Review: Masterful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2012
This book starts out with a bit of mystery, in that you really don't know where the author is going to take you.He introduces us to a nice, young, skilled but unseasoned event planner.  It seems at first that she will be the central character.  She quickly meets the author's modern-day version of Jacob Marley (from "A Christmas Carol").  This gentleman reveals a plan to introduce a better meaning of Christmas to twelve individuals who have never met each other.  It quickly seems that he will become the central character.Then the author masterfully shifts to a short story of each of the twelve individuals, each going through a particular challenge in life.  Wrapped into each story are relevant scriptural messages, life lessons, a tie to the master plot, and some guidance on what we should take away from the story.After building the twelve stories, the author throws in a surprise which I won't spoil here (but it involves the event planner herself).In the end, I'm not sure that a central character ever emerges, but the book's theme becomes overwhelmingly clear.This book is very well written.  Each of the many elements I've described above would seem at first to be unrelated.  However, the author artfully ties them together in a captivating and timely (whether or not it's Christmas season) message.  If you like Christmas (for any reason) and you want a quick reminder of the "reason for the season" or you just want to be able to give Christmas a little more perspective, treat yourself to this book.