Legend’s feeling for her, and is also being lead astray by a book titled, How Not to Lose the Love of Your Life by Pandora Loveless. This book really doesn’t have very good advice, which Tella knows deep down, but she tends to listen to it anyways. I don’t want to give too much away so I won’t say any more about the story. It was fun, even though it does get a bit dark for awhile.

I loved the setting and the writing was wonderful as usual. I also adored the illustrations which were all in black, greys and reds. They perfectly captured the story and the characters.

If you are a fan of the Caraval series, certainly this is one you want to read. If you haven’t read the series, this one sort of stands on its own, but it really needs the backstory of the world and characters to make it shine. It certainly makes me want to revisit the series.

Everyone This Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

Publication Date: October 22, 2024

Confession:

This book was set up so that you could read it like an advent calendar, read a chapter a day and by Christmas Eve you would have all the clues you needed to solve the murders. I didn’t know this when I got the book, but that is ok. I don’t think I could have done a chapter a day. I would have had a hard time stopping at one chapter. So I read it all in one go on Christmas Day and enjoyed every minute of it.

This is a novella, but there was still a full blown mystery inside this holiday story. There was a great cast of characters that were fleshed out enough for the story. There were lots of great clues plus some red herrings that kept me guessing till the big reveal. I only got one part right, how Erin found herself covered in blood when she hadn’t committed the murder. It was very clever. Ernest was his usual self and I love how he uses everything he knows about how to write a mystery in order to solve a mystery.

The setting and pacing of the story were well done. I enjoyed learning a bit about the Blue Mountains and the bush in Australia. I loved how he tied in Christmas to the story as well from some of the characters outfits to a secret santa drawing. I really enjoyed the first person narrative and how it feels like Ernest is telling a story and explaining how mysterys work while solving some murders. It is all a lot of fun and very clever.

Please, if you love clever mysteries that poke a little bit of fun at the whole genre, then you really must read these books. You can start with this one, if you are unsure about the writing style, it is quite different. This is a standalone. But then you must start at the beginning with Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. You won’t be disappointed. I can’t wait to read the next Ernst Cunningham mystery.

So One last thing before I go, I don’t usually talk about movies or TV shows, but I watched one last night that was too much fun not to mention. It was called Hot Frosty and it is on Netflix. It is about a lonely widow who brings a snowman to life. It sounds dumb, but it really was very sweet and romantic and also funny and very PG so family friendly despite that title. I highly recommend you give it a chance.

Well, that is enough holiday spirit for one post and for the year. Until next time…