Julie Lucia has created a delightful holiday novel, Best Friends Christmas, that will be a favorite of coming-of-age girls and teens. The charming story with relatable characters will be a hit with young people struggling with emotions and relationships. The reader will relate to the personalities and characteristics of best friends, Allison and Avery, and to the old and new friends who are introduced into their lives.
Best friends since childhood, Allison and Avery, have shared their lives, including "love lives," with one another. The Christmas season is rapidly approaching, and both girls have recently experienced emotional heartache. Nevertheless, they are determined to have a wonderful Christmas holiday season together without the influence or interference of a boyfriend. To solidify their resolve, they create a Christmas Bucket List, a list of activities they plan to do together without men's involvement. Readers will recognize their challenge of trying to ignore possible couple relationships as they compile a list of Winter and Christmas-related fun activities.
Despite the planning, the girls are trapped into meeting young men who tempt them to break their resolve to have a men-free holiday. Allison and Avery are distinctive, recognizable characters who react to situations with wit and determination even when confronted with handsome, attentive young men who have an agenda of their own.
The girls' bucket list includes serving in a soup kitchen, attending a production of the Nutcracker, making gingerbread houses, and watching old romantic movies. Somehow new men have inserted themselves into their lives despite the potential romantic pitfalls. The men add their own take on the bucket list by providing hockey tickets, bowling, sledding, and, oops, romantic walks in the snowy woods.
The girls question the men's motives and their own growing amorous, emotional interest in them. Platonic relationships are disputed as the idealistic girls challenge each other's sincerity with the developing relationships. While each girl tries to protect her best friend from the hurts experienced in the past, can she open-mindedly understand the present situations and predict the future?
This uplifting, quirky, and thought-provoking novel explores the question of how true friendship weathers the storms that come with romantic entanglements. It's a reminder to young women to consider their own choices when it comes to navigating relationships. Can best friends remain "best friends" when romance seems to tear them apart?
From the heartwarming mischievousness of Allison and Avery to the festive escapades awaiting them, Best Friends Christmas will keep readers entertained for hours. So get cozy by a warm fire this holiday season with an engaging story that'll capture your imagination!
While searching through holiday-themed books, readers should definitely add Best Friends Christmas to their Christmas shopping list. Even if the book doesn't enable the reader to find a holiday romance, it will provide an excellent bucket list of fun activities for the season.
Reviewed by: carole
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