On top of that, a cute yet high-class boy from Finley’s boarding school (Arthur) has unexpectedly shown up in Christmas Oklahoma for the holidays; changes that Finley made to the town’s website led Finley’s classmates to believe that Christmases in Christmas Oklahoma are a lot more epic than they really are. Now, to save face, Finley is forced to show Arthur and his Aunt Esha the best Christmas ever. So, This Is Christmas is a cute Christmas-themed romantic comedy best suited for teens and young adults. Since this book takes place over Finley’s Christmas holidays, I highly recommend reading this book in the winter. So, This Is Christmas would be a great read for lovers of Let It Snow by Green/ Johnson/ Myracle, What Light by Jay Asher, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Cohn and Levithan, and All I Want for Christmas by Wendy Loggia. This book deals with themes such as love and heartbreak, family, change versus tradition, convention versus rebellion, expectation versus reality, growing up, fear of failure, identity, sexuality, loneliness, and vulnerability. The moral of the story is that like conker (Arthur’s game in which each person has a chestnut tied to the end of a string and the players take turns trying to break each others’ chestnuts), even when things get tough, you need to keep on working hard, or keep on “swinging”, in order to achieve your goals; “But with me, I need to keep swinging, too. Until I get what I want.” Overall, I thought that So, This Is Christmas was a fun Christmas story full of family, love, holiday magic, and heartwarming moments. I absolutely loved the Christmas-themed setting; especially the fact that all the places in Christmas Oklahoma had Christmas-themed names (e.g., Gingerbread Café, Claus Kitchen, Santa’s Sleigh Repair, etc.). Similarly, I enjoyed reading about all the festive holiday adventures that Finley and Arthur go on, such as a hilarious reindeer sleigh ride, a disastrous cookie baking experience, and a surprisingly good Christmas parade. Without giving anything away, I also enjoyed that there were some unexpected twists throughout the book, and I loved how this novel featured more than one romance story. Lastly, I liked that Tracy Andreen chose unique names for her characters (e.g., Finley, Arthur, Esha, Bronwyn, Ayisha, Thea, etc.) because it made it easier for me to differentiate one character from another. Some cons include that there was a lot of instances of unplanned teen pregnancies, which I thought was unnecessary. I also found that some parts of this book dragged on and could have been a little more concise. Furthermore, since I read So, This Is Christmas in the summer, I found that this book was hard to get into; it would have been more seasonally-appropriate to read this book in the winter. Overall, I thought that this book was very cute and heartwarming – it would make a perfect gift for any teens and young adults on your Christmas list! I gave this book a rating of 8 out of 10. This review was written for "The Nerd Daily". Click here to view this article on "The Nerd Daily's" website or copy & paste the following URL into your web browser: https://thenerddaily.com/review-so-this-is-christmas-by-tracy-andreen/
Will you be picking up a copy of So, This Is Christmas when it comes out on October 5th?
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