The Christmas Joy Ride, by Melody Carlson
Genre: Christmas Fiction
My Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts
Profanity: None
Inappropriate Scenes: None
Description:
Miranda didn't include "adventure" on her Christmas wish list - but thanks to her 85-year-old neighbor, Joy, that's exactly what she's getting! Joy's determined to drive an old RV decked out in Christmas decorations from their Chicago neighborhood to her new retirement digs in Phoenix. Miranda can't say no - but this road trip may change her life!
Description from Christianbook.com
My Review:
This Christmas book was a good read. Joy's love of Christmas and her giving heart was inspiring, and her mission (bringing love and joy to others) gave the book a nice, festive feel. Miranda, although not as cheerful as her friend, Joy, was a nice character as well.
The story was well written, (albeit a little short- 176 pages or so) and the plot was pretty good a well. Also, the cover- it was great! Really cheery.
Despite these good things about the book, there were some things didn't like. For instance...
There didn't seem to be a whole lot of character development- Miranda is sometimes called "the Grinch", but she didn't seem as Christmas-hating as I'd thought she'd be.
The story seemed to be going smoothly for a large portion of the book, with only mild setbacks for the characters and the problems being solved quickly (although, when it's a shorter book, that's usually what happens). And for some reason, (perhaps from reading a description of the book from a catalog) I thought the book was going to be more comedic... my fault for the assumption, but a little disappointing when you find out differently. There was also a part in the book where a woman spends several days and nights in a single man's house, their only chaperon being a young girl. While nothing bad happened, the fact that they were virtually alone together didn't seem right. Another con was that the book's romance was extremely quick and seemed rushed to me. I've read books where the romance was rushed, but to me this one almost seemed too rushed.
All in all, this was a pretty good Holiday read. While it wasn't a favorite of mine and has some faults, it had it's good points, too. It sort of reminded me of a Hallmark movie. The Christmas Joy Ride didn't quite meet up to my expectations, but it was still a good book.
Note: I got this book free from Revell in exchange for doing a review. All opinions are my own.
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