So I read two "Weird Christmas" stories recently. The first one was MM and had The Best title: Help! I'm the Big City Guy in My Christmas Comfort Movie by Joel Abernathy. It was cute. And the "Big City" in question is New York City--always a plus for me IF it's done right. And the hero wasn't there long enough for it to be done wrong--so that part was great. The MC is a script-writer--something else I love--who's just been dumped by his cheating boyfriend...who does something in Finance. I forget what exactly. Not that it matters since he's already old news when the story opens.
Our MC, Matthew, is watching his favorite Christmas movie, Mistletoe Hollow, which came out when he was an impressionable teenager (this is important to the plot) when he's magically pulled into the TV and ends up in the movie. Ben is the hero of the movie--a larger than life, lumberjack-esque, Christmas tree farmer. And the object of teenage Matthew's crush.
My problem is that if Ben is not the actor that appeared in the movie, and the Mistletoe Hollow that Matthew ends up in is a real place (albeit in a different dimension...maybe?) then he didn't really end up in the movie after all? Still a really cute premise however. Just be prepared to suspend your disbelief.
Which you kind of have to do any time you read a magical Christmas story. I'm sure people have said the same thing about my own Christmas Angel. But, I don't know. I think that's half the fun of that kind of book/movie.
The second book I read is called Landline and is by Rainbow Rowell. It's MF and it's set in Los Angeles. Georgie is (coincidentally) a TV comedy screenwriter. She does a last minute bail on her family's trip to Nebraska to spend Christmas with her mother-in-law because she and her writing partner need to hammer out four scripts by December 27th.
It's one of the funniest books I've read in a while. It really does read like a TV comedy and it's set in Los Angeles, which is another city that I've lived in and have odd, proprietary feelings about. Definitely a ME problem. Although, not in this case because the descriptions were fairly seamless.
The fact that she never had to stop and charge her electric car, OTOH, that was jarring. Her showers, clothes changes, and difficulties with her cell phone (which wouldn't hold a charge and could only be used when plugged into her laptop, which she apparently never took home with her) were all documented and were a big part of the plot and action. But her car? Never a word. And this was ten years ago--the dates are somewhat important--and I happen to have a ten year old electric car. So I am very well aware of the kind of mileage she would have been getting. She would have had to stop and charge her car at some point during the story. She didn't. And given that she was portrayed as someone who never had time to do a lot of ordinary things--buy clothes, or a new phone, or a new phone battery or even a new phone charger--I think an electric car was a really bad choice for the character.
Still. This is not a big deal. Most people probably wouldn't notice or care.
It's a VERY cute story about a magic phone that would only connect her to the past. I loved the way she struggled with the reality--was she dreaming? Was she having a psychotic break? Or did she have a "magic fucking phone"? I loved the disconnect between the reality she was experiencing and how the people around her (her friends and co-workers) reacted to her seemingly aberrant behavior.
There were just a few loose plot threads that didn't get tied up at the end. It was a very Nora Ephron-esque ending. Which, obviously, a lot of people like. For me, I thought it was a little abrupt and I would have liked some explanations (not about the magic fucking phone--magic doesn't require explanations) but about things that are probably too spoilery to mention. Sorry. Or maybe not. Read the book and come back and tell me what you think.
Christmas Angel
An Angels in the Afterlife Story
https://books2read.com/Christmas-Angel
Being fully transparent is good for a relationship, right? Well, maybe not when it’s literal.
Christmas Angel is a second-chance, holiday romance with a celestial twist. Probationary angel Jake Hennessy's been sent back to earth to mend fences with his ex. Or has he? Certainly Tony doesn’t seem to think that's the case.
Tony DiCecco might have ninety-nine problems—and then some—between dealing with his meddlesome family AND running the family business (a Christmas tree farm in rural Texas) but he's pretty sure that playing catch-up with his ex-husband isn’t supposed to be one of them.
And what would even be the point? It’s hard to imagine what kind of future the two of them could have when one of them is alive and the other...isn't?
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