Christmas Jars

Series: Christmas Jars, Book 1

Written and Narrated By: Jason F. Wright

Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins

A sweet and predictable little Christmas listen

Oh I dunno—Sometimes I like sweet and sappy little listens where I just KNOW how things are going to turn out. So I can recommend Christmas Jars for that even if I can’t recommend it for the style of its writing (TOTally Tells through elementary writing instead of Showing us through well-crafted storytelling). And I can recommend it if you’re ready to dismiss said writing in favor of ticking off each tear-inducing box: A baby left abandoned because the mother knows the father is cruel and abusive; A young woman whose apartment has been ransacked discovers anonymous generosity and is taken by it; A family filled with love and laughter, always giving of themselves; Christmas being the time of year where one seeks and feels the pain of one’s fellow man; The death of a dear one, NATurally at Christmas; A community which will come together to embrace one of its own.

So see? When you’ve got all that, I’d look like a total cow (No offense to cows) if I panned the book. I mean, normally that’s right up my alley.

It’s just that there’s this: I shed not a single tear. None. Zippo. Nada. I didn’t even get a lump in my throat, so whereas I got a few mental ya-yas out when each box was ticked off and expanded on, I can’t say that the book made me feel so much that I’m chomping at the bit to go further into the whole, very long, unUTTERably long, series.

Hope Jensen is our young heroine. Abandoned at birth and brought up by a loving single mom, she finds herself completely alone after her mother’s death, and she seeks to find fulfillment by climbing a career ladder in journalism. When she discovers money in a jar left for her after a break-in that has left her feeling vulnerable and violated, she decides that finding whoever left it, and discovering WHY they’d do such a thing, would make a great tell-all newspaper article.

She finds a family who might be behind it and gets to know them, pretending she’s a student writing a story, rather than a journalist on the scent’s trail. Naturally, the family is very, like, VERY loving and soon they welcome her, this lonely young woman, into their family circle, making her feel included.

She skips out on them after the piece goes public then tragedy strikes. There are many an “It’s a Wonderful Life” scenes and moments that follow and, yes, it’s all very touching, but no, other reviewers cried whereas I did not.

But hey—The story hits all the right notes so, as I was weaving around Walmart looking for chocolate-covered cherries for my brother-in-law’s Christmas Host Gift, I was actually quite satisfied with the story, lack of depth and everybody being all goody-two-shoes and all. And Jason F. Wright’s narration was okay, he having a voice that didn’t screech, wasn’t uneven, had warm tones.

While I s’pose that there are certainly much better out there, sometimes one doesn’t need a whole lot of depth while listening; sometimes it’s such a relief to listen to a sweet story about sweet people doing sweet things.

…esPECially if you’re in Walmart, and you’re ready to brain the Christmas shopper who just got the last box of chocolates…!