From USA TODAY bestselling author Sheila Roberts comes a story of family, second chances and holiday do-overs, brimming with warmth and Christmas charm.
Title: The Twelve Months of Christmas
Author: Sheila Roberts
Publication Date: October 3, 2023
Pages: 400
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Romance
Sunny, Arianna and Molly are having three different but equally terrible
Christmases. Sunny is a newlywed with two new stepkids who want nothing
to do with her; Arianna is newly divorced and hates having to send her
daughter off to spend the holiday with her dad; for Molly, nothing is
new, but her job at the post office is getting very, very old. The whole
Christmas season has been a bust all around.
But Sunny and Arianna have a wild idea: What if they had a Christmas
do-over in January? February? On Saint Patrick’s Day? Christmas all year
long – what could that look like? As these three determined women
chase the perfect holiday through twelve months of cooking disasters,
over-the-top festivity, and lots of laughter and tears, they’ll discover
perfection is way overrated.
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK
After ruined Christmases at the homes of Sunny, Molly and Arianna, the three wondered what a Christmas Do-Over would be like. Molly can’t enjoy Christmas because of the hassle at the post office during the holidays. Arianna is newly divorced and not happy with her Ex. Sunny is newly married with 2 stepchildren who don’t care for her. Since their real Christmas day was in shambles, maybe the Do-Overs will cause more happiness and fun for everyone.
With their heads together and ideas flowing, Sunny and Arianna had a crazy idea. What if Christmas could be celebrated every month of the year? So they brought Molly on board and started the planning. I think this is an excellent idea, and I would love pulling this off myself. I enjoyed these three ladies and wanted them to have their parties with family members and really enjoy them. This is an excellent and clever idea from author Shelia Roberts. I love the characters she created and they all played their parts well. Even Tansy, the character I just couldn’t tolerate. The every month Christmases were around the 25th of each month. I think they picked some very amazing themes pulled them off just fine. Molly, Arianna and Sunny did realize that they have to strive for the perfect Christmas Day. In light of what they learned throughout the year, everything doesn’t have to be perfect. There were many emotions threw the book, some were kinda hard to read, because life happens, and everyone has probably experienced a thing or two these ladies did. But all in all, this is a perfect book to read during the Christmas season. It helps in making us realize it’s not perfection we should strive for but having a good time a day enjoy being with family.
A special thanks to the author/publisher for a copy of this book. I am not required to write a positive review. The opinions here are mine alone. I am disclosing this with my review in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
Book Excerpt
Sunny Hollowell had planned a perfect day for her first Christmas as a wife and stepmom and it was a fail. Who was it that said something about the best-laid plans getting screwed up? Whoever it was, her mom liked to quote him a lot.
“The best-laid plans of mice and men,” her mom had begun when Sunny told her about the latest development as she and Dad walked in the door, presents in tow.
“And women,” Sunny had added before Mom could finish. Women who were trying their best to be a good wife and mother, women who only wanted to bring two families together for a memorable day.
The day was memorable all right, but not in the way Sunny had intended.
It all began at eight in the morning. Sunny had found a recipe online for a crescent roll breakfast pastry with a cherry filling shaped like a candy cane and, to her surprise and glee, it had actually turned out like the picture, ready for the kids to be dropped off by their mom at nine o’clock. She was laying it out on the family room coffee table for everyone to enjoy while they opened presents when the Weed called Travis to let him know that she wasn’t going to bring the kids over for the big day.
“What do you mean you’re still stuck in Spokane?” Travis had growled into his cell phone.
Sunny had watched the anger roll over his features like a breaking storm. Scratch two kids from the guest list. Tansy strikes again.
“You did this on purpose,” he’d accused.
Of course, Tansy would deny it. That was how she rolled. Mess with the ex and his new wife as much as possible but never let it look like you meant to. Was Tansy’s mother psychic when she named her daughter after a noxious weed?
“Well, thanks a lot,” Travis had growled. “Way to screw up Christmas for the kids.”
“Okay, what happened?” Sunny had asked after he ended the call and dumped his phone on the coffee table.
“She did it again, managed to screw us over,” he’d said, and slumped on the sofa. “She and Jared accidentally—” he held up exaggerated air quotes “—missed their flight home last night and are stuck at his parents’ place.”
“Can’t they get another flight out? There has to be something going out today.” Of course, by the time they got to Bremerton, Washington, breakfast and Christmas dinner would long be over.
“Not until tomorrow.”
Sunny had made a superhuman effort to blink back tears. Poor Travis was already upset about not getting to be with his kids. She didn’t need to make things worse by having a holiday meltdown. But darn, she’d sure wanted to.
USA
Today and Publishers Weekly best-selling author Sheila Roberts has
written over fifty books under various names, ranging from romance to
self-improvement. Over three million copies of her novels have been sold
to date. Her humor and heart have won her a legion of fans and her
holiday novels have been turned into movies for the Lifetime and
Hallmark and Great American Family channels. When she’s not out dancing
with her husband or hanging out with her girlfriends, she can be found
writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family,
friends and chocolate.
Author Links
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