Worth a Read Meh Length 368 Quick Review An old man looks back at letters written during WWI. The narrative is 98% letters. It’s a sweet wartime love story.
Last Christmas in Parisby Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is my last holiday read of the season… a month late. I actually finished it a few weeks ago, but I have been so busy I didn’t get around to writing this review. Oops. Oh well, that’s life.
The most interesting part about Last Christmas in Paris is the narrative style. It’s told mostly through letters from the past between several people during WWI. An old man tells a story in the “present,” which is the 1960’s. There wasn’t anything remarkable about the style or plot. It was a good historical fiction piece. It’s not terribly Christmas oriented, so it works for any time of the year. I liked the characters just fine. It was a fairly bland story. The fact that the narrative was driven by letters made the reading process go really quickly.
My favorite relationship in the book was not the romantic one. That one was very boring. Sweet but boring. I liked the friendship between the two female characters. They were supportive, kind, blunt, and had fun banter.
There was a lot of talk about “war neurosis” in Last Christmas in Paris, which is old timey speak for PTSD. I’m glad this was a part of the book, but it was a fairly minor part of the book.
Overall, it’s a really good mindless read to take your mind off life. It’s pretty forgettable, though.
Memorable Quotes “I know you are convinced that my heart was stolen by Tom Harding years ago while I wasn’t paying any attention, and I’m beginning to think you may be right, darling.”
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Title: Last Christmas in Paris Author: Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins Publishers) Copyright: 2017 ISBN: 9780062562685
To the rest of the world, today is New Year’s Eve. Up until eight years ago, it was just New Year’s for me too.
My most influential person came into my life eight years and a few hours ago. His name is Alex. He’s made appearances here and there on my blog. He’s been a big part of my travels this year. He helped make 2018 brilliant.
I can’t really describe Alex to you in any way other than he is an amazing person. People love him or hate him. There is no in between. I don’t know why people hate him except he is an intense kind of man in all the best ways. So there is probably something wrong with the haters.
There are people who come into our lives and change everything. Alex is that person to me. I am who I am because of him. He has become such a part of my story it is impossible to tell it without him. He is written on my soul.
We are always laughing together. Seriously. It’s obnoxious… To other people, I imagine.
On New Year’s Eve of 2010, Alex came into my life, and he never left. We were in college together. He was a senior; I was a freshman. We had almost no reason to meet. Due to fate and a heart condition, he’s stuck with me. We were in choir together. When our director rearranged the seating arrangement, he ended up sitting in front of me. Very few people know this about him anymore: he has a beautiful singing voice. Long story short. Out of sheer optimism or naiveté or stupidity, I invited this dude, who I’d never had an in-person conversation with, to my house for New Year’s. He hugged my dad before we’d ever touched. It was ballsy. It worked out.
In the last eight years, Alex and I have been through more than I could ever write about. We walked to hell and back holding hands a few times over. It wasn’t easy. Actually, it’s been the hardest eight years of my life. Because of him, they have been the best eight years of my life. He is just shy of sainthood. Flawed as he is, he has always put me first. I have severe PTSD. I’ve been through sexual assaults and domestic violence. I have been in abusive relationships. I have been insecure. I have been broken. I have been bruised literally and in a non-physical sense of things. I have seen some pretty horrific things. Through my darkest days, Alex has always been there. He has never left. He has never made me feel less than. He has made me laugh through my tears. He has held my hand when there were no words to be said. When I have been unable or unwilling to pick up the pieces of my soul, he has put them back together. He helped make me whole, when I had never known what that felt like.
Alex went into the Marines over five years ago. We spent three years living together before he enlisted. In five years, we have spent one Christmas and one birthday together. He deployed twice. Two weeks ago, he left on his third deployment. He’s on a boat somewhere in the world. I don’t know where. Late on Christmas Day, I was lucky enough to get a phone call from him. We exchange emails whenever he has internet. I don’t know when he’ll be home. It will be eight months or more. It’s hard. I miss him. I miss hearing his voice. I miss getting to visit him. This isn’t new. We’ve gone over a year without seeing or talking to each other by phone in the past. It’s part of life in the military and loving someone in the military. Many other women, men, and families go through the same thing. Worry is part of our lives.
Just doing normal people stuff in a field in 12 degree weather. Like normal people.
Alex and I have been a part of each other’s lives for eight years. They have been beautiful and stressful and all the feelings in between. Life has been hard on us. A lot of things were out of our control, some that weren’t, and some that seemed like they were. I wish many things had gone differently in our combined lives and our lives before each other. Then again, I don’t. I wouldn’t change him or I or what we have for anything in the world.
I can’t tell you who I am without talking about Alex. He has been an integral part of my life. Some people don’t just influence who we are, they form who we are. He has pushed me to be better. He has questioned my opinions and thoughts. He has held me when I’ve cried. He always challenges me to be the best version of myself. I don’t think I’m as good for him as he is for me, but I’m not going to tell him that any time soon.
It’s been eight years. I hope to have about a gazillion more, but I’ll settle for another seventy. I think I can make it to 97. Any day after that will be a blessing I think.
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“Can we just take a normal picture???” I ask. He responds “No.”
Worth A Read Meh Length 354 Quick Review Haley’s Christmas spirit is less than jolly when her boss sends her to Christmas camp in order to do research for a project. The owner’s attractive son makes it easier and harder to concentrate on her job.
Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler hits all the Hallmark moments we have come to expect from feel-good Christmas stories. If you have a Netflix account, you’re probably familiar with her script from The Christmas Prince, which was a huge hit last year.
Haley is a marketing executive. Her company needs to make a pitch for a Christmas loving toy company. Haley wants to make the pitch more than anything to make partner, but she doesn’t have much of the Christmas spirit. Her boss sends her to Christmas Camp to find her own spirit to help her company. She joins a group of people who are there for many different reasons. The owner’s son is attractive and distracts Haley from completely her job.
To be completely honest, I really did not like Haley. Not for the reason we’re supposed to not like her. I didn’t like her because she just wasn’t terribly likable. Her ambition was about the only thing I could actually relate to.
I didn’t hate the storyline in Christmas Camp. I definitely did not love the storytelling. It reads a lot more like a script than a novel. It makes sense consider Schaler’s background as a screenwriter. There is a lot of telling who there characters are without showing. It’s almost like a “Hi. I’m Haley. I’m a workaholic, but I’m also very nice.” The dialogue is clunky and feels a little bit like I’m being spoon fed the novel. It over simplifies everything.
I think Christmas Campis a nice novel for the season. If you’re looking for a complex look into human interaction, this is not that. It is all the things a Hallmark movie is but in novel form.
Worth A Read Yes Length 657 Quick Review An Irish Country Christmas has all the trimmings for a long winter read to escape from the hustle and bustle of the holidays!
An Irish Country Christmasby Patrick Taylor combines Christmas spirit, historic setting, and the Irish countryside to provide a lovely escape from the hustle and bustle of present day yuletide. It’s a long way from my current situation. Another in the “series,” you don’t need to read the others to enjoy this one. Taylor gives enough back story along the way you’ll know who everyone is in the grand scheme of things.
Dr. Barry Laverty is spending his first Christmas in the fictional town of Ballybucklebo with his attending Dr. O’Reilly, the indomitable Mrs. Kinkaid, a flirty dog, and a slew of other familiar characters to the returning reader. Barry is ready for the weather and the holiday until he finds out his sweetheart, Patricia, won’t be coming home from university. A competing doctor is building a practice in one of the neighboring villages with some practices not necessarily supported by science or logic. As always, things are going wrong for the citizens of Ballybucklebo, and they call on their trusted doctors, Laverty and O’Reilly, to save their health and care for their souls.
I wouldn’t call An Irish Country Christmasa quick read because it is a lengthy book, but it is an easy read. The prose is lovely. Taylor is a doctor himself. The medical terms and treatments are accurate to the time and locale, but you don’t drown in ridiculous terminology. It’s a lovely picture of rural life in Ireland several decades ago. The characters are pleasant. With the exception of one, no one is unlikeable. It’s a great read for this time of year. A little action. A lot of heart. An ending you want to read by a cozy fire.
If you don’t know what Small Business Saturday is, it is a day in America to celebrate the small and local businesses we love and falls on the last Saturday in November. I like to think of it as the real kick off to the busiest shopping season of the year.
This year, I decided to visit my beautiful and talented friend Natasha at Burd and Burdie, her pop-up store. She is the owner and creator of BurdLife, a jewelry collection. Her work is amazing. Everything is handmade by her. She has big and sparkly, petite and girly, long and dangly, and so much in between. I fell in love with her jewelry last month when a mutual friend introduced us. Natasha is also one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever met. Her smile and laugh are beyond contagious. You’ll want to go into her store and just hang out with her all day.
Burd and Burdie is open now through the end of December in River Oaks here in Houston. If you’re local, you should stop in before it’s too late. You can see and try on Natasha’s absolutely stunning pieces. She also has amazing clothes, purses, shoes, rugs, candles, and a few other things. Everything is hand-picked by Natasha and locally sourced. Everytime I walk in, I want to take everything home with me. I’m not exaggerating. If I come into a boatload of money, I will hire her to decorate my house and my body. She has an eye for the alluring. Her Instagram handles are @burdlifeofficial and @burdandburdie.
Burd and Burdie is not the only local business I love. So here are six of my favorite local Houston places I frequent!
A 2nd Cup– I love this coffee shop because their profits go toward ending human trafficking! Tout Suite– This is one of those hip Houston hot spots. Kaboom Books – Read about this hidden gem of a used bookstore here. Brazos Bookstore– They have a great selection of new books and host a bunch of events. Tea Sip– I love this Heights tea store!!! Crave Cupcakes– Yumminess.
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My pink, tulle skirt. || Beau’s pink, tulle skirt.
Halloween has never been a holiday I get really excited about. I’ve always viewed it as the gateway holiday to the real party.
Last year, Beau and I didn’t do anything because we were roadtripping to Washington D.C. Not this year! After starting Blog + Dog two weeks ago, I realized Halloween fell on a Wednesday. Brilliant!!! It was a sign we needed to celebrate. This year, we decided to be ballerinas!!! Mommy-daughter ballerinas. She took this costume to the next level of cuteness.
In a previous life, I was a ballerina. It has always been close to my heart even when I am out of shape, less flexible, and entirely unballerina-esque. Beau is the love of my life. I decided to combine the two into a matching costume!!!
Several months ago, I bought a pink tulle skirt because every self-respecting adult woman needs one. It makes me happy. I ordered mine through Amazon, and honestly it is the best $21.99 I have ever spent. It’s lined and comes with a sash, so I can wear it out without flashing anyone. All I had to do was order one for Beau! I headed over to Amazon for hers too. For a steal, I bought hers for $10.89 and had it within the week. Her’s is perfect because it isn’t lined, so she can walk and run freely. Although, I take it off, so she doesn’t pee on it. It’s so cute on her, and, oddly enough, she loves wearing clothes. It’s a children’s size. I cut about eight inches off one side, so she wouldn’t step on it. I used the tulle for a bow in my hair and around her neck. I grabbed an old pair of tights and leotard to complete my look!
One of my amazing friends is a photographer here in Houston; she did me a huge favor and took tons of amazing pictures of us. We took the pictures at The Boardwalk at Towne Lake in Cypress. We were on the dock with the lake and sunset in the background. Beau did such a good job being patient and posing. So many people stopped to watch and comment on how cute Beau looked in her tutu. Several asked if they could take pictures of her! I can’t blame them.
I had such a great time celebrating Halloween with my beautiful girl!!!
