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A review by linda48
Christmas Sweets by Laura Levine, Leslie Meier, Joanne Fluke
2.0
A book of three Christmas-themed short stories: The Twelve Desserts of Christmas by Joanne Fluke, Nightmare on Elf Street by Laura Levine and The Christmas Thief by Leslie Meier. Let's go one by one.
The Twelve Desserts of Christmas is a typical story by Joanne Fluke which is inane with people who make you wonder how they can manage in the world. Ridiculous conversations, people who overthink the least little word, people who jump to conclusion, kids who are much smarter than the adults, etc. etc. And let's not forget that the world lives on sugar and chocolate without tooth decay or weight gain, except for Hannah who bemoans her weight in every book. If you are looking for recipes, they are in the story but you can find them all (except maybe the Double Apple Crisp) in other stories by the author. The worst story of the lot.
Nightmare on Elf Street is the best of the trio. With a lot of snark the heroine is hired as a Christmas elf in a shopping mall. Yes, it does remind the reader of David Sedaris' Christmas elf story, but it is still a good, quick read. And what's not to love about the main character having a manic cat named Prozac? I should read more of this author.
The Christmas Thief is an ok mystery (no murders involved) that takes place at Christmas in Florida rather than the usual Maine setting for this author and has Lucy's daughter, Elizabeth, as the focus. The story moves along ok with a few bobbles: When Lucy gets up at Noon, her mother and a Maine neighbor pay her a surprise visit since she will be unable to come to Maine for Christmas. Then they have dinner, which turns into lunch, which gives them the entire day to decorate the house and solve the mystery. Lucy goes into the storage room for her [sic] apartment - Is it Lucy goes into the storage room for Elizabeth's apartment or Elizabeth goes to the storage room for her apartment? Little things like this drive me nuts. And let me just say that Elizabeth is way too eager to give her home address to a man she's just met so he can pick her up for a date. C'mon! I know she grew up in a small town where everyone can trust each other, but she went to school in Boston, lives in Florida and should know better than that.
The Twelve Desserts of Christmas is a typical story by Joanne Fluke which is inane with people who make you wonder how they can manage in the world. Ridiculous conversations, people who overthink the least little word, people who jump to conclusion, kids who are much smarter than the adults, etc. etc. And let's not forget that the world lives on sugar and chocolate without tooth decay or weight gain, except for Hannah who bemoans her weight in every book. If you are looking for recipes, they are in the story but you can find them all (except maybe the Double Apple Crisp) in other stories by the author. The worst story of the lot.
Nightmare on Elf Street is the best of the trio. With a lot of snark the heroine is hired as a Christmas elf in a shopping mall. Yes, it does remind the reader of David Sedaris' Christmas elf story, but it is still a good, quick read. And what's not to love about the main character having a manic cat named Prozac? I should read more of this author.
The Christmas Thief is an ok mystery (no murders involved) that takes place at Christmas in Florida rather than the usual Maine setting for this author and has Lucy's daughter, Elizabeth, as the focus. The story moves along ok with a few bobbles: When Lucy gets up at Noon, her mother and a Maine neighbor pay her a surprise visit since she will be unable to come to Maine for Christmas. Then they have dinner, which turns into lunch, which gives them the entire day to decorate the house and solve the mystery. Lucy goes into the storage room for her [sic] apartment - Is it Lucy goes into the storage room for Elizabeth's apartment or Elizabeth goes to the storage room for her apartment? Little things like this drive me nuts. And let me just say that Elizabeth is way too eager to give her home address to a man she's just met so he can pick her up for a date. C'mon! I know she grew up in a small town where everyone can trust each other, but she went to school in Boston, lives in Florida and should know better than that.