Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Review: Dating Mr. December






Dating Mr. December by Phillipa Ashley
Genre: Christmas, Romance
Pages: 294 (ebook)
Source: My Bookshelf
Author's Website | Blog
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:
After a disastrous discovery loses Emma Tremayne both her boyfriend and her high-profile PR job in London, she moves to the Lake District to recover her confidence and live a simpler life. She loves her new job with the tourist board, and she's settling into small town life just fine-until she ends up responsible for a fundraising effort that calls for twelve naked mountain rescuers.

My Rating:


My Review:

After being fired from her previous job in a dramatic fashion, Emma is forced to take a job in small town Lake District where she takes on the fundraising effort of the mountain rescuers.  When she comes up with the cute (and sexy) fundraiser of creating a calendar, she finds herself butting heads with Will who isn't thrilled about the idea of posing naked for a calendar.  But Emma refuses to give up her idea.  Of course sparks fly and both try to fight the sizzle but some things are meant to be...until Emma gets a better offer.

Since I love all things Christmas, I had to read Dating Mr. December.  As I started to read, I instantly recognized it from a Hallmark movie that I watched this season and I couldn't help but compare the two.  I really didn't think I would enjoy the movie but there was no other Christmas movie on at the time so I gave it a try and really enjoyed it.  So at first I wasn't too happy with the book because it didn't seem like it was giving enough details.  All the big drama had already happened and the reader only gets to hear the story told rather than experience it.  But I soon realized that the book version spends more time on the romance aspect and it was done well.  We didn't have a dramatic moment where the characters suddenly realized that there was a spark.  Instead we have a slow steady build up. While the ending is fairly predictable, getting there was quite enjoyable.  The romance was cute and the humor was pretty good.  It isn't quirky funny like chick-lit but more witty funny.  It was definitely an enjoyable afternoon spent.

You might still be able to catch the movie on the Hallmark channel.  Did anybody catch this movie besides me?
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16 comments:

  1. O no way! Too cool. I've been wanting to see that movie but I never made the connection.

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    1. It was a cute movie. I didn't make the connection until after I started reading the book :)

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  2. I didn't really watch any of the Hallmark movies...I was pissed they had all those movies on and didn't play the Golden Girls once during the holidays...lol.

    But this book sounds like a good one. I'm such a fan of the slow and steady build up, so I think I could have fallen easily into the romance of this one.

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    1. Lol. I watched all the Hallmark movies. ALL of them. I watched any and everything Christmas themed.

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  3. What's the movie's name?
    I have read Phillipa Ashley and thought she was okay, not going crazy over her books but I could see how her writing lends itself to be made into a movie :)

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    1. I think it was The 12 Men of Christmas or something like that. I thought the movie was going to be bad but it was surprisingly done well. I probably would have chosen a different lead actress though.

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  4. This is not my cup of tea. But, sometimes the good movie adapted from a book might catch my interest. Merry christmas and Happy NEw Year!!

    My Latest Review HERE

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    1. I agree. I think I'm more lenient on the movie than the book though.

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  5. I watched the movie which was cute :D

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  6. Oh man, this sounds really cute. Love the Lake District, too... is the scenery talked about at all, or is it really just a backdrop? Lately I've been reading a lot of adult contemp romances, so even though Christmas is past now I might have to read this one soon.

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    1. Definitely more than a backdrop but not as present as it would have been in a full length novel.

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  7. I didn't see the movie but I picked this one up as a Kindle freebie ages ago and just never read it. It sounds super cute - I'll have to move it up on the TBR.

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    1. It's a cute little Christmas read. Though, come to think of it, there isn't a whole lot to do with Christmas in it.

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  8. Interesting discussion - I'm fascinated by your views on both the book and film. The book's as much about my love affair with the English Lake District as anything else which is why I loved writing it so much - we have a holiday apartment there, and the Mountain Rescue Base is behind it. Emma's apartment is based on our place. The movie was set in the Rockies of the US but actually filmed in Alberta and we went over to visit the set.

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    1. Ashley@ Book Labyrinth - you might find the comparisons between Canada and the Lake District interesting if you watch the movie and read the book. The British version is called Decent Exposure.

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