Let It Snow - Book review

Hello, it is Thursday, but today sees a new episode of the Quiet as Mouse Book Club And it's kind of a little bit of a Christmas edition. I'm going to be reviewing Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle. This is a set of three short stories first published in 2008, and they intertwine with each other Which is nice, and I didn't realize that before I started reading. All three are romances. The first is Maureen Johnson's The Jubilee Express. We meet Jubilee, or Julie, who is forced to get a train on Christmas Eve Because her parents have been arrested. She meets a guy called Jeb on the train, and a bunch of cheerleaders And then the train gets stuck in Gracetown due to a massive snowstorm, And then all three stories take place in Gracetown in the aftermath of this. In this first one we follow Julie who is Taken in by a guy called Stuart and his family for Christmas, due to her strandedness. In the second story, by John Green, A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, The cheerleaders have decamped from the train to a Waffle House. And we join Tobin and his friends the Duke and JP As they attempt to get to this Waffle House to join the cheerleaders, and their friend who is working there. And it's kind of a quest, an adventure. And the final story is The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle And there we meet Addie who is the ex-girlfriend of Jeb from the train. She is dealing with the break-up, she is a barista And she is charged with picking up a pig from a pet shop for her friend. I enjoyed reading this book, it's a quick read Which is good for me with my relationship with reading at the moment. And the short stories aren't particularly short either, So if, like me, you tend not to get on too well with short stories, I wouldn't let that put you off. And it also helps that characters pop up over the course of the book, over different stories, So you get a bit more closure, you're not just there and gone, Which is when I have a bit of trouble of short stories. I would say when ranking the three tales, I would rank them in the order they are in the book. The first story, Maureen Johnson's, was my favourite, and then I'd probably put the final story last. Which is a little unfortunate, because ideally you want the book to build instead of petering out, But of course different people will have different relationships with those stories, They will have different favourites, in which case they won't have that problem. The Jubilee Express was the most enjoyable for me. I liked the narrator, Julie, the most, Which I think helps. And I found the characters in general to be likeable And the story likable, and it was well paced, I thought. The John Green story, I overall enjoyed it. But it had this sort of madcap chase element to it which I never entirely got on board with. I wasn't entirely on board with their reasoning for leaving a nice warm house To go out in a blizzard to go to a Waffle House. But it was a fun story to read, I found, and it had some fun characters as well. I think I might prefer the story in the final tale, even though it was my least favourite, But I just didn't get on particularly well with the narrator, Addie. The point of the story is that she is self-absorbed and a bit whiny, And that makes her a bit of an annoying first-person narrator. It's not the easiest head to be inside. So although I liked the story it wasn't as enjoyable to read as the other two. It's also the story where we get to see the separate plots from the three tales tying together the most, Which I did appreciate, although it was a little bit confusing. There's a slight issue in the book with characters not knowing other characters names, Or the character is known as a nickname so you need to remember the character's nickname and actual name Because they might be known as different things in different stories. So I just felt like that element left the reader With a little bit more work to do, which didn't necessarily have to be there. But it's definitely a fun book to read, and I'm glad I read it. It's not overtly Christmasy either, I found. It's more of a setting than a theme. So if you don't want to be hit over the head with Christmas every two seconds Then you should be okay with this book. If you fancy reading a young adult seasonal romance, then this book is worth a look. I will give Let It Snow 3.6 out of 5. So that's my little Christmasy review for this year. I've had two reviews this week. This one is significantly shorter than the last. If you have any thoughts on Let It Snow do let me know in the comments below. And do you have any other Christmasy books that you would recommend? Because I'd quite like to read another next Christmas. Let's move across to the end screen. If you would like to see more book reviews for me, I will put a playlist below me here. My latest video will be below me there. And if you fancy subscribing to my channel or visiting my website, then you can do too beside me here. I hope you have a wonderful day and I will see you soon!