Back in 2008, three popular young-adult authors decided to bring a little romantic warmth to the winter months, so they sat down and wrote these three charming love stories.
But they wrote them in an interesting way – each of them wrote a separate love story about different characters, but they all meet each other on Christmas Eve in Gracetown, a snow-capped town where nothing interesting ever happens…
In the first story, “The Jubilee Express” by Maureen Johnson, a decent girl with a comic book name (and those are her words, not mine) Jubilee Dougal finds herself stranded in Gracetown after the train she used to rescue her parents from prison stops before impassable snow drifts. Fleeing the train in front of a horde of loud fans, she seeks refuge in the Waffle House restaurant, where she is soon joined by a handsome and mysterious stranger, who claims that his mother would drown him if he did not offer her accommodation in their home. Should she accept such an invitation that night when everything seems to be going downhill for her?
“I realize Jubilee is a bit of a stripper name. You probably think I have heard the call of the pole.”
“The Jubilee Express” by Maureen Johnson
In A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, John Green tells us what happens to a group of friends who are preparing to spend Christmas watching movies, when they are asked to deliver a Twister game to a nearby Waffle House because it was requested by the cheerleaders who were sent there (at least by the already waffled Waffle House employees) by the heaven itself. How much trouble can you get into in a relatively short drive from home to Waffle House?
If the title of each story did not contain the name of the corresponding author, I could assume from the style of writing that this was written by John Green. Almost every dialogue in the story takes place through the relentless skirmishes and mutual competition of the characters in delivering low verbal blows to their closest friends. A typical juggling slightly cheeky humor that even I, a 34-year-old, can’t get enough of.
“If by that you mean that I dislike celebrity magazines, prefer food to anorexia, refuse to watch TV shows about models, and hate the color pink, then yes. I am proud to be not really a girl.”
A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green
The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle is the last story in this collection, which tries to give an optimistic outcome and a rounded end to both this book and the love story of two young people who are interrupted, but one of them still takes seriously the promise he gave to the other while still were expensive.
It is clear that this kind of reading, written just for the holiday atmosphere, must have a happy ending, that is, happy endings. But in order not to make everything completely predictable, the authors inhabited the pre-Christmas Gracetown with unconventional characters and miraculous and mysterious hints of the fantastic, and brought generous portions of humor, excitement and warmth into the stories themselves.
“Christmas is never over, unless you want it to be.”
The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle
If you love romantic romantic-adult literature or these authors, you won’t have anything to complain about. This book will be a good choice for you on those cold evenings when at the end of the day we like to wrap ourselves in warm blankets while it is snowing outside.
Mischievous Words by Marta 