Finished 11-24-08, rating 2.5/5, romance, pub. 1982

“It isn’t that I don’t like Christmas,” she tried to qualify her aversion to the season.  “It’s all the fuss that goes along with it.  It’s the decorations and the gift-giving and all the meaningless things that go along with them.  Too many people are making too much money off a day that’s supposed to be a religious holiday.  I guess I believe the meaning of Christmas has become lost under the fancy foil wrappings and bright ribbons.”            -Chapter 4

Leslie has a broken leg, a dislike for the Christmas season, and an aunt who will take her into her Vermont home while Leslie heals.  Her aunt Patsy’s new neighbors are a handsome man and his daughter who draw Leslie into the holiday spirit even as she tries to fight off the jolly pair.  Taggert and Holly include Leslie in their family and hope that she will want to stick around permanently.

I remember reading Janet Dailey in junior high and high school.  She wrote a romance for each of the states and I tried to collect them all.  I picked this up at a used book sale for 25 cents thinking I’d take a trip down memory lane.  I guess, as with many things I read when I was in junior high, it didn’t really hold up all that well.  I thought the writing was pretty bad at the beginning, but once I was drawn into the sweet story I didn’t think it was distractingly bad.  The story was charming, but as with most short romances it wasn’t a fulfilling read.