Review: Tis The Season for Christmas Stories (5 stars)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 20, 2013
Disheartened to say that though I liked Darien Gee's latest novel taking place in Avalon (Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society) I didn't really love it. If you have previously read "Friendship Bread" and "Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society" besides a mention and some actually sightings you don't get to follow up with characters from the previous novel that much.I on the other hand ended up loving mostly all of the 12 short stories included in this novella. I generally do like most Christmas themed books. There were only two stories that I found to be sad and not uplifting (Chapter 6: Late Bloomers and Chapter 8: And We're Wassailing) but found that besides those two that I loved the other stories.Ms. Gee does keep a narrative thread working through all of the stories about an anonymous donor and we do revisit characters that appeared in the first story and then the last. I hope in her next Avalon novel that Ms. Gee revisits some of the characters like Mary and Daryl who appeared in Chapter 1 and 12.Ms. Gee includes recipes and also provides details on how to make friendship bread. I do have plans on making some this holiday season since the recipe looks to be very easy.I recommend to those fans who want to catch up with the town of Avalon.