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A review by bennett_book_lover
How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn
4.0
Your typical enemies to lovers' Christmas story with lots of humor and some spice (you won't look at candy canes the same way Lol) but the heart of the story is really good. Both characters have lost the joy in Christmas and find it again through forced proximity with each other.
Storee and her sister had a Christmas tradition when they were younger to visit their great Aunt who lives in a town where it's Christmas year-round. The visits stop when she has a bad experience with a Christmas event in town and leaves Christmas day embarrassed without saying bye to her boy-next-door friend, Cole. Cole happened to get news that his parents died in a car accident the same day that Storee left (Christmas Day). Storee returns to visit her great Aunt with her sister a decade later because of a broken hip and runs into a resentful Cole who has not celebrated Christmas since his parents died. When her great Aunt requests that Storee enter the town's Kringle contest on her behalf which is a series of competitions (best candy canes, light display, egg nogg, fruit cake, skits, etc.) because she feels this will be her last Christmas, Storee agrees out of guilt. When Cole finds out she is running in the competition, he is furious because last she spoke to Cole she said she hated this town. He refuses to let her win because of the resentment of how she left and enters the competition to keep her from winning.
Cole learns to process the loss of his parents (better late than never) with the help of Storee and his best friend Atlas. Storee faces the fear of putting herself out there in the competition, gets over her past embarrassments and learns to embrace the community and the spirit of Christmas again. I could have changed a few things about how it ended. Felt rushed and did a flash forward a year later. I would have preferred it to span into Christmas day instead of Christmas Eve when it ended but not every book can be perfect, I guess! Overall, I really enjoyed it, and it put me more into the Holiday spirit!
Storee and her sister had a Christmas tradition when they were younger to visit their great Aunt who lives in a town where it's Christmas year-round. The visits stop when she has a bad experience with a Christmas event in town and leaves Christmas day embarrassed without saying bye to her boy-next-door friend, Cole. Cole happened to get news that his parents died in a car accident the same day that Storee left (Christmas Day). Storee returns to visit her great Aunt with her sister a decade later because of a broken hip and runs into a resentful Cole who has not celebrated Christmas since his parents died. When her great Aunt requests that Storee enter the town's Kringle contest on her behalf which is a series of competitions (best candy canes, light display, egg nogg, fruit cake, skits, etc.) because she feels this will be her last Christmas, Storee agrees out of guilt. When Cole finds out she is running in the competition, he is furious because last she spoke to Cole she said she hated this town. He refuses to let her win because of the resentment of how she left and enters the competition to keep her from winning.
Cole learns to process the loss of his parents (better late than never) with the help of Storee and his best friend Atlas. Storee faces the fear of putting herself out there in the competition, gets over her past embarrassments and learns to embrace the community and the spirit of Christmas again. I could have changed a few things about how it ended. Felt rushed and did a flash forward a year later. I would have preferred it to span into Christmas day instead of Christmas Eve when it ended but not every book can be perfect, I guess! Overall, I really enjoyed it, and it put me more into the Holiday spirit!