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A review by jenbsbooks
Every Day Is Christmas by Karen Schaler
3.0
I enjoyed this ... our MC is aware of "A Christmas Carol" and figures out what is happening, and what to expect. Instead of random ghosts, it's her mother, who passed away in a car accident on Christmas Eve 20+ years ago. Now our MC doesn't care for Christmas, or others, just money, money, money (Scrooge). The future was a little too much ... in my opinion.
Just as Scrooge made a complete turn-around, what Alexis sees ... her past/present and future is enough to completely change her view of herself, those around her, and Christmas. Were we expecting anything different for a "retelling" of a Christmas Carol? I liked the little tidbit where the one little girl could see Alexis and her mother during the visitation (and remembered Alexis when she came again). The "present" confused me a little (just "present" in general, some was still a little "past" and "future" but the current time period/Marc).
No title tie-in.
Did we ever find out how she ended things with Steve (just never saw him again after that night)? Any real connection to seeing Justin that night (what was he doing there, was it ever addressed?)
There were two narrators - Alexis is the main character and has the majority of the chapters in her head (3rd person/past tense). Then there were a few chapters from Justin's POV (3rd person/past tense), and I'm not sure I was sold on the switch to his, why it was needed. Otherwise we(the reader) wouldn't know as much about Justin (because Alexis hasn't deigned to find out anything about her employees) but still, it seemed a bit of an odd switch.
I went mainly with the audio, but checked out the Kindle copy a few times. I wished the Table of Contents made some differentiation between Alexis's chapters and Justin's ... but I guess the book didn't even do that with Headers or anything. Easier to figure out the switch in audio, as there was a change in narrators.
One thing I note - when a song is sung in the writing, does the narrator sing or speak it in the audiobook? Here, the female narrator Bahni Turpin, spoke the songs (mostly Christmas carols) ... I don't know how I would have felt about her singing them, but the monotone recitation of the lyrics was grating. The male narrator JD Jackson sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and I appreciated that, over just speaking the words.
I guess this was made into a Hallmark movie, back in 2018 (unlike the book, not great ratings, 5.8/10 on IMDB). This book wasn't published until 2023 ... so was it originally just written as a screenplay, then into a novel? In the movie, Alexis and Justin are black. I had assumed as much from the pick of the narrators, but there was nothing in the book that actually said that (not that it matters either way, it just seems the characters ARE described somewhat in most books). Justin is described as "tall, dark and handsome" but nothing more specific unless I missed it.
Clean - no sex or profanity
Just as Scrooge made a complete turn-around, what Alexis sees ... her past/present and future is enough to completely change her view of herself, those around her, and Christmas. Were we expecting anything different for a "retelling" of a Christmas Carol? I liked the little tidbit where the one little girl could see Alexis and her mother during the visitation (and remembered Alexis when she came again). The "present" confused me a little (just "present" in general, some was still a little "past" and "future" but the current time period/Marc).
No title tie-in.
Did we ever find out how she ended things with Steve (just never saw him again after that night)? Any real connection to seeing Justin that night (what was he doing there, was it ever addressed?)
There were two narrators - Alexis is the main character and has the majority of the chapters in her head (3rd person/past tense). Then there were a few chapters from Justin's POV (3rd person/past tense), and I'm not sure I was sold on the switch to his, why it was needed. Otherwise we(the reader) wouldn't know as much about Justin (because Alexis hasn't deigned to find out anything about her employees) but still, it seemed a bit of an odd switch.
I went mainly with the audio, but checked out the Kindle copy a few times. I wished the Table of Contents made some differentiation between Alexis's chapters and Justin's ... but I guess the book didn't even do that with Headers or anything. Easier to figure out the switch in audio, as there was a change in narrators.
One thing I note - when a song is sung in the writing, does the narrator sing or speak it in the audiobook? Here, the female narrator Bahni Turpin, spoke the songs (mostly Christmas carols) ... I don't know how I would have felt about her singing them, but the monotone recitation of the lyrics was grating. The male narrator JD Jackson sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and I appreciated that, over just speaking the words.
I guess this was made into a Hallmark movie, back in 2018 (unlike the book, not great ratings, 5.8/10 on IMDB). This book wasn't published until 2023 ... so was it originally just written as a screenplay, then into a novel? In the movie, Alexis and Justin are black. I had assumed as much from the pick of the narrators, but there was nothing in the book that actually said that (not that it matters either way, it just seems the characters ARE described somewhat in most books). Justin is described as "tall, dark and handsome" but nothing more specific unless I missed it.
Clean - no sex or profanity