A Christmas Beginning, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Merry Christmas! My favorite time of year, with all the family, food, friends, food, and music, how can you go wrong? I'll just take a moment to review and recommend a couple of Christmas themed books, then get back to my food obsession. 

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

By Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

272 Pages

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

I won't lie, I read this book either two years ago, or last year (it's been a while either way), so my memory may be a bit fuzzy. Either way, I really enjoyed reading this book during the Christmas break. It's about a girl who leaves a little book in her favorite section of a bookstore full of clues, designed to introduce her to the boy of her dreams, and the boy who finds the book and follows the clues to her. There's only one problem, Lily LOVES Christmas, and Dash hates it.

This book switches between the two characters by chapter, with Rachel Cohn writing for Lily, while David Levithan writes for Dash. It provides an awesome switch of character since the voice of the writing is so different. It's a super cute story and a very fun Christmas read. (Sometimes I think that what Lily does is a perfect way to find a man! Then I realize, yeah probably not...) I'd recommend it to anyone who likes teenage coming of age novels and those who enjoy witty, fun, Christmas stories.

A Christmas Beginning

By Anne Perry

190 Pages

"It was not even twenty-four hours since the murder, and panic was already rising, fear cold and dark, wakening like the wind rattling at the windows. Except that the wind could be shut out, and fear entered in spite of all the locks and bars in the world."

I know what you're thinking. Are you sure that quote is from a book called A Christmas Beginning? Here's the answer. Yes. A Christmas Beginning is a short story, where a young girl in Victorian England is killed, but it's about the Detective who is on Holiday in the town. Mr. Runcorn. This story is about him, and how this case opens his eyes to the way he has lived his 50 years of life thus far. It's about how he plans to change his life. But it's also a who-done-it story. It's a bunch of genres mixed into one short story, and it was fun to read. The book I read it from also had another Christmas story by this author, but I didn't get through all of it in time.

Merry Christmas Everyone! I got a kindle fire from "Santa", and I've already bought two books! I'm pretty excited! Also, I CANNOT wait for Clockwork Princess to come out (84 days!) and now I believe I can get it at midnight the day it comes out! Wow, I'm a nerd. I mean, I got up SO early to buy Mockingjay the day it came out, because it was also my first day of College and my first class was at 7:30. Good times. Anywho, may you have a peaceful and merry holiday season!

Read On,

Jamie