25 Days 'til Christmas by Poppy AlexanderMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Poppy Alexander's "25 Days 'til Christmas" really wasn't my idea of an "uplifting" holiday story, despite the publisher's claims. Both of the main characters, Kate and Daniel, came across as total sad sacks for most of the book, and the plot seemed to be nothing more than one long series of depressing events. Among other things, the story included a dead soldier husband; a grandmother-in-law with advanced dementia, who was also running out of funds to keep her in her nursing home; Kate's son's struggles in school; a possible looming layoff; and Daniel's dead sister. With all of that going on around them, it was no wonder that Daniel and Kate both struggled to find some Christmas spirit!
In addition to the depressing plot and unhappy characters, the author's writing style was very choppy, with frequent POV changes in the middle of chapters. The first few chapters didn't do a good job of drawing me into the story or making me invest in the characters, and I ended up setting the book aside and forgetting about it completely for a month or so before coming back to it because I remembered that I had committed to write a review. While this wasn't the worst book I've ever read, I have to admit that I was tempted to DNF it a few times. I just wasn't in the mood for something so sad right before Christmas; I wanted to read something light, funny, and happy instead.
Again, this was not a completely terrible book. I ended up liking (OK, maybe more like pitying) the characters in the end and I did want things to work out for them, but I wish there had been more to the book's ending. It seemed very abrupt to me and a number of things were not completely resolved. In addition, given that I did not care for the author's writing style, I don't think I would read any of her other books in the future.
*ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss. All opinions expressed are my own.
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