Review: Christmas Letters

Book Details

Title: Christmas Letters
Author: Debbie Macomber
Genre: holiday fiction
Page Count: 272
Publishing Info: Mira, October 1, 2006

My Review
Why I read it: book club pick
The Plot: Katherine (who is called K.O.) has a sister who has twin daughters.  This sister has read a parenting book called The Free Child, and has decided to implement it with her children.  It has turned her children into monsters.  So Katherine thinks the author of this book is an idiot, to put it bluntly.  But, the whole plot here is about how she meets and falls in love with this author.  The guy whose worldview is completely different from hers.  This isn't a small thing, either, but they just decide not to talk about his book or his ideas about children or anything.  Even though that's his job--it's what he does for a living.  I don't expect my holiday reads to be completely believable, but this one was pretty bad.
The Characters: First of all, what kind of a nickname is K.O.?  It's horrible and ugly, and I don't believe any woman would go by that name.  Besides that, Katherine is very unlikable.  I found her obnoxious and at times a little stupid.  Same with her sister.  And the author of the book who she falls in love with is no prize either.  In fact, I really didn't care for any of the characters in this one, and they had me rolling my eyes throughout.  Nobody says the things and acts the way these characters did at times.
The Setting: The book takes place in Seattle, and the setting was actually quite cozy.  I would have liked the setting a lot better if the story and characters were more to my liking.
Who Should Read This? Fans of Debbie Macomber and those who are desperately looking for a holiday read and can't find something else.
Final Thoughts: As much as it sounds like I hated this book, I didn't actually hate it.  I didn't really like it, and definitely wouldn't recommend it to people I like, but it was a quick read, and did have a cozy holiday feel (sometimes).  I'm not mad about time wasted while reading it, I just didn't think it was my style of book.
Grade: C-
Cover Thoughts: This seems to be a fairly typical type of cover for Christmas stories.  It's got that cozy feel that makes you want to be in the cover.