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This is such a fun read! Before reading this, I read four Hallmark Christmas books (the Christmas in Evergreen-series) so this was a nice little change though still festive. This book is a bundle of all Hallmark Christmas/romance clichés, sugarcoated and sprinkled with an overdose of holiday joy. Every possible Hallmark Christmas movie plot outline you can think of is mentioned or included and made fun of, and it is absolutely delivers. Like the difference between homegrown and factory-made candy canes. Hilarious! I laughed so much while reading this and making my own decisions - you can even find your ending before the book truly has begun or somewhere in between. I made it to the final chapter of the book, and chose the ending I liked best. With all the options to choose from, I can easily imagine myself re-reading this book every Christmas, trying out new paths, twists and turns to make another story.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
I don't think I'm the intended audience for this. I get that is supposed to be satire and a skewering of Hallmark Christmas movies, but it just wasn't funny. It read like a really long, bad, SNL skit. I read it for book club, or else I would have put it down after the first few pages.
A very silly and hilarious parody of Christmas romance movies, with the added bonus of being a pick-your-plot-style story. Most of the endings happened in the last choice, but there were a few instances where your earlier decision could affect how the story played out (you can choose to ignore your mother's phone call initially. You also choose whether your high school friend was a boyfriend or rival). Kong did this by simply having the reader remember their previous choice. This has the added bonus of being able to see when your choices are affecting the story. The main drawback is that you can't expect a reader to remember lots of choices, so you are limited to doing 2-3 variables this way. It was helpful to have this example of remembering analog choices when I made my own Twine Christmas zine.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun little holiday romp. Written way over the top (like, the opening is something like "Chrissy was a businesswoman doing important business at the business in big city") it did still make me laugh some. It was a nice short read, too, to break up some longer books I've got in my TBR. And it's written as a choose-your-own-adventure! What child of the 90s doesn't love one of those? Go into it with the right attitude (that it's for fun, not for any literary value) and you'll likely enjoy the hour it takes to read a path straight through. Merry Christmas!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated