Second Act Pact: Put a Little Love in Your Art

I was so busy this December that I almost forgot to read Jenny Bayliss's latest.  Known for releasing a heartfelt romcom each Christmas, the Brit lit wit  never fails to make me smile through my Santa-induced stress.  So when I spied a lone copy of Kiss Me at Christmas while tornadoing through Target, I snagged it. 

Teacher-turned-pastoral care worker Harriet Smith is in dire need of a change.  Overworked and underappreciated, she's always on call and haunted by the one student she couldn't save.  And this Christmas her nerves are especially fraught because her daughter's spending the holiday stateside.  Lonely and vulnerable, triple-cardigan-wearing Harriet embarks on a one night stand.  Then, fresh off the walk of shame, she finds her most at-risk students, a.k.a. the "famous five," playing hooky in the abandoned Winter Theater.  

When her students get caught, she takes the blame and, per the eccentric old woman who owns the theater, cleans it up to avoid charges.  Yet what starts as community service snowballs into a production of A Christmas Carol.  Harriet leads, inspires, and energizes the famous five, a local theater group, and various disenfranchised community clubs including refugees, treasure hunters, and self-proclaimed "lonely farts" into putting on the best show ever.  Also, there's the guy from Harriet's one night stand, who just happens to be the eccentric woman's lawyer.       

It's nice when Christmas has a sense of humor.

Still, Kiss Me at Christmas is more than a romcom.  It's about self-care and community, two things that sound as though they'd be at odds but are, oddly, intertwined.  Because it's only when Harriet allows herself to be at peace that she's able to bring peace to others.  And yes, perhaps, fall in love.  

Big-hearted and hilarious, Kiss Me at Christmas is Bayliss's best book yet.  Because everyone deserves a second act.  Especially at Christmas.

Season's Heatings: Romance to the Rescue

In need of ho ho ho's?  Then call in the bros!  Yeah . . . that didn't sound right.  But it is an on-brand way to introduce Lyssa Kay Adams' A Very Merry Bromance.  It's the fifth and latest novel in the Bromance Book Club series, which features a friend group of prominent Nashville men who read romance novels to learn more about women.  Which is a very cool concept.  Because what woman doesn't want a man who's in touch with his -- and more importantly, her -- feelings?   

In A Very Merry Bromance, it's country music star Colton Wheeler's turn for a lesson in love.  And the object of his affection (and okay, yes, erection) is no-nonsense immigration lawyer Gretchen Winthrop.  Gretchen is a gloomy Gus, and Colton is charisma personified, and they lean hard into the opposites attract trope, going so far as to joke about it.  It's all very meta and exactly what you'd expect from people who read romance as -- and these are Adams' words, not mine -- (life) manuals.  Not that Gretchen's entirely on board with it.  She's downright snarky when Colton turns the tables and asks her to study a bodice-ripper, and not only that, but one set during the holidays.  The original Scrooge, Gretchen despises Christmas (again, I can't take credit for this, as there's a whole A Christmas Carol comparison thing going on in this book).  Not because she thinks it's frivolous, but because her uber-wealthy but cold family never even let her decorate a Christmas tree.  

Now, A Very Merry Bromance ranks pretty high on the scorch-a-meter.  But it's also sweet and heartfelt.  There's something sexy about a guy going into Santa in shining armor mode, especially for a woman more than capable of taking care of herself.  Because that means he's not doing it because he thinks she's less than.  He's doing it because he cares.  And because everyone -- even the biggest, baddest, on-the-right-side-of-the-law lawyer, needs a little help (and Christmas magic!) sometimes.

So if modern-yet-still-old-fashioned romance is on your Christmas list, then look no further than this fiery fairy tale.  Full of fun, family drama, and fa-la-la-la-la-ooh-la-la, A Very Merry Bromance reminds us why Christmas is the season for sparks.  

Yellow Brick Mode, Clover Day Way

Coat: Anthropologie, Zulily

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Necklace: Candie's, Kohl's; Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Ring: Express; Barrette: Buffalump, Etsy

Dress: GYK, Zulily

Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney

Crazy Clover Necklace

Sweater: Hooked Up, Macy's

Bangles: B Fabulous; Bag: Target; Dark green scrunchie: Target; Kelly green scrunchie: So, Kohl's

Blouse: Candie's, Kohl's; Tank: Kohl's

Necklace: Modcloth; Headband: Zulily

Jeans: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Scarf: Zulily; Fabulous Felt Erin Brooch: The Tote Trove; Ring: Wet Seal; Yellow bangle: B Fabulous; Watch: Boscov's; Bag: Wild Fable, Target 

This St. Patrick's Day, I didn't get around to getting a Shamrock Shake.  But I did wear my green and then some!  Coat of many colors?  Check.  Pot of gold purse?  You know it.  Multicolored but still mostly green scarf?  Couldn't salute St. Patrick without it.  Together, these pieces formed a rainbow, making this rainy day a bit brighter.  As did thinking of clover and Clover Day and Strawbridge & Clothier.  

For those of you not from the New Jersey-Pennsylvania-Delaware area, Strawbridge & Clothier was a local department store on a par with or maybe a slight cut above Macy's.  Its beautiful flagship location was in Philadelphia, but my mom used to take my sister and me to the one at the Echelon Mall (except for one Christmas when the whole fam trekked to the one in the City of Brotherly Love to walk through Dickens's A Christmas Carol display, an experience that turned out to be more frightening than visiting Santa).  Even as an adult, I enjoyed going to the store in the Echelon Mall once in a while (it was super close to my dentist).  Then it got bought out by Macy's in 2006.  I still went, but it wasn't the same.  

In addition to Strawbridge & Clothier's wonderful merchandise, I also really liked the name.  Strawbridge.  It was like a cross between a strawberry and a drawbridge, which appealed to kid (and, okay, grown-up) me.  Speaking of wordplay, the parent company had a discount chain called Clover, and because of this, sale days at Strawbridge & Clothier were called Clover Days.  

Which is how I brought this bad boy back to the topic at hand.

Thanks for understanding, Pat.  I knew you would.