A Merry Little Christmas

By: Julia Williams / Narrated By: Penny McDonald

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Ho! Ho! Whatthehell?!?

First, let’s just get past the hokiest part of A Merry Little Christmas: it gets its Christmas cheer from the NAMES for cripes sake! Okay, Tinsel is spelled Tinsall, Holiday is Holliday, there’s a North, a Holly, an enigmatic Santa-like figure who’s all suavely sexy named Michael Nicholas. And that’s it! There’s your festive cheer right there, folks (I just saved you some money and some time!). Cuz other than that? It’s kind of a Year-In-The-Life-Of type audiobook.

It follows three women and their families and this is what you’re in for:
Miscarriage! A severely disabled daughter who’s losing her care. And she’s getting bigger, so she’s heavier and harder to transfer!

Ho ho ho

A teenaged girl who is a total jerk, who snarls and whines and bitches and moans. Through the whole book! A mother who just might be jealous of the little jerk and who is soooo involved in her own life that she gives the girl ample rope for her to hang herself in!

Traumatic brain injury! One that turns a loving, patient man into an unpredictably volatile vile-spewing guy. You just never know when the book is going to have him thundering obscenities at people he loves! Ho ho ho

Teen-aged pregnancy! Losing one’s son through growing apart! How about listening to families who fight and snap at each other all the time?

There. Have I piqued your interest, or are you fleeing for the hills as I should’ve done the first time the teen-aged girl snarled and moaned? And the narration is great. Truly, no fault of Penny McDonald who does a varied cast of characters quite capably. It’s just that when a character makes caustic remarks, she sounds caustic; when a character whines, she whines; when a character bitches, she bitches. This can make an audiobook practically unlistenable. My ears were just begging for a nice Christmas listen and instead, I got WWIII.

I’m trying desperately to think of who might like this book, but for the life of me, I can’t figure it out. So, there you are.

Have I saved you money? Have I saved you 9+ hours of listening mayhem?

You’re welcome (and ho ho ho)!