My Thoughts:

I loved how this story used four different perspectives! Especially because the different perspectives were relevant to understanding the main characters and the activity taking place. You had Olivia, her boyfriend Malcolm and then her mom and dad’s perspective.

Olivia is coming home for Christmas with her new boyfriend, Malcolm. The thing is though, Malcolm was actually her neighbor growing up and so their families know each other very well. Olivia’s mother does not like that family and this has Olivia concerned about how her relationship will be viewed and maybe not even accepted. But Olivia’s mother Jane has a lot more issues going on than just not liking the neighbors.

Olivia’s mother, Jane, has turned into a dangerous perfectionist, angry at everyone and everything that moves or touches her things in a way she doesn’t like. It’s ruining her relationships with her husband and her daughter, to say the least. So Olivia and her dad have a plan this year, they’re going to stage an intervention and try to have the messiest Christmas possible to get Jane to see that’s she completely unreasonable. But some divine intervention also plays out and puts Jane in a position where she cannot refuse the intervention.

Having Jane’s perspective in the book was actually very helpful. It allowed me to relate with her and understand at least where she was coming from and how she was feeling. Without it, I think she would have felt like a very angry and flat character. She’s really struggling inside and it’s a battle she just doesn’t know how to win. But having the love and support of everyone around her, eventually does help her see some things about herself.

Olivia and Malcolm’s relationship was fun to watch develop as well. They’re both so busy with their own lives that there are moments when they leave one another confused because of some mixed signals. This is also part of the “messy Christmas” theme in this book. There are literal examples and figurative examples. Malcolm works as a Veterinarian and his schedule is busy, which means him and Olivia can sometimes go long stretches without seeing one another. Even when they return home to see their parents for Christmas, Malcolm tries to stay away from Olivia’s home because of her mom.

A quick novella-sized read that took me 24 hours to get through, but filled with so many lessons and heartfelt moments that I had a hard time putting it down. Not to mention that my anxiousness over Olivia’s mom certainly kept me reading to see what would happen. Perfectly adorable Christmastime read for someone looking to remember why Christmas is important and how family is central to our celebrations and remembrance of what Christmas truly is.