The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘secret santa’

Release: October 1, 2007

You guessed it, this is part of my Christmas Reading Challenge. This is my 4th book in the challenge. I am having so much fun with this. While the books haven’t been as great as I’d hoped, I am still glad I’m taking part.

In Secret Santa, we delve into the lives of a group of high schoolers. And, as you can tell by the title, the whole school takes part in Secret Santa. They all draw names from a hat and while some are happy with their choices, others make sure theirs are pre-chosen.

Noelle is our main character. She is a sophomore and has a HUGE crush on her neighbor Charlie. He’s a senior and one of the most popular players in the school. Although Noelle picks Charlie’s brother’s name out of the hat, she still buys gifts for Charlie. Ryan (Charlie’s brother), on the other hand is doing some great things for the person he picked, they are just a little confused about who is buying for whom.

Lily is Noelle’s best friend. Over the summer, she suffered a really bad breakup but is working really hard to make her Secret Santa happy. Lily is buying presents for Connor, who is the boyfriend of the second most popular girl in school, Shawna. But Lily keeps getting her wires crossed and buying presents that Connor is not a fan of.

Instead, Lily’s presents are more suited for Simon. He is the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school, Amber. But Amber isn’t sure if she still wants to date Simon, so she pre-chooses someone who is uber hot in hopes of getting a date.

And finally, we have Celia. Celia moved from California and somehow got stuck being friends with Amber and Shawna. She doesn’t really “like” them per say. She does as she is told, dresses as she is told and likes as she is told. Until now. She drew Jake’s name out of the hat and is bound and determined to get a date. But one of Jake’s co-workers, who is sadly named Froggy, gets gifts for Celia. He feels the way for her that she feels for Jake.

Ok, as confusing as that is - it is much easier than the confusion in the book. The Secret Santa swap sounded like a good idea when I first got the book, but the more I read into it, the more I realized it wasn’t that great of an idea. People were getting mad about their boyfriends and girlfriends getting gifts from others, some were trying really hard to get the perfect gifts and others just left theirs out completely.

Every couple of pages the main character changed. Right as soon as you’d get into the presents that Noelle was getting, you’d be thrusted into the crappy presents that Connor was getting. You’d be pulled out as soon as your got sucked in.

I thought this book had promise and you always knew who you were reading about, but there were so many characters, it was very easy to get confused. And while it ended happily for most, there was just so much drama and confusion throughout, it didn’t end happily with me.

I give Secret Santa two bookmarks.

Christmas Reading Challenge:
1. Ex-Mas
2. Snowed In
3. The Christmas Sweater

This tease comes from another one of my Christmas Reading Challenge books.

pg43 of Secret Santa: “I asked Mindy Yee to pull the names of the three hottest seniors out of the bag ahead of time,” Amber explained.  “They’re great boyfriend material. And we can’t be Secret Santas to just anyone!”

“B-b-but that defeats the whole purpose of being a Secret Santa!” Celia Sputtered.

Now Celia may have other reasons for not wanting to be set up with a Secret Santa, but I like her thinking. I’m a great fan of the holiday spirit.

What are you reading this week?

So, after my post about the holiday books I wanted, I couldn’t make myself wait. I went to the mall twice this week and both times left with holiday books. I am so excited to start reading these, but I am making myself wait until after Thanksgiving. The countdown is on until I can start Christmasing

Bought with giftcards: