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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
This was a charming, heartwarming Southern Christmas story. It felt a bit like a Hallmark movie, but in a good way.
The perfect literary equivalent of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Easily read in a day for some feel-good holiday warmth.
3.5 Stars
A wonderful story of relationships and a great book for the holidays. Such a warm and poignant story for all ages. And the southern recipes, at the back of the book, are an added bonus.
A wonderful story of relationships and a great book for the holidays. Such a warm and poignant story for all ages. And the southern recipes, at the back of the book, are an added bonus.
I would probably give this 2.5 stars. For such a short story, I felt like it started off pretty slow. It has a good message at the end about Christmas, family, and remembering the true reasons for Christmas, but overall I didn't feel like I was very invested in the story or the characters, and the supernatural aspect of the story turned me off some (ghosts and Christmas don't really go together for me, other than in [b:A Christmas Carol|5326|A Christmas Carol|Charles Dickens|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406512317s/5326.jpg|3097440]). I would rate the book higher due to the fact that the message was one we can all be reminded of on Christmas.
Kind of like The Christmas Carol except the mc’s family house keeper visits from the dead to help bring some sense and love back into the mc’s spoiled family (like a fix-it story). This was a cute little book dig into the meaning of Christmas and it was nice seeing a broken family being brought back together.
Book club selection. A family that doesn't get along meets at the home of the Mom/Grandma. The maid is called away on an emergency and a ghost from the past comes and tries to help mend the family. I thought part one was slow, but enjoyed the rest of the book.
A typical Christmas read, full of magic and miracles that normally it would be too sweet for my taste, but …it’s Christmas time, so some sugar overload is allowed!
2 stars rounded up because of the festive recipes at the end of the book for mint julep, cheese straws, sands, rum balls, etc. I might even try some this year.
2 stars rounded up because of the festive recipes at the end of the book for mint julep, cheese straws, sands, rum balls, etc. I might even try some this year.
Theodora wishes for days of Christmas Past as she is surrounded by her family with all of their struggles and none of the traditions. As Christmas nears, she is visited by Merle who brings a little Christmas magic but is it enough to turn the family around? The Christmas Pearl was a quick holiday read to kick off my holiday reads for the month! It was rooted in hope which is the basis of the Christmas season for me.
Um… I have mixed feelings about this, and I wish this wasn’t the first Dorothea Benton Frank novel I picked to read. I heard her speak once at a Junior League event that I was selling books at and she was delightful and funny.
On one hand, The Christmas Pearl is a book about returning to the values of an old-fashioned Christmas. On the other hand, it’s a story of a Black maid coming back from the great beyond (80 years after her death) because the super white, super Southern, rich, entitled family she worked for in life has become a train wreck. They are all terrible people. It’s also very sexist- the women are cheated on and put down by their awful husbands who get a pass because… they have penises? And Southern women have to have a husband and should be grateful to have them because maybe they aren’t gorgeous? And why would Pearl return to earth to fix this shit? It’s cringe worthy. The beginning is a 93 year old woman’s reminisces of past Christmases, which wasn’t terrible, but returning to her current Christmas is painful. It was a quick read though, but the fact that Pearl is still having to serve this shitty family in death is depressing as hell.
On one hand, The Christmas Pearl is a book about returning to the values of an old-fashioned Christmas. On the other hand, it’s a story of a Black maid coming back from the great beyond (80 years after her death) because the super white, super Southern, rich, entitled family she worked for in life has become a train wreck. They are all terrible people. It’s also very sexist- the women are cheated on and put down by their awful husbands who get a pass because… they have penises? And Southern women have to have a husband and should be grateful to have them because maybe they aren’t gorgeous? And why would Pearl return to earth to fix this shit? It’s cringe worthy. The beginning is a 93 year old woman’s reminisces of past Christmases, which wasn’t terrible, but returning to her current Christmas is painful. It was a quick read though, but the fact that Pearl is still having to serve this shitty family in death is depressing as hell.