Title: Talk Santa to Me
Author: Linda Urban
Genre: YA Contemporary / Romance / Holiday
Publication Date: September 27th, 2022
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a complimentary earc to review! All opinions are my own.
“Francie was born in a stable. Really. Granted, it was the deluxe model with the light-up star on the roof, one of the many Christmas items for sale at her family’s Hollydale Holiday Shop. Their holiday gift empire also includes the Santa School, which was founded by Francie’s beloved grandpa, who recently passed away.
Francie’s always loved working in the shop, but lately Aunt Carole has been changing everything with her ideas for too-slick, Hollywood-inspired Santas and horrible holiday-themed employee uniforms. Aunt Carole’s vision will ruin all the charm and nostalgia Francie loves about her family’s business…unless she does something about it.
But this winter is about more than preserving the magic of Christmas. Francie is saving up for a car and angling to kiss the cute boy who works at the tree lot next door—hopefully it will be good enough to wipe her fiasco of a first kiss from her memory.
As the weather outside gets more and more frightful, can Francie pull off the holiday of her dreams?” (Goodreads)
I love a good Christmas themed book! It really gets me in the mood for the season, even if I’m not exactly reading it in the right season. 😂
The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Francie. She has been in the business of Christmas since her birth. I liked the story of that which was included as a prologue. It was a nice touch! Her family runs the business and since the loss of her Grandpa who played Santa it just hasn’t been the same. Her aunt doesn’t help either because she is more of a Scrooge than anything! This was also another good inclusion because there is always that one family member who isn’t like the others and it adds to the dismay that Francie deals with when it comes to working at the family business.
Francie wasn’t a bad character but I wasn’t a fan of her journey to love. I thought that the book would have more romance with the guy at the tree lot but it didn’t start until halfway through the book. She also seems to spend more time worrying about her first kiss and wanting to know if she is a good kisser so she kisses other people so that they can rate her. It just wasn’t a plotline that I very much liked.
The other characters in the book are fine. I don’t think any really stood out besides her friend. They had a good friendship and I liked seeing them interact. The others were a tad bit flat and were there to help add to the plot but not in a big way.
The best part of the book was the Christmassy vibes! It made me ready for the season.
Overall, this was a good book. I liked a majority of it and only had a couple issues with the rest.
TheGeekishBrunette 