Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmas Novel (original 2016; udgave 2017)

A good holiday romance read. ( )

Ugh - this was just over the top. It was predictable from chapter one, unbelievable, and just not great. I couldn't care less about either of the characters and it took willpower for me to finish it to the end. Julia is a happy cheerful person - she greets everyone hello, remembers her bar barista's name, and volunteers all over Seattle. While "auditioning" for a job she has to create a blog and if she has more readers and hits then the other candidates she'll get her dream job. The only problem is she doesn't know what to write about. Her friend tells her that she should kill her neighbor... with kindness. Her apartment neighbor, Caine, is a short tempered brute and Julia decides that her blog will center on 12 days of kindness. What she doesn't imagine is that they'll fall in love. It's not believable - it happens very fast - and I don't care how sad his childhood was - he's a jerk. What will happen if he finds out she's been blogging about all this - oh no?! Predictable and unbelievable. The book did not fill me with kindness - it filled me with impatience. ( )

Wonderful heartwarming story about how kindness can change a person for the better. A very quick and easy read!

This review is based on a galley copy from Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions are my own. ( )

4.5 stars.

Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber is a heartwarming holiday romance that carries a lovely reminder to treat others with kindness.

Julia Padden is blessed with an upbeat and sunny personality but her neighbor Cain Maddox is not buying her friendly act. While venting to her best friend Cammie about his grumpy attitude, her friend suggests that she go out of her way to be kind to him. Cammie also encourages Julia to blog about her experiment to build her following and hopefully secure the social media job she is vying for. So for the next twelve days, Julia redoubles her efforts to be nice to her cranky neighbor and much to her amazement, her blog attracts a huge following who offer suggestions and helpful advice on how to win over Cain. She is also pleasantly surprised by the positive changes in herself as she continues being kind to Cain despite his initial indifference.

After a lifetime of heartache, Cain is standoffish and emotionally closed off. He is devoted to his grandfather but with everyone else, he holds them at arms' length. He is definitely not a morning person and he resents Julia's endless chatter and unrelenting optimism. Convinced she is putting on an act, Cain resists her friendly overtures until he realizes that she is genuinely nice. Slowly but surely, Julia begins to chip away at his defenses, but once he finds out about her blog, will his trust issues ruin their chance at happiness?

Although the story takes place over a course of twelve days, the relationship between Julia and Cain is believable and grows naturally as they become friends. At first, Julia does not give Cain the benefit of the doubt as she seethes over his unfriendly attitude and somewhat questionable actions. For his part, Cain is suspicious that Julia is only being nice so she can get something from him, but he relaxes his guard once he is assured she is perky and friendly to everyone. The shift from reluctant friendship to romance is gradual but realistic as Julia and Cain take the time to get to know each other. But trouble awaits since Julia is reluctant to tell him about her blog. Will Cain forgive her once he knows the real reason she was being so nice in the beginning?

With a cast of charming characters, a conflict free, unique storyline and a sweet love story, Twelve Days of Christmas is an absolutely delightful read. Old and new fans of Debbie Macomber are going to love this uplifting romance that perfectly captures the holiday spirit. ( )

My Christmas reading season begins with Debbie Macomber's Christmas romance. I look forward to them every year. They are a light, happy read that you can read in a day or so and end up smiling and feeling good. The holiday reading season has now begun. Other reviewers have described this book as a Hallmark Movie and that is right on. The ones where you cuddle up under a blanket with a hot chocolate or a Bailey's coffee and just enjoy. The plot was fun and light, although somewhat predictable. The idea of trying to get someone out of their funk or grouch by "Killing them with Kindness" is a great theme and idea for this book.

Julia is a perky, happy single woman who meets her neighbour from across the hall in the elevator. He is rather grouchy and it is obvious he wants nothing to do with her. She gets exasperated when she sees him stealing her newspaper and her best friend, Cammie, suggests she kill him with kindness. She is trying to drum up business for a blog to win a new job and what better topic than this?

We know it is a romance so nobody should be surprised that within the twelve days before Christmas, there are strong feelings between Cain and Julia. As we have come to expect in the Christmas Romance books from this author, there is turmoil. Nothing goes perfectly. There is a time when it looks like all is lost, but fear not.

The characters are great. The only complaint is that we really do not find out much about Julia's past. I would have liked to have gotten to know her better. She is a great person, happy and cheeful to everyone, does charity and volunteer work and is in a job that is only a stepping stone for her, but not much about how this all came about. On the other hand, we learn a lot about Cain's past. I enjoyed the addition of his grandfather in the book, he seems to be quite the character and certainly loves his grandson.

Twelve Days of Christmas is exactly what I expected when I picked this up, a romance with a happy ending set during the Christmas Season. It makes you feel good when you read it and you root for both Julia and Cain to have their happy ending.

The publisher generously provided an ARC of this book through Netgalley. ( )