Let it Snow, by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

Hey all! 
I hope that you're having a great holiday! 

I have (at least) three posts scheduled for this week! I'm finally back at it! Between being in Australia, coming back to lots of catching up and christmas preparations, going to my grandparent's for a week and other things, I haven't had the most time to read or write. But I have time now! :) 

One thing is, I'm missing 4 books until I can complete my 2016 reading challenge, and there's 4 days of 2016 left... ^^ I'll try to finish Heir of Fire, but I'm also thinking of re-reading some middle grade books that are both books I used to love and that are quick reads? That's not cheating, right? I've been wanting to re-read them anyway, and they're a series. I might just go through them and review the series as a whole? 

Anyway, I just finished reading Let It Snow, by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle. This is a re-read for me, but the last time I read it I didn't have this blog, so this is my second read but first review. 

"An ill-timed storm on Christmas Eve buries the residents of Gracetown under multiple feet of snow and causes quite a bit of chaos. One brave soul ventures out into the storm from her stranded train and sets off a chain of events that will change quite a few lives. Over the next three days one girl takes a risky shortcut with an adorable stranger, three friends set out to win a race to the Waffle House (and the hash brown spoils), and the fate of a teacup pig falls into the hands of a lovesick barista.

A trio of today's bestselling authors - John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle - bring all the magic of the holidays to life in three hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and kisses that will steal your breath away."



Ok so this book is three stories in one - each by a different author. I'll discuss each separatly then together. It's difficult to review short stories so I'll stick to impressions :) 

1 - The Jubilee Express, by Maureen Johnson
This short story was about Jubilee, a girl who is on her way to her grandparent's house after her parents are sent to jail for being in a shopping accident over a ceramic christmas house. Her train is stuck in the snow, and she leaves the train to go to a warm waffle house, surrounded by cheerleaders. There, she meets Stuart, who invites her to stay over at his house with his family. 

This story was probably my favorite of the three - it's incredibly cute, rediculous, improbable, but it works out so well! Jubilee is a great character, and Stuart is so helpful. 


2 - A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, by John Green 
This short story is about three friends - JP, the Duke and Tobin, who are stuck in Tobin's house watching James Bond movies during the snowstorm. JP gets a phonecall from the waffle house, saying that there are 14 cheerleaders there who want a game of Twister. Being guys, JP and Tobin rush to the waffle house, while Angie, aka the Duke, follows her friends reluctantly, for the love of hashbrowns. They get into a car accident and go through the snow to the waffle house. Angie is bothered by the situation, because she has a long-lasting crush on Tobin, her best friend. 

This was cute too, but I got a bit confused with the plot. It felt like it went all over the place very quickly. John Green seems to have a thing for car crashes (Paper Towns reference =P). I did like the way it ended, (which I won't mention because of spoilers, but by the blurb you probably could figure out anyway), but I felt like the road to that point was blurry. Super cute though! 


3 - The Patron Saint of Pigs, by Lauren Myracle 
This  short story is about Addie, who is crushed because she thinks that she and her boyfriend broke up because he never met up with her at Starbucks like they planned. Little did she know that he was on the same train as Jubilee, and was thus stuck in a waffle house, without a phone. She promises one of her friends to pick up a teacup pig on the following day, but forgets. Then, a search for the pig happens. 

I liked this story too, but I felt like it was messy. Addie is very, very self-centered, and every character makes a point of mentioning it, as well as every plot point. I thought that her and her friends were annoying and shallow. But I really loved the way it ended! At the end, all of the couples in the three stories end up meeting at Starbucks by accident and exchange stories about the waffle house and the train problem. 


All 3 stories
Ok so this is difficult. Reading above, it's probably clear that I liked some stories more than others. They're all connected, though... 

This book was good for christmas - it went over a range of traditions and possibilities, christmas magic and everything. 

But it was so, so so fluffy and cheesy. I'm not someone who will reach out to a book that has too much fluff or is too corny. The other day on tv, there was a show where one guy told his girlfriend "Your father was a thief; he took all of the stars from the sky to put them in your eyes". 

CRINGE NO NOPE

I mean I like cuteness. I take shipping in books seriously and love the fuzzy feeling you get when two characters (or people) you ship like crazy get together. Sometimes my favorite parts are when the two shipped characters are together and are just sweet - like sitting on the roof and talking or teasing each other. I read YA, cuteness is a part of a YA-reader's culture.

But mushiness like that is too much. And this book easily fell linto being like that. Yet it was still very sweet. 

I liked the connections between the stories. Every single story mentioned the other ones in some way, notably through characters. One character that makes an appearance in every story is Tinfoil Man - a guy who is covered in aluminum foil from head to toe. He is mentioned once in each story, is kind of a guide for each character, by accident. I also enjoyed the fact that each of the characters meet in the end. 

The funny thing is, you could obviously tell that different people wrote each of the parts - the writing styles were all very different. 


Wow this review got ramble-y. Anyway I'm giving this a 3.5/5 feathers! 

Have you read Let It Snow? What did you think? Let me know! 

Also, what is your go-to winter read? I'd love reccomendations! 

Have a good rest of 2016!

Stay bookish,