Who said mistakes have to be bad?It’s Christmas break and I’m alone. My best friend is off with the dance team to the Bahama’s and I’m at home, trying to pad my college application by volunteering with Safety Net Mentors, a program that pairs teens with kids in need—and if I finally get to talk to my life-long crush, I’m okay with that.Everything is going according to plan until I discover that … plan until I discover that not only is my ex-best friend, Grayson back, but he’s also volunteering. And we get paired with siblings.
Great.
I not only have to talk to him but I have to spend time with him and his mentee. Which seems doable as long as neither of us bring up the past.
Which seems harder to do than say.
Now I’m so confused, I can’t keep my mind straight. There’s something Grayson isn’t telling me and feelings that creep up that weren’t there before.
And I don’t know what to do when what felt like the biggest Christmas break mistake doesn’t feel that way anymore. If only I could figure out what everything meant, I just might survive with my heart intact.
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3.5
Spanish & English Opinion
Trope: friends-to-enemies-to-lovers
Story: short read. It has depth and a nice message but the length of the story makes it feel a bit incomplete.
Characters: cute but I wish we could have read more
Chemistry: great! The MCs are a really good couple
ESP ::
El libro tiene un mensaje positivo y un background interesante, pero es una lectura corta y por lo mismo, me quedé con la sensación de que no pudimos leer el desarrollo completo de los personajes y las situaciones.
Hubo incógnitas en mi mente: ¿por qué Grayson actúa hostil hacia Ellie? Él desaparece por completo, pero luego la busca, sin embargo, nada se ha resuelto o ha cambiado con Gray… Aún cuando se pueden deducir o interpretar, es inevitable sentir que las cosas no culminan cómo podrían.
El libro es entretenido y el mensaje de ayuda a otros y amistad incondicional es muy positivo.
ENG ::
I like the positive message of the book, to help others, unconditional friendship and Christmas spirit. The plot is interesting but it feels incomplete because of the length of the book. This is why it’s hard to make short stories, it’s difficult to finish the story in a way that feels satisfying enough without extending the content.
I kept wondering: Why Grayson is hostile towards Ellie? He decides to look fit her and try to approach her but nothing changed in his life so… ?? I mean, you can infer the answers but still, it felt incomplete for me.
The writing style is nice as always, the story is cute and the message is nice.
As always by this author, well written characters… good storyline.
I personally did not care for this book. It started out okay, but just went downhill from there for me. Ellie, the main character is repeatedly rude to someone she once considered her best friend because there’s something he can’t talk to her about. She continues to act impulsively throughout the book even though multiple times her actions are called into question and she says that she will do better for the sake of the child she is mentoring, yet does not. Her mom, more than once, tries to get her to understand that there may be more to the story than she knows and that maybe she should cut her friend some slack, but she refuses. The whole thing is all about her and the hurt she experienced because her best friend left and now he’s back and he says he can’t talk to her about what’s going on. Not once does she stop to really consider him and what he might be going through. In fact, she inwardly coaches herself NOT to have compassion or sympathy for him (because he hasn’t given in to her demand to know). Not once does she choose to selflessly show her support or friendship to him even though he isn’t ready or able to share with her what’s going on. Instead she throws a fit each time she asks and he won’t talk. And then in the end, he finally tells her what’s going on and she’s all happy and in love with him, yet she hasn’t learned a single thing or matured in any way during the course of the book. The characters are teens and I guess that may be the way many teens act, but it is not a book I would read again or recommend, especially to a teen because I would hope that they would at least be in the process of outgrowing this type of behavior. In fact, my 15 year old daughter and I recently talked about a situation where she had a friend that kept pushing her to talk about something that she just could not talk to her about and how it was frustrating to have to deal with that. It shows a lack of maturity. My daughter has worked to be different with her friends and show them that she’s there for them whether they spill all their secrets or not.
WHen Grayson, Ellie’s best friend, left town in summer without saying goodbye she was devastated. But now is Christmas’s break and she is going to volunteer and help some kids have the best time ever. But Grayson is back in town and they are paired in mentoring two siblings. Can they be friends again and make two little children happy? Christmas’s magic will do the trick.