Confession: I cannot wait to see what this review looks like with snowflakes falling all over it.
Snowflakes aside, John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle’s collection of three interlinked stories, Let it Snow, needs no extra magic, no snazzy sparkly gimmick. This is the perfect book to read right now as the holidays speed ever closer and you might find yourself getting sucked into the spending frenzy and away from the true spirit of the season. Who isn’t up for a little holiday romance? And you’d have to be crazy to walk away from any book with those three authors listed all together on the cover. Let it Snow does not disappoint. It’s cheery, clever, just sweet enough and certainly good and snowy. This book is like a feel-good romantic comedy that is smart enough that it doesn’t make you feel guilty spending time on it. Not life-changing, but certainly plenty entertaining. Perfect for an afternoon of reading on the couch over your holiday.
The stories in the collection are loosely linked, and the sassy, funny tone runs through all three, tying them together in style and voice. The first (Johnson’s) is about a girl named Jubilee, who ends up stranded in a small town in the middle of nowhere after the train she was traveling on gets stuck in a snowstorm. She goes home with a fellow passenger, a charming stranger, and finds that this Christmas is full of unexpected twists. The second story (Green’s) zeros in on a trio of friends who try to make it through the same blizzard to their local Waffle House, drawn there by the promise of hash browns and cheerleaders (you have to read it to get it, but trust me, it’s funny). The last one (Myracle’s) follows a self-absorbed girl on a twisty road from heartbreak back to true love, with lots of Starbucks coffee and a teacup pig playing key roles in the drama.
This is light stuff, and as my friend at the bookstore said, “If you’re in the mood for a bunch of stories about hyper-clever teens falling in love with other hyper-clever teens then this is what you need.” The cleverness is almost too much in places (I mean, where were all those crazy smart and sarcastic teens when I was in high school?), but it makes for funny situations and engaging characters. It put me in the mood for waffles and a James Bond movie marathon and steamy mochas. And snow. Lots and lots of snow.
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Let it Snow is published by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group.
Shelf Elf: read, write, rave. 