So cute! And quirky! Exactly what I was expecting from Linda Urban, author of my beloved A Crooked Kind of Perfect!
I saw Kate Messner talking about how she has a lot of middle grade level readers who want to read YA rom coms, but aren't ready for some of the content yet, and that this is the answer, and she was so right! The characters are mostly teens, but there's nothing that would keep a younger reader away, content-wise. And it's a romance, but it's not just about the romance: it's also about Francie's family business of running a huge Christmas store and Santa School. It's about family, and loss, and friendships, and dumb kids teasing you, and finding out that people aren't quite what they seem. It's also chock full of Christmas spirit, and what it means to be Santa Claus, which you know I loved! I kind of wanted a big confrontation between Francie and a couple of these people, but I guess in the spirit of the season this was a better option. Sigh. I guess I'm just a lot more petty than Francie!