Book Review of How My Neighbor Stole Christmas

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello everyone. I'm Carl and I'm Im. And welcome to our podcast discussing all of the

(00:18):
latest books. This is season two, episode nine, and we are discussing How My Neighbor
So Christmas by Megan Quinn. And as always, we'll be saving our ratings into the very
end. We promise to give you all of our honest opinions and all the characters, chapters,
and scenarios. We don't mean any harm to any of the authors. This is solely our opinion.
And as always, we promise to Carl on like we read them. Period. So trigger warnings

(00:42):
for this book. Emily, there are references to a fatal car accident, loss of parents,
depression, grief, isolation, injury to an elderly person, which actually ends up being
fake, but still is referenced throughout as like life ending and stuff too. So references
of that. And then also very graphic sexual content. So you have been warned. And as always,

(01:06):
take care of yourselves and spoilers will lie ahead. So if you don't want to hear how
this book ends, please pause here, go read the book and then come back to this episode.
Are you ready to get started? Let's get into it.
All right. So the blurb for this book is living in a year round Christmas town has its drawbacks,

(01:27):
the caroling, the decorations, the insanely cherry spirit, it never disappears. It's why
I like to hibernate away in my cave. I mean house, keeping a healthy distance from the
Holly Jolly spirits and all was going according to plan until my nemesis story Taylor moved
in next door to care for her aunt Cindy. Without blinking, she turned my simple world into a

(01:48):
real nightmare before Christmas, especially when she decided to enter the town Christmas
Kringle contest, which she was determined to win. Win. Well, guess what? Over my cold
hearted body. There was no way I was going to let her win not after the history we'd
shared. So despite my promise to myself of never participating in the sickening Christmas

(02:08):
season, I entered the competition as well. That's right. I planned on beating story at
her own game by pretending this grumps heart grew three sizes this season. And it was working
until feelings between us started heating up. We pretended to date. We kissed and well,
sparks flew from there, which led to one explosive night involving Christmas lights, the competition

(02:31):
and a ladder. Don't let me convince you who stole Christmas. I think you need to find
out for yourself.
And as you can see, I'm in the Christmas spirit today. I finally put my Christmas tree up.
So I just rotated my wall. So you rotated the wall. I rotated which wall was behind

(02:54):
me. You know what I meant. Okay, so each chapter started with a little bit of like a poem or
a fourth wall kind of breakthrough, which I actually kind of enjoyed. It was kind of
the narrator became its own character as well. So I really liked that little like exchange

(03:16):
and things like that that was happening. I haven't read a book that was like that before.
That was kind of like a fourth wall breakthrough thing, but it was enjoyable for me to kind
of add that little bit to the story.
I agree. I did think some of the poems might have been a little long sometimes. Yes. But
other than that, I thought it was a really cute way and like it kind of like kept you

(03:39):
in the Christmas spirit too.
I think that mainly the reason for some of them for doing that was to cut down the story
a little bit, which I enjoyed because we've read plenty that draw out way too much and
not necessary. So there was a lot of them that like summarize what had happened behind
the scenes and like maybe five or six paragraphs that we, you know, didn't have to have a whole

(04:02):
28 pages to like read about kind of things. Yeah, I agree.
So we start the story with Story Taylor, which I'm also like the names were definitely,
I think pulled out of thin air with a lot of them. It was a little, a little all over
the place, especially one of the contestants. Her name was, but so I kind of wish they had

(04:26):
been more like Christmasy names.
I did like that stories nickname was Story Brook. I liked that, but other than Cole Black,
I didn't see where any of them are really Christmasy, which you would think and especially
in a town that was like based around Christmas, that would be the case because it seemed like
Martha and May were Christmasy, then Aunt Cindy, like Cindy Luhu. So like, you know,

(04:51):
there was just different things that definitely.
Yeah, I, yeah, I feel like we could have, there was those and then like Bob Krampus,
like we got some aspects of Christmas, which almost, I don't know if that'd say Christmas,
but it was more of like alluding to the Grinch.
Yes.
Kind of, I just wish we would have like Taryn. What is that?

(05:11):
Yeah.
Like, I wish everybody's name would have been an ode to either the Grinch or some sort of
Christmas or something along those lines.
I think, like Ursula.
Yeah. Well, that was the one I was going to talk about because Ursula Cronk, I was like,
okay, you literally took Ursula and then you took Cronk's Nukruv or whatever.
Yeah.
And like combine them together, which I mean, there was also like Beatrice Pettigree and

(05:33):
she was a vet. So like Pettigree vet, like I don't think there was a lot of like thought
to it, but at the same time, like there were noticeable things that typically I don't notice.
So kudos to her for that.
True.
So, Story Taylor ends up showing up to her aunt's or great aunt Cindy's house because

(05:57):
she has kind of been, in my opinion, conned by her family to take care of her great aunt.
She's basically able to work from anywhere, working from home. I'm not quite sure what
her job was. I didn't know if it was watching Christmas movies, editing Christmas movies.
She's kind of alert to like multiple different things throughout the book. And I never once

(06:17):
heard her actually doing her job throughout the book either. So I'm not quite sure.
So I think it was editing. Now what I don't, I don't know if editing really is the right
word that should have been used though, because it didn't sound like she actually did it.
Like she wasn't an editor. It sounded more like she like watched them and gave feedback
to like, this is messed up or whatever. So that somebody else could actually edit it.

(06:41):
I could be wrong. But then also there's like a reference to like that she's like on a break
for some reason. Like it doesn't tell us like it's a, she took a vacation. It doesn't explain
any of that. And then it sort of just leaves it open ended. Yes. So that was like a little
weird tweak there that I felt like we could have probably wrapped up a little bit or well

(07:03):
and just like some sort of clarity, but I think the way it was worded what her job was
multiple times was like changed. So it kind of made it unclear what she did. Not that
it was like pertinent to the story, but at the same time, like it was, I do think important
to kind of like have like that hopeless romantic background, because that's what it kind of
made it seem like she was almost like doing this version of like the hallmark stories,

(07:27):
like that hopeless romantic kind of thing I felt like was what they really played on
that wasn't really addressed. But they come to take care of their great-aunt Cindy, her
and her sister, Taryn, because she supposedly broke her hip, which we believe that Taryn's
not staying. And then she basically says that she doesn't trust story to take care of her
aunt, which why didn't she just volunteer for the whole situation in the first place?

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I'm not quite sure because they talked about how they went back and forth for quite a bit
and it kind of got thrown into story, but then Taryn was able to. So it just kind of,
some of that just didn't make sense, which yeah, I mean, I guess I was playing into kind
of the ultimate scheme of things in the long run. But I did enjoy that story says that
she's raising Alexander, which is apparently a ficus or a ficus tree. And she says he's

(08:14):
absolutely flourishing and you know, Taryn's like, I wouldn't compare our great-aunt to
a tree that you know, is barely getting by. But I did love how like the inanimate object,
I love how she like was teasing her sister that like she got him a birthday present.
And if she was like, no, you asked me to stop by the store and get some soil for him. And

(08:36):
she's like, tomato, tomato, it's all the same. Yeah. Yeah. She was like, that's your nephew.
I thought that was cute. It was really, really cute exchange. And I mean, it just kind of
gave story some more background personality that other books don't really give, I guess
you can say. So we end up finding out that she does end up in a creepy American doll themed

(08:58):
room. I don't why that matter. I don't know how that related to the story. But I do think
that like the way she still talked about it and kind of made sense to a point, but it
really wasn't a necessary point. I agree. I will say I liked that she bought her the
sweatshirt of the one doll she didn't have. Yeah. But I didn't feel like any of that added

(09:21):
anything to the story other than maybe like giving us some background into like Aunt Cindy's
personality. But I feel like we got that plenty in every other way. Like I don't know that
we needed that collector vibe from her. Well, I do think though that it did kind of get
accented whenever they're sexting. And then afterwards they're talking about how she like
got off in a room of dolls. I think it just added like that. Like she was so desperate

(09:46):
that she was like willing to do that in the moment. I don't know. It's like there was
some kind of subtlety to it that I think that it like made a little bit of a different element
to the story. But what that element is, I can't really tell you. Yeah. Well, I just
feel like because when she very first got there, like she made it such a big deal. And

(10:08):
then she sleeps there every night and it's not a problem. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like
if we were going to include it, then like there should have been like one morning where
like one of them turned or something and she came run down the stairs yelling like, I can't
sleep in there no more. So you know what I mean? Like it's a little fun sister thing
or whatever we could have made that into. But I don't know. I could tell you I wouldn't
be sleeping in that room. No, no. Well, she tried to try to get out of there real hard,

(10:35):
but it did not help. Taryn would have had to been doing it from the dolls and be ashamed
of herself because there ain't no way I'm sitting in that room. I can't do it. So we
also meet Cole Black and his best friend, which also has kind of become a little bit
like his adopted brother, Max, but his name is really Atlas. Yes. Why don't we just make

(10:56):
his name Max? Well, I think it's because their last name is Max and Hymer. So I think they
just shortened his last name to Max. But the whole point was supposed to be like Max,
the dog, the sidekick. Yeah. Why don't we just say his name was Max? Maybe she wanted
to incorporate Atlas from it starts with us in there. I don't think so. He was adorable

(11:18):
though. I will say I did like Atlas or Max or whatever you want to call him. I did like
him to a certain point and I'll get to that whenever I get there. I think I know and that's
fair. So him, Cole and Max are discussing how the Taylor sisters are back in town and
Cole has had this grudge, which I'm going to talk about here in just a second because

(11:42):
I don't really understand it by any means, but we end up finding out that he's been
working in the reindeer barn for Max's family since his parents passed away 10 years ago.
And that's kind of how Max and him have become buddies. They kind of adopted him and allowed
him to participate in their holidays and things like that. And really kind of took him under
their wing, which I thought was extremely sweet because obviously he struggled to get

(12:04):
through everything. Yeah, that was very nice of them. So basically Cole says, you know,
I'll end up having a story free Christmas because you know, there's no way I can run
into her. And of course run into her in the very next scene in the grocery store, which
she jokingly starts calling him Connor thinking that like, oh, it's cool fun joke, not realizing
that he is so like hostile about her being back. He took it way too seriously. Like to

(12:28):
the point where he like, I think she even talked about how like he was like, fisting
up his hands and like, you know, like ready to fight almost because she was calling him
Connor. And I was just like, okay, I don't know if it's that serious, but okay. I don't
know that anything is that serious. Definitely not in this context by any means. But he basically

(12:49):
tries to avoid her and they end up in the same line trying to buy food. And he basically
says like, how about we just not talk. And so story is like talking out loud to herself
like asking what her aunt would want to eat and all this kind of stuff. And it's a bugging
him so much that he ends up like leaving the store without buying any food, which I'm sorry,

(13:09):
but if I'm hungry, I ain't gonna leave the store for nobody, but they neither. That's
just me. So they end up back at Anthony's house, a story and Taryn and they're sitting
there talking about kind of this contest that the town does every single year. They live
in basically a permanent Christmas town where that's their whole kind of gimmick is that

(13:31):
everybody has something to do with Christmas. So they have some kind of contest supposedly
is supposed to like draw in locals. I did really like the contest was advertisement for
other certain businesses in town. So like the candy cane contest advertised for the
candy cane store and stuff like that, which he doesn't really want to participate. So
I don't know why he's the one that's advertising, but you know, all the same.

(13:53):
I agree. I thought that was a cute way to tie it in to like it brings in tourism, but it
also highlights local businesses. Yes. That was really neat. And so basically Anthony
finagles her into participating into this Christmas cringle contest because she says
that Taryn's just too robotic to enter that she needs somebody that is like a kindred

(14:14):
spirit of hers and stories like the closest thing. So story, she doesn't want to do this
because apparently last time she was in town, she had knocked somebody into the river at
some kind of, you know, show or something. And then they had like a hot chocolate shortage.
And then apparently she tripped over or tipped over the tree at some point. So like there's
a lot of like clumsiness that's happened, which I do like the play on setting that

(14:39):
clumsiness up because later on, whenever she goes to do something, she ends up like tripping
and falling like hitting her head on the fence because she's like tumbled. So I really like
how they built that up because there were several moments that like I, I chuckled a
lot whenever it comes to like her clumsiness because I was like, I'm just as clumsy. So
that would be me.
I could have done with a little bit more clumsy, like, like she trips and he catches her. I

(15:05):
think one point he does that maybe a little bit more or like not where it messed up the
competition, but just some little cute thing here to keep her clumsy throughout the entire
thing. Instead of making her clumsy throughout the entire thing, I feel like later on we
just got the references from her sister saying don't trip or something like that. Yeah. Instead
of her like actually being clumsy. So I would have maybe liked that. Like I said, little

(15:27):
subtle reminders that she was clumsy as opposed to them saying it or even both. If she actually
is still tripping and then they're saying don't trip, it'd be funnier because it makes
it feel more real because we haven't seen her trip a whole lot. You know what I mean?
I agree.
So, but I thought it was funny too. And it's just a cute little way like to keep humor in
there without it having to be like overtly hilarious. Yeah.

(15:50):
Well and so apparently this competition includes a lot of like tasks and many tests to determine
who the merriest of the town is. And so Max ends up telling Cole the story has entered
on behalf of Cindy. So Cole gets extremely angry saying that, you know, he's going to
enter this contest to beat her because she doesn't deserve it. And we end up finding

(16:13):
out that apparently the grudge that Cole is supposedly holding over a story is because
she said she hated the town after the whole shoving the woman into the river incident.
Yes, it was the same day his parents had the accident. He didn't know what was going on
with his parents. But when she came over and started ranting about her bad day, he could
have just said something and said, hey, like something happened to my parents. Like I guarantee

(16:36):
she would have stopped everything and had that conversation with him. But he never says
anything and then he holds the grudge over her because she didn't care for him in that
moment.
When she said, let's just call it a miscommunication trope and move on.
Yeah.
I was like, thank you because that's exactly what it was.
But I don't even feel like it was miscommunication. It was just like literally not like no communication

(17:00):
trope. Like there was there was nothing said in that moment for her because I mean, like
the next day she left out of embarrassment for the day prior. And then like he's the
one that asked Aunt Cindy never to say anything about his accident with his parents. So she
had no worth the clue what had happened until this moment when she's back in town.
And like, I don't even think it was just that something happened to his parents and
she said she hated the town. I think that was like coupled with the fact that she left

(17:25):
and he felt like abandoned by her also. But we don't really fully explore that in the
book.
It's like it's hinted at, but it's not really.
It would have made more sense to me if he had said something about his parents dying
and she overlooked it and left the next day and left him there. I would completely understand
his anger.
Yeah.

(17:45):
Well, his parents missing because that boy either missing. He didn't know they were
dead yet, but the heart for him to say like, Hey, I can't really, you know, I'm sorry
if whatever happened, but my parents are missing and I can't really handle that right now.
And then if she had just left the next day without ever checking on him, it would have
made so much more sense. I agree.
But the way it went about it just, it didn't flow and make sense with the story.

(18:07):
Very dramatic.
Yes.
And it was very childish in a way that like they even talked about how much he's matured
and stuff like that. And then to literally be so rude and disrespectful to her over her
not knowing something and leaving, it just didn't make sense.
Him determined for her to lose the competition, even though he knows she entered probably

(18:32):
for her aunt Cindy.
Yeah.
Also didn't make sense to me, especially when he talks about how much he's like aunt Cindy's
cared for him over the years. Didn't make any sense.
No.
I kind of like forgot that part.
Yeah.
It was like, I'm going to rewrite the back history a little bit and it'd be what I want
because I want to love you. So let's not ruin it.

(18:52):
Well, and so Max thinks Cole is joking whenever he says that he wants to join the contest
to beat her. And so he like tries to talk him out of it. And then whenever he kind of
realizes that he's serious and this is like the first big Christmas event that he's participated
in since his parents have passed away. Max ends up agreeing to do it and being his holy

(19:13):
jolly sidekick, which I feel like if that's a thing they should have had more than just
Max, but
How hard to agree?
I probably would have helped story and Jimmy and Beatrice and everybody else.
How hard to agree? Why did he get a holy jolly sidekick and nobody else did?
Exactly.
And why was there like scenes where like they could have backup dancers in that one competition,

(19:37):
but she got docked for Cole helping her pull the candy cane.
Yeah.
Like, but Cole has a whole helper at his table.
Yeah.
And he didn't get docked.
Yeah.
Make it make sense.
There was a couple things that I was and she didn't even ask him to help her. He walked
over there and just did it. So how's that her fault?
Exactly.
Yeah, that made me mad.

(19:59):
So Aunt Sandy starts prepping story for what's in store with the Kringle competition. And
she basically tells her that she's not been experiencing any life and that she needs to
not spend her time in her chair at home. That isn't getting her anywhere. And I was just
like, I think he and Cindy is calling me out.
Me too. I thought I was like, Aunt Cindy, I'm gonna need you to calm down.

(20:21):
Yeah, it was like, excuse me. I feel like I'm experiencing a lot of life reading my
books. Thank you very much. Like, offensive.
Well, you actually have a man at least at the home with you. It was just me. And I was
like me and my ficus over here.
Okay.
I feel like my mom or you.

(20:44):
You need a man, but I think you're gonna get it from here. I think we're gonna find somebody.
I don't need a man.
So Bob ends up announcing that who will participate and we end up finding out that the participants
are Jimmy Short, Ursula Cronk, Dr. Beatrice Pedigree, Cole Black and Story Taylor, which
again, backs the names. Don't make a lot of sense. Not very Christmassy.

(21:09):
I feel like she just like, hold names from her hat and was just like, let's be some together
here.
I liked Cole Black because he was supposed to be like a grumpy, not in the vibe. Like
that worked for me. And like I said, the other characters like Martha and May and then using
Max and Aunt Cindy, like that all worked for me. Yeah.
Ursula Cronk.

(21:29):
Yeah.
Pedigree.
I was like, I feel like if she has kids, like they were watching like Little Mermaid and
then they decided to come on to Embers New Groove and she's like, click that works.
Yeah.
I will say though, if we were going to use like Ursula Cronk, then I feel like our pedigree

(21:50):
that other than her just being a vet, I feel like we should have added more in there that
fit that name also. If we were going to use that such a popular thing, you know what I
mean? Like noticeable. It's like Ursula's purple. So maybe like she made purple candy
canes. Like just like little subtle hints somehow.
Just sort of tie it together.
Kind of thinking that the storyline, because isn't Ursula the one that was like sleeping

(22:13):
around with somebody else's man or something like that. So I was thinking that that was
kind of storyline.
What was that Ursula? What was that Dr. Pedigree?
Dr. Pedigree just basically was bad at everything. That's all I remember about her. I heard she
was a vet. I thought it was Ursula.
Because I think it might have been. There was a woman that was sleeping with somebody's

(22:36):
ex.
Yeah.
And she said, no, no, no, no. Was she sleeping with somebody's ex or was her ex with some
a new woman?
No, I think she was sleeping with one of the judges ex because she asked whether or not
that was going to affect her judging or whatever. And Bob was like, no, that'll make her we've
already talked to her or whatever that remained impartial.

(22:58):
Yeah. However, they were connected by an ex of some sort. It's still though, like she
made heart candy canes.
Yeah.
I don't know. I just think like if we're going to use those characters, I feel like we should
have tied in somehow.
Yeah.
Since we're obviously doing a very noticeable thing from the Grinch.
Yeah.
You know, I don't know. Is there an Ursula in the Grinch?

(23:23):
Like, is it me that doesn't understand the reference?
No. I mean, not that I remember.
Okay.
Was there, there was a Jimmy, I think.
I think there was a Jimmy.
I think he was one of the background characters or something.

(23:43):
It's dad's name, Jimmy.
I should have watched the Grinch in preparation for this.
I don't honestly remember, but I mean, I took it as Disney. So you're not the only one.
So as I get called up to the stage, Cole or Storytrize.
You know why we're probably thinking of Jimmy?

(24:04):
Huh?
Because Jim Carrey plays the Grinch.
No, I thought like her brother, Cindy Luhu's brother's name was like Jimmy or something.
No, it's you've got obviously the Grinch, Cindy Luhu, Martha May, Betty, and
Betty Luhu, Martha May, Betty Lou, Augustus is the mayor, Lou Luhu, Stu Luhu, those are

(24:25):
her brothers.
And then there's a surprise to Drew, oh, Stu Luhu and Drew Luhu are the two brothers.
And then Rose, Christina, Sophie.
Do you know Bob?
Not from what I see.

(24:48):
Now, I am looking at Jim Carrey's version because that's the Grinch for me.
I'll watch some animated versions.
But I'm also old, so that could be why.
By the time they came out, I might have been too old for them.
But no, so the Jimmy, maybe that's a play on Jim Carrey being the actor of it.
I don't know.
Or maybe it's two Christmas movies I put together.

(25:10):
Maybe, but I don't think there's Ursula in anything other than Little Marmine.
It's been a long time since I've watched a bunch of Christmas movies.
I could be wrong.
If we were going to do that, though, I feel like it should have been obvious, like someone
should have been named Kevin.
Like your classic Christmas movies.

(25:31):
The scene that Story recreates for that her aunt Cindy had done the previous year.
So that's the only other one they referenced besides Mean Girls.
I can't believe they referenced Mean Girls.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I can because the author, but like, I didn't think that fit.
But that's fine.
It was cute.
What was the scene?

(25:52):
Remember who is Judy Garland?
It's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
It was a song and it was in the musical Meet Me in St. Louis.
And she starred in it.

(26:13):
Have you ever heard of Meet Me in St. Louis?
And we're from Missouri.
It's a 1944 film.
Holy cow.
Explains.
Let's see what the Esther, Tootie, Mrs. Anna, Rose, Mr. Alonzo, John, Katie,
Lucille, Lawn Smith, Agnes, Colonel, Darlene, Warren Sheffield, Mr. Neely, and Girl in Trolley.

(26:41):
Hmm.
Well, I wonder we haven't seen it.
Judy Garland died in 1969.
Hmm.
You need a 47.
My mother wasn't even born for another six years.
Much less me.
Yeah.

(27:02):
So anyway, coming back to that character's name, I wish it had been, if it wasn't going
to be just the Grinch, then I wish it would have been other Christmas movies that are
classics that either came out around that time or you know, like, how it's a wonderful
life or Charlie Brown or Home Alone.
Like even Die Hard was referenced.

(27:23):
Like there's a million that we could have pulled from.
I feel like in God Names, if we were not going to use just the Grinch names because they
were a little weird, but like somebody's could have been named Lou.
That's what they called her dad was Lou.
Like so Jimmy could have been Lou, you know, or whatever.
It doesn't have to actually be her dad in the book, but I wish we kind of would have
stayed on character.
And Bob Krampus was cute.
So I feel like we should have had somebody named Augustus, maybe like the candy cane

(27:47):
making guy.
You know what I mean?
Like to get the mayor, like feel like we could have pulled in a little bit more or Max's real
name could have been Augustus or something.
Yes.
Yeah.
Atlas didn't make any sense to me.
His name should have just been Max in the first place.
Well, so whenever they're on the stage after they get called up, story is trying to talk

(28:08):
to Cole and he basically says like, I don't think contestants are supposed to talk to
each other.
And Max interrupts and was like, you know, I didn't see that in the role book.
And he introduces himself to story and they kind of hit it off pretty well with a like
a good little banter as well.
But it was basically making fun of Cole with the whole banter.
I loved that.
But I was kind of surprised that she hadn't met him back on the day.

(28:35):
I don't think like the way it was seemingly like Max was not as big of a friend until
after like his family kind of adopted him is where I took it.
I did have that thought at some point, I guess in my brain, like they would have had to have

(28:55):
been closer before his family would have adopted him as like his son.
I just took it as his mom really just felt sorry for him and wanted to care for him.
Maybe.
But yeah, I feel like she should have at least one time met him when they were young, like
to even know who he is at least, you know, yeah, maybe she doesn't really know him, but
know who he is or know of him.

(29:15):
Did they ever say how long she actually came to visit Ancindy at a time like in the past?
No, it just said for like around Christmas.
I didn't say how long she stayed.
Because I'm just wondering if because of the holidays and stuff like Max was with his
family and Cole was with his so they like weren't really spending a lot of time together
because of family being in and all that kind of stuff for Christmas.

(29:37):
Yeah, I feel like you would have seen him around town though at some point.
He took even know who like the Max and Hymer's in general.
Like you know what I mean?
With how big they are in the town.
Like it's in my town.
It is.
Yeah.
Yeah, you would know that you should have been to the reindeer farm before.
I feel like I don't know.
But that was interesting to me.

(29:58):
I'm not going to lie.
I kind of thought she'd be a little flirtier with Atlas or Max, whatever you want to call
him to make Cole mad.
And like that's what would have gotten his attention.
But that's not what happened.
Yeah, I have to say I kind of had a feeling it was going to go that direction and then
it didn't.
So I agree.
So we ended up finding out that the competitions will be an eggnog making contest.

(30:20):
A candy came in which is disgusting.
I'm sorry.
I was talking about eggnog and he was like pineapple and I was like I'm going to throw
up.
Yeah, I have only had like a sip of eggnog.
We'll never have ever again.
Then a fruitcake making contest light display a singing their favorite song kind of competition.
And then the town will also report on whether or not the contestants are being jolly enough.

(30:43):
And then they also have to wear a sash every time they go out in public as well.
Okay.
The being jolly and like being watched in public part, I felt like was talked about.
And then kind of referenced here and there.
But it didn't seem like anybody was actually ever watching.
And like we never find out how many points they each got for that either.
I didn't like that.

(31:03):
I agree.
I don't want to be watched.
That's weird.
They did make a very big, especially whenever like Cole was like trying to be jolly in the
store or whatever, they did make a very big point into the fact that like people are always
watching.
So I feel like there should have been at some point like point deduction for saying bullshit
in my house, you know, the first day or then, you know, somebody caught you like saying

(31:25):
something bad to story.
Like I don't know.
Like, it was so grumpy towards her.
I feel like that wasn't Holly jolly.
No.
And I feel like at some point, somebody should have said something about that.
The only person that ever had anything to say was like an insinity or Taryn.
So I'm just like that.
I feel like that should have been talked about a little bit, but I also feel like the town

(31:45):
gossiping about like them being together and then actually seeing them in public together
would have been like two contradicting things that people would be like, that doesn't make
any sense because I just heard him like talk bad about her the other.
Like he was in my store trying to set her up to fail for her light display.
Yeah.
We call that flirting now.

(32:07):
It doesn't make any sense.
So I'm not very Holly jolly to try to sabotage somebody else either.
True.
He makes that point, but then he does it too.
I will say, I'm sorry.
When she sabotaged his lights and then she fell and hit her head on the fence.
I laughed so hard at that scene.
I did too.
And then she crawled through the fence and like they saw this.
I died laughing.
I will say though, in my brain, I feel like that should have been the moment he like

(32:31):
softened towards her.
Like he should have found it funny and like he should have found her like holding her
head or something.
He like took her inside to get her eyes.
I don't know.
Like some little cute, like really, you know what I mean?
Like, I don't know.
See, I was thinking that whenever she hit her head, because they talked about how they
hear like a loud bang and then he wants him to come outside and then he storms into her

(32:53):
house or whatever and starts braiding her.
And then he's like, what happened to your head?
And she's like turns bright red or something.
All of a sudden it clicks in his head of like, oh, that's what the noise was.
Be like, I'm sorry about your head, but you shouldn't have done it.
And like, you know, something that he was still trying to be angry, but wasn't the way
he marched into Aunt Cindy's house and then spoke to all of them.

(33:14):
That made me really mad.
It was very uncalled for.
I don't care if she sabotaged your lights.
You don't speak to my aunt like that.
That was rude.
It was especially after everything she did for him.
Yeah.
I didn't like that.
So felt it didn't feel like it was on character.
I agreed.
Cause he seems grumpy, but he didn't seem rude.

(33:37):
So I didn't like that.
Well, and so Max ends up conning Cole into walking story home after the whole announcement
and he, she's trying to get to the bottom of why he's being rude to her and he admits
that like she doesn't deserve to win and that he joined the competition to make sure like
everything like he could do that she wouldn't win kind of situation.

(34:01):
And they have like this little banter moment back and forth.
And I just want to read the excerpt because like I was giggling so hard.
The whole exchange.
He says, I cough up tinsel on the daily and she says I drink eggnog like it's water.
He says, I've been Santa sleigh with Bob Krampus ho ho ho wing in the driver's seat.
She says I dream of sugar plum fairies every night.

(34:21):
He says I can pull candy canes out of my ears.
She says my sweat smells like freshly iced cookies.
He says my rain, my hair is his poruses the straw my rangers eat.
And she ends up pulling out my nipple shine just as bright as the lights on every single
house in this town.
And like they both just go into like this awkward silence and literally even like reading
it.

(34:42):
I was like, who it's just got awkward.
Yeah, it's just like the exchange with like I felt like I was literally watching them
like have this exchange and I was just like, oh, she did not just go there.
But it was really, really cute for like the whole exchange.
And there was several other scenes like that, that it was just like those little tiny like

(35:02):
back and forth moments.
So they like try to one up each other.
It just it made the scene so much more enjoyable.
I agree.
So aunt Cindy is trying to teach story how to make eggnog and she tries to wing it.
And I don't really know what the point was of her basically like poisoning story to
the point of having to spit it out with whatever she had added to it.

(35:24):
It was too much ginger.
And so story ends up having to run to the store right before the competition to get
more items.
And so the narrator and Cole kind of have a little bit of a banter back and forth right
before he ends up at the store.
And Cole is having a really hard time being Christmassy.
And Max is having like an absolute blast watching him try to like curtsy to people to like show

(35:47):
his holly jolliness.
And then like he's coming up with these weird off the wall sayings to like wish people a
happy, happy, merry Christmas.
And he's like top of the board at you know, just like weird sayings.
They end up running into story and they have a little bit of like a showdown in the middle
of the aisle.
And so Cole ends up sneaking a peek into her basket for the competition and he hopes it's

(36:07):
going to like help him win.
So the competition rolls around and story is wearing a sweater that has bells everywhere
and where they even indicate like it was on her nipples and everything.
And so Aunt Cindy kind of witnesses a confrontation between Cole and Story and Aunt Sandy was
like hold on, stay back.

(36:28):
Like what is going on?
What did you do to him?
And Story's like honestly have no clue.
No clue what's going on.
And so Cindy tells Story that it's the first Christmas since his parents passed, which
is the first time that Story has ever heard about this happening.
And they decide that basically the town's probably going to favor him because of this.

(36:49):
And so they decide that they're going to finagle Aunt Cindy into looking like she's basically
dying.
And we get to the competition and Cole sees this and it is such a funny exchange where
he's just like, man, this woman literally looks like she's on her deathbed sitting
over there and she was just lively sitting there making fun with all of us like just

(37:10):
a few minutes ago.
I thought it was a little shady to make it seem like she was on her deathbed.
But at the same time, like the town's all seen her.
So like they really know she's not.
Yeah.
So then I kind of was like, whatever.
But Cole being like so offended by it was dramatic.
And then he's like, you know, if they're going to play shady, I'm going to play shady kind

(37:33):
of situation.
And I'm like, and so he goes out there like a stripper.
Yes.
Do you boo?
Well so Story ends up winning the eggnog contest and Cole ends up in second place.
So of course this like triggers him to be even more bitter about the whole situation.
So in the strategy meeting, the ladies decided to recreate the scene that Aunt Cindy had

(37:53):
done the year prior, which they believe is like the ultimate upscale something from the
antique store like fit the bill, which I do feel like that was kind of playing into it
a little bit more than what some of the other ones that seem like from the descriptions
played into it for sure.
So the boys end up deciding to focus more on the judges and how to play them a little
bit more.

(38:14):
They end up doing a mashup of the Grinch and the Thunder from Down Under, which is apparently
some of the ladies in the audience's favorite show.
So they end up like thrusting at the audience and doing like a little like stripper tease.
Cole's ends up winning the competition that night and Story ends up in second place.
It was kind of funny like the little exchange and then like she's like going back and forth

(38:38):
bantering with him and then he like strips down and she's just like, oh my God.
She's so distracted.
Can't look at anything else.
I think that was the second time I think because she mentioned at the store in the first part
where they interact that the second time that she like realized like, oh, he's grown up
like he's definitely looking different.

(38:59):
So the ladies end up strategizing a light display and so the first part is the initial
setup that they get graded on.
The second part is how they improved to the very end.
So Story ends up going down to the hardware store to see what kind of lights they have
to figure out what the display is going to look like.
And she comes across Cole who is talking to the judge for the next competition and he
like finagles her into thinking that he's getting like giant inflatables to put in his

(39:23):
yard and everything else, which obviously Story has not read the rule book because it
was banned and she would have known that, but she thinks she's like onto something.
And he even calls Max up and pretends to like talk about this inflatable and have this like
strategy.
And she says like the entire time she's staying in the hardware store inspecting the rubber
on a pl, or like a plunger.

(39:44):
And she's so convinced she was so stealthy.
Yes.
I was just like, no, I'm like, do you want to smell my hand?
It smells like the rubber from the plunger.
And I'm like, what the embarrassment in that same to you?
I was like, no, honey, you were not stealthy at all.
I'm kind of shocked though that she didn't read their rules.
I'm not because she really didn't want to do it.

(40:05):
Well, I guess like not as though that she didn't read it, but more like Aunt Cindy didn't
read them to her or something like, you know what I mean?
Like, I don't know.
Or like the rules were like referenced here and there.
I want to know what the rules were.
Yeah.
There should have been like a list sheet in the book that had these are the rules.
I think that for Aunt Cindy to assist her, she should have been named like her Holly

(40:31):
Jolie sidekick.
I feel like it's like they should have not have anybody outside of the contest helping
them or like strategizing with them or anything like that, unless they were their Holly Jolie
sidekick.
I agree.
That should have been somewhere in the rules for sure.
I agree.
So Taryn and Cindy end up breaking the news to story that she was not stealthy and that

(40:54):
he basically just bull crapped her because that's not allowed to have inflatables in
this competition.
She was so confused about that though.
She's like, why?
Like she really, she really thought she knew.
Well, and then she even makes the comment like, well, they sell them at the store and
they're like, yeah, that's for out of towners that come in.
It's just like, oh, oh, honey.

(41:17):
Well, so Cole ends up coming up with a plan that he hopes will make story look bad.
And so he starts like trying to ask her out, but in a way like he's like, oh, she's turned
me down for weeks.
She's been denying me.
And so story just kind of was like, man, he's now trying to like make me look like the
bad guy.
So Taryn's OCD gets the better of her in setting up the light display and story says that she's

(41:40):
like set up basically a basic dad display of lights, which I have to say, if you're not
including like blow ups and things like that, it kind of does not like make it seem as fun
if it's just like straight lights, like,
Absolutely not.
You can do tinsel, you can do beard ropes.
Yeah, but I know, but at the same time, like whenever you go by and you like see just a

(42:02):
house of lights, oh, that's pretty, but if you see a display of like inflatables, you're
like, Oh, that's so cool.
And then you see all the inflatable, like I love the houses with inflatables a lot more
than I love the houses with just basic lights.
I disagree.
No, I don't like inflatables.
I think they're weird.
No, we're putting on a giant snowman this year.
Okay, but I feel like with an inflatable like you just plug it up and it's there, but like

(42:26):
with lights, like you take the time to know certain ways.
It's pretty design your poles like there's a snowman inflatable that like shakes and
he says Burr, I'm cold and he's like sitting there shaking.
And then there's like, that's cute.
And then there's like a snow globe and it has like a little scene inside of it and the
snow is flowing around.
So it looks like it's actually like a snow globe.

(42:47):
Like there's cute ones that you can get on just basic ones.
Okay, well, I feel like the majority that I see are just basic ones.
No, you can get the cool ones.
So they blow away.
I mean, if you don't stake them down very well, my snowman blew away one year.
So Snorri sneaks over to Cole's house to unscrew a bulb to mess up his display, which

(43:11):
ends up affecting his score.
And Cole ends up seeing the tracks that story has left and like she full and like face plants
into the fence tripping over herself.
And then she talks about like how her fingers are just like ice cold.
And so she doesn't even try to hide it when he storms into her house.
Like she's sitting in with a bowl of hot water with her feet in and she's like wrapped up

(43:32):
in warm blankets.
And then she's got like ice packs on her head because she's hit her head and he just like
confronts her and just is really upset that she would like do that.
But yet he's tried to also like sabotage her.
So it's kind of a little bit of like, okay, well, you're kind of doing the same thing.
So which I think actually, I think they said something along.

(43:52):
It's like she could have been disqualified because like the blowups are like banned from
the town or something like that.
They said that Bob snuck and popped someone's in their yard.
Yeah.
In the middle of the night and then denied it.
And they were like, but there's video and he was like, I don't know what you're talking
about.
Yeah.
So like to literally take it to that level where you were like basically going to get
her disqualified and then you're mad because she just unscrewed a ball like no.

(44:13):
And then you pound into her aunt Cindy's house.
I'm telling you that I didn't like that.
I had to forget about that so that I didn't dislike him.
Yeah.
Cause that right then I had to say, you better walk back out that door.
I feel like with aunt Cindy's attitudes, she should have done that anyways.
It would have fit her character a lot more.

(44:33):
I don't know who you thought this was, but this is about to get serious.
Also, like the town didn't know her injury was fake.
So she's like, she really was an old woman.
Everyone thought it was injured and he spoke to her like that.
That's kind of crazy.
See, I told you I like blocked it out because like now I'm processing it and it kind of

(44:55):
brings me mad.
You wouldn't speak to me like that.
You wouldn't speak to my mother.
You wouldn't speak to my grandma.
It's like great aunt Cindy.
No, we'd be boxing.
I'm surprised Max didn't say anything either.
I would have made you apologize.
Yeah.
Well, so Cole ends up getting an idea of sweet talk the next judge.
And so he ends up running into story and he again tries to act like he's been asking her

(45:18):
out numerous times for a date.
Well, story ends up deciding to kind of let that backfire and Cole and say, I'll go on
the date with you.
And he was so shocked, but I don't understand why he was so shocked.
Hey, we're so shocked, but it also seemed like he was so angry because she actually
accepted them.
Like, you're the one that suggested it.
Make up your mind.

(45:44):
So story agrees to go out on a date with Cole and because she doesn't want to look like
the bad guy denying him.
And during the date, some spark fly under the mistletoe and fake dating starts to be
a heavy hitter with the whole town gossiping about their kiss.
So with each contest, they fall more and more out of fake date and more in love.
So story and Cole set out on their date and the game plan is basically just to let people

(46:08):
in the town see them.
So they go to the bar to get some apple cider and story kind of teases that he's like trying
to poison her, even though he's not even the one that literally poured the apple cider.
So that part of the whole story was just kind of like, okay, but they end up taking a stroll
down to look at some Christmas lights, which they end up finding out from Bob Krampus and
his wife that it's lovers lane.

(46:29):
And so Bob has kind of taken a back that they're dating.
And so is his wife, but you know, they of course have been listening to the town gossip
because it seems like that's all they do.
Well, and I think I said this before we started recording, but I thought it was a little weird
like Cole having like so much experience in dating and sex in general.

(46:52):
Like everything we described seemed like quick one night stands, like just a quick release
and going about his day.
And then he plans like this, it's a fake date, but it's a super romantic date.
And then super kinky later on.
And like it just to me, it didn't feel like it fit to me.
It would have made more sense if he was a virgin or like had only done it a couple of

(47:17):
times.
Like that sort of character, male character would have made more sense to me.
I was thinking more so like somebody that had maybe been in like a long committed relationship
for a few years, like two or three years.
And then they broke it off and then he'd had like one night stands since then it would
have made more sense to me because obviously he would have like gone on dates and stuff
with this first girlfriend.

(47:37):
Yeah, it didn't indicate any of that.
So I agree.
It didn't quite add up.
Yeah, it didn't.
And then like comes out of nowhere.
When we get there, yeah, I was like, oh, content wanting.
Be aware.
So they end up kissing underneath a mistletoe whenever they run into Martha and May, they're
like, oh, look at you, which they both say like they've been trying to avoid that all

(48:00):
night so that way that wouldn't happen.
But of course they get into bickering and don't notice.
She he ends up trying to tease her in front of Martha and May saying, oh, I don't know
if she'd agree to a second date.
And she ends up surprising him again saying, yeah, of course I'll go on a second one.
Takes him a back a little bit and it almost angers him because she's accepted his offer
that he's putting out there.

(48:23):
They end up prepping for the next contest, which apparently is fruitcake and the boys
cannot figure out this flavoring.
So they try to use Max's mom's recipe, which they are just like, this is God awful.
We're not doing this.
We're just going to throw it to the wind, wing it.
They get to the competition.
The whole town's been gossiping about their kiss.
So they kind of flirt a little bit at the fruitcake contest.
And parents like, you do remember this is fake, right?

(48:46):
And she's just like, yeah, absolutely.
I'm just putting on the show for the town because I think we're dating and now I don't
want to seem like the bad guy.
And so she kind of comes up with this excuse.
However, in her head, she's also kind of sort of falling for Cole at the same time.
So Cole ends up with third place in that one and story ends up taking first and decides

(49:07):
to go into town the next day to practice making candy canes because they have local candy
cane guy believes that this other guy from the town over has like stolen his ideas.
And so he just basically says, I'm, I'm not going to be the reason you fail.
He could be.
So they go to the sound over, but I don't understand that little rivalry.
Yeah.

(49:27):
I think it was just to get her into the car for that scene is all that like the reason
for it, to be honest, and then have like that little flirty whenever they're making the
candy gains.
I will say the car scene was really cute.
However, it felt like it was like a 180 flip and it didn't really make sense.
Well, it did because like his parents, like it kind of triggered his like protective instincts,

(49:51):
but it also didn't.
It was like a little rush, but I do think that was a moment for him that woke him up
to realize that he did actually care for her.
And he was basically kind of being harsh to her because he didn't want to have those feelings
for her.
So that was his way of ignoring his own emotions.
And I think him seeing her panicked and crying and stuff like that really just opened up

(50:14):
his eyes.
But I think it would have been better if she was crying because of how rude he was to her.
I think that would have been more of a realization for me that he flipped the switch.
That's what I'm looking for.
No, I agree.
I feel like it was kind of just rushed.
I mean, I liked it and it was cute.
It's like I'm not really combining, but I feel like it was rushed and I feel like we

(50:37):
could have had one scene before that, maybe like where he was yelling at her and she started
crying because it was being rude.
And then that happened maybe to sort of wrap it all together and fully defrost him if you
want to.
Instead of just like it literally was like a switch flipped.
I agree.
And I do think once like seen like beforehand where he was yelling at her would have made

(50:58):
sense because then like maybe she was crying while the snow is falling and she got like
get scared at some point.
She pulls over and just has like that breakdown moment.
That would have been perfect kind of lead into that scene just having that small little
bit.
Well, because he was like, so when she gets in his truck, he's like, you should have
asked for a ride.
She's like, why would I have asked you for a ride?

(51:18):
And he's like, you know, I'd give you a ride.
You should have asked.
She's like, you just barged in my house yelling at me and my decrepit great.
Why would I ask you for a ride?
Like it just didn't make sense.
Well, I think it may have even made it better if she had asked him for a ride and then he
like flipped out on her and then she like she gets stranded.

(51:41):
Yeah.
And then he feels bad at that point because he didn't allow her to ride with him kind
of situation like that.
I could say that that would have like, trickled down a little bit better with the whole storyline.
I agree.
So she takes the opportunity since they're kind of confined to the car to ask why Cole
was upset with her.
And he tells her basically what ended up happening and why it happened.

(52:03):
And they do both apologize for their role.
However, I don't really think that story has any reason to apologize since she didn't
know any of this happened.
The only thing is maybe being a little bit more self aware because obviously I'm sure
he was sitting on the front step looking depressed and she was too busy caught up in her own
self.
So I do agree.
She probably could have been a little bit more self aware.

(52:24):
However, they were like 17, 18 years old.
So I don't think you not have that.
I think you're not going to assume that somebody's parents are dead.
Like, you know what I mean?
If it had been like he got hurt or like, I don't know, like some smaller tragedy.
I could see it being like more reasonable that he could be upset, but she's not going

(52:45):
to assume his parents are dead.
Like that's really far fetched.
I mean, you know, like such an extreme tragic accident.
Well, with their little bit of banter, though, I kind of almost expected like her go off
in this rant and be like, turn to him and be like, so what's wrong with you?
Like it almost seemed like her not doing that kind of didn't fit her character because

(53:05):
every time they're having banter back and forth and like he's like says something, she
like calls him out on it.
Like what's going on.
So like, that's really based on their kind of exchanges, which I get he's kind of more
grumpier than what he was in the past.
But I feel like still even then they were more at a comfort level back then than they
are now that she would have been aware of that and ask that kind of situation.

(53:26):
I agree.
And we sort of get like, she can read him very well.
Yeah.
So like it would make sense why she wouldn't have been able to tell that in the past.
Yeah, I agree.
So they end up being partnered up and basically the store owners just like you guys figured
out yourself.
I'm not going to be involved in it.
So they start going step by step and story ends of having a hard time pulling the sugar.

(53:48):
And so she states that it could be an issue in the competition and he's basically like,
you figure it out.
You figure out a way to do it.
On the way back, they decide that they have kind of planned to go into their newfound friendship
and kind of get updates on each other's lives.
And they end up sitting in the truck for a little bit, but then ended up going their
separate ways.
And it really bothers both Cole and story.

(54:10):
So Cole sitting on his front porch talking to Matt about this new involvement in the
relationship and story sneaks up to sit with him.
They start talking and eventually it leads into like a conversation about when's the
last time you had sex and it ends up involving into her straddling his lap and kissing and
making out with him, which I'm sorry, but if it's as cold as what she's saying it is

(54:32):
ain't happening on the front porch.
So let alone whatever it's hot outside.
So I'm just saying I didn't know they're straddling women when it was freezing cold.
No, I haven't.
Well, I think you probably get a little bit warmer if you do straddle them and start
making out.
True, I guess so.
When we call them more.

(54:53):
So Cole ends up talking about how he like hasn't it doesn't have a Christmas tree and
he's never had sex in front of the Christmas tree because he's never cared enough about
somebody to do that, which I don't know how that has any correlation, but especially like
I get like if he's never had a Christmas tree, but you have never been to somebody else.
Like if he's had all these one night saying it, like I wish we could have gotten more

(55:15):
clarification.
Like how frequent?
Like once every six months, is it always an out of town or is always at a hotel?
You know, I wish we'd have gotten more clarification because in my brain, I'm thinking if he's
slept with anybody in town, first of all, we need to know that because I need them to
see them on town, on the town while they're out together.
But also did they not have a Christmas tree?

(55:37):
Well I think that's why it was kind of implied to me that it was out of towners because I
feel like that would jealousy would have come up at some point because like almost like the
line where Ursula had where-
Except it had been 10 years since she had been back.
Yeah, but I feel like the whole like storyline that with Ursula like sleeping with like the

(55:58):
judges, whatever, I feel like it could have been one of Cole's exes.
And then like she starts thinking that like Cole and story are getting together.
So then she tries to like grade her wrong and then like Cole gets defensive of her.
Like I feel like there could have been some kind of storyline with that instead of the
side character that it really didn't matter.

(56:20):
Except he didn't date.
I know.
So he wouldn't have a jealous ex.
But if they would have implied that all of his sleeparounds were with somebody local,
somebody could have gotten attached and that's why he broke up with them is because they
got attached to him.
We couldn't went down that right eye green.
Again, I still think like the character and the way he acts, I still think it would have

(56:41):
made more sense if she had made him like a virgin or like a guy that had only had sex
like a couple of times.
Yeah.
Like they could have the desire to scratch the itch with someone else because like he
was so grumpy and isolated.
Like you know what I mean?
I don't feel like that when I played into like her whole like he's the most attractive
guy she's ever seen kind of concept though.

(57:01):
Why?
He can be physically attractive and still be a virgin.
Usually ripped because he does manual labor.
He's not ripped because he's working out for a woman to look at him.
Yeah.
And at the time, whenever that's described in a book, they're experienced.
It's not like or he's like been holding out for only her kind of situation.

(57:21):
That's usually how that goes.
I would have liked that even better.
So he should have held out for her.
I do feel like that would have been kind of just something like I don't think him being
so experienced and so kinky fit his character in this context.
We could have made it fit his character if we wanted to dive into more details of that.

(57:42):
But to me, just like it came out of that field, but you would have liked it better if he had
saved himself for her to.
Yeah, I would have.
Something along those lines of like, I don't know, it just didn't make sense him being
so experienced and so kinky out the gate.
I would have honestly loved if she had they secretly both had.
Well, I would love that if he like had saved her himself for her, but then like she was

(58:07):
making all these like provocative statements and he would like be super grumpy, but then
he would like blush and like turn bright red because she's like talking about that kind
of stuff.
I think it would have been like a nice cute thing.
I agree.
Like them, they were like so quick to talk about when the last time was they had sex or
whatever.
I was like, this feels like a weird conversation.
Yeah.
Like this isn't the time or place.

(58:28):
Yeah.
Like we were at that stage.
Agreed.
It just felt rushed.
Well, and so Cole ends up decides he needs a tree after this whole conversation.
And so Max is absolutely shocked and is like, what is going on?
So he asked him to basically walk with him to go cut down this tree and find out what

(58:50):
happens.
And Max ends up telling Cole that he sees a spark back in his eyes and that he gives
all the credit to story and he doesn't want it to go away, but he should take the chance
in making a move with her.
So when he pulls back, which he also expresses that like his biggest fear is like he does
this and then she ends up leaving again.
Max is like, you know, I think it's worth the chance.

(59:11):
So he ends up pulling back with the tree on top of his car and sees all these suitcases
on the front porch of Aunt Cindy's house.
And he's just afraid that like he's ruined everything.
Like she's leaving.
I'm going to find out that Taryn's actually taking Aunt Cindy to a doctor's appointment
in another town.
And so story is being left by herself.
So story ends up coming over and volunteering to help Cole decorate his house and Cole's

(59:31):
base.
Tell story that basically his house is pretty much like a memorial to his parents that he
hasn't really done anything or changed anything.
And he's just like put sheets over all the furniture.
And so he tells her about like the time after his parents died, how he was feeling, how
Aunt Cindy had helped him out, how the town had cared for him.
And they end up having like this deep conversation as they're decorating.

(59:55):
And then afterwards they end up sitting on a blanket in the floor.
They end up sleeping together several times.
And it is several times.
Try to keep it PG.
Yeah.
And so he ends up taking her up to his room as well at some point and it's apparently
not changed since his parents have passed away.
And it's like his teenager bedroom.

(01:00:18):
The poster of Miss Piggy was hilarious.
Yes.
Yes.
I kind of thought though, like with the Grinch theme, it should have been Martha Mayhew.
Yes.
I also agree.
Because like that's in your mind like that too is like the Miss Piggy of the grant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So but it was funny.
Yeah.
I do.

(01:00:38):
I do think that would have made it a little bit better.
Because then we also hit that he had some ex-girlfriend.
Yes.
That they broke up there.
But he put a hole in the wall.
I didn't like that.
That didn't seem one character.
No.
That I don't like anybody that puts holes in walls.
Yeah.
I don't like that.
Especially since it never showed anything like that before or after.

(01:01:04):
Him balling up his fist in the coffee shop.
Yeah.
There are little things like that.
I was like, are we trying to like make him seem macho by making him violent?
Like I didn't understand what the point of that was.
Yeah.
I didn't like it.
I agree.
That's something else I just like put in the back of my mind.
I pretend that it didn't exist.
So when Taryn and Cindy get back, they decided it's too hard for them to like see each other

(01:01:28):
without raising suspicions because they're afraid that Taryn would ruin the relationship.
So they end up texting and sex singing with each other for a couple days.
And they get to the candy cane making contest and story is having a hard time pulling the
sugar.
So Cole comes over and it helps her.
And I just, I love that moment.
She didn't ask for the help.
He's seen her struggling.

(01:01:49):
So like he'd been watching her like the whole time.
And he like, you know, it was just like, I'm going to risk being basically just qualified
to come over and help her.
That too should have been knocked a couple of points.
That was him, not her.
Yes.
Because she, if she had asked for it, yes, she didn't ask for it.
He did it.
It was a cute little moment.

(01:02:09):
It was.
Let him have it.
But she ended up getting third place and Cole ends up getting second.
And so afterwards Cole basically says, oh, we're going to go on our next date and take
a story to the reindeer barn in which he works.
And he basically decides to tire up to a pole and have sex again after introducing to her
to all the reindeer.

(01:02:31):
And afterwards Cole and Max end up having a conversation.
Oh, you're going to forget the candy cane.
I was trying to keep a PG.
Well, we don't have to go into details, but he also involved the candy cane.
And I just got to say, it didn't seem sanitary to me.
No.
It's like, it's one thing.

(01:02:51):
Well, how do I keep this PG?
It's one thing to do it like on your chest.
It's another to use it in a private place that has a sensitive pH balance.
Yeah.
I didn't, it was kind of weird.
I agree.
I like how we started.
I was, okay, that's different.
Never read that before.

(01:03:11):
And then as we kept going, I was like, throw it away.
It's time to be done with that.
I agree.
So it was also not what I expected based on the author's tick talk that I had watched.
So I was expecting it to be a little bit more raunchy than what it was.
So it was actually like a little bit more PG year.
Well, I told you what you thought.

(01:03:31):
I was concerned if that happened.
I was going to have a real problem because that's not realistic.
That's definitely unsanitary.
So afterwards Max and Cole end up having a conversation.
And this is the point where I kind of stopped liking Max, which is really sad because I
really liked his character as a side character, but it basically tries to convince Cole that

(01:03:53):
story is only doing this to get a leg up in the competition.
And if Max was also grumpy, I would kind of understand where that was coming from.
But Max like seemed so like supportive and he's like, Hey, go for story.
Like get out there, do it, be with her.
And then all of a sudden he's like, Oh no, she's only trying to be with you.
Like almost like discrediting his feelings.

(01:04:15):
And I don't like that at all.
Like I agree.
It didn't seem to fit with Max at all.
Well, and I think like, so you say it one time, if you were right and he finds out
later that you were right, that's that.
But he continuously brings it up and brings it up.
And Cole even gets like a little offended at one point and he's like, like you're insulting
her character.
Yeah.

(01:04:36):
Like he gets really bothered by it, which I liked Cole for doing.
And maybe that was the whole point was to sort of put Cole in the defensive and defend
her and make us like that.
I don't know.
But I agree that I kind of was a little disappointed in the way Max acted at that point and then
long forward.
Well, so we get to the performance competition and Anthony, Taryn and story replayed the

(01:04:57):
scene for Mean Girls and Cole and Max dedicate a song to his parents and they have like the
protector behind them with a picture and they're wearing matching sweaters to the moment, which
I thought was really sweet on Max's behalf.
Like it kind of made up a little bit for the previous that Max had like thought of doing
that.
However, it didn't overshadow the part where I was like, let him have some happiness, even

(01:05:20):
if it's out of story doing something to kind of get back at him.
So story ends up in third place because that competition and Cole ends up in first place.
And that night story does sneak over to Cole's and he ends up convincing her to stay the
night.
And the next day she tries to sneak back into the house and she runs into Taryn and she
makes up a bunch of excuses and Taryn just like, oh, where'd you get that bruise at?

(01:05:44):
And she's just like, oh, I must have hit it on something, you know how clumsy I am.
And so Taryn's like, oh, you might want to ice out or whatever.
But turns out it's because of their whole sex pay that they had that night prior.
So the next competition we end up finding out is a like wrapping present, making a stocking
kind of contest.
It's a weird one.

(01:06:04):
It would make sense if it was just like, oh, you have to like speed wrap like 20 gifts.
But then they also have to like, sew a stocking and like, I don't know, it was, it was weird.
I agree.
And then, but could use a sewing machine?
Yes.
They had all hand stitched everything.
No, he used a sewing machine.

(01:06:26):
Oh, he did.
Cole did.
Oh, it didn't say who anybody else did, but Cole used a sewing machine.
That didn't make any sense to me.
I would have assumed it had to be hand stitched.
I thought it was.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Made no sense.
Yeah, I don't know about that one.
But to me, it would have made more sense if it was like a tree decorating contest where

(01:06:50):
they had to like speed decorate a tree and then like, how to speed wrap a certain amount
of gifts.
Like to me, that would have like, I agree, add a little bit to it, but I don't know.
Speed wrap gifts, speed decorate a tree and one other thing, like three.
Eat a bunch of cookies and milk, you know, like a relay.
Yeah, I agree.

(01:07:11):
So in an exchange with the narrator before this competition though, Cole like basically
says like, you know, stop making me like that or whatever.
And so she ends up writing him in to have a thong, which Max is making fun of.
And he's like, Oh, well, story had dared me to do this, you know, because we saw it in
the store or whatever, which again, I liked that exchange because it made it funny.

(01:07:35):
But I then wish like, OK, let's go back and like play this whole scene in the store that
could have added more to the relationship and not only that, but at this point, they're
like sneaking around.
So where did they have time to go find this song?
Like I get why it was there as like in this exchange, but at the same time, like it maybe
wants a background to that whole exchange.

(01:07:57):
I could have done without it.
I didn't think I didn't think the story.
I thought it was kind of weird.
It was wearing out of the box, like bringing him out of his health.
I think he was fully out of himself when he tied her up to that pole and the pole bar
with the with the reindeer.
I don't think we needed to make him wear a thong to be outside of his box.

(01:08:22):
He could have wore an ugly Christmas sweater and that could have been the funny thing because
he never wears Christmas sweaters or you know what I mean?
Like I don't.
The thong was weird to me.
I would have rather gone commando.
True.
But like his friend knowing it and his friend like pulling up his shirt and seeing his thong
on the top of his jeans.
That was weird.

(01:08:43):
I'm sorry.
I didn't enjoy that.
That was weird.
Well, so the entire competition stories like side dyeing coal, coal side dyeing story.
They're having like this little like unspoken exchange and story ends up in third and colon
second and Taryn is kind of upset by that because she thinks that she's being she's

(01:09:04):
getting distracted.
So Cole believes that story has broken his heart in this third act breakup and story
does everything in her power to convince him that she had nothing to do with this sabotage.
So the question is, will they end up back together?
It's trying to convince Cole that story is maybe just doing this to mess him up at their

(01:09:26):
like Christmas Eve Eve slumber party that they have and Taryn at the same time kind
of has this realization that story and coal have been seeing each other.
So she and she thinks that he is trying to sabotage story.
So she decides to take all of his lights down, which is such a grinch thing to do.
That's just no Christmas.

(01:09:47):
So Cole realizes he loves story when he thinks that she sabotaged him.
But at the same time, it's like he she's crushed him and story tries to explain that she has
no idea what happened.
But Max and Cole like cut her off, which Cole like doesn't really say too much, but Max
kind of substance just like, I knew you were going to do this the whole time, which doesn't

(01:10:08):
fit Max like at all.
I don't like the way we went with Max.
I'm just going to be honest.
I agree.
Story ends up confronting Taryn and she tells her basically that, you know, why she did
it and stories of saying like we've been seeing each other secretly this whole time
and Taryn tries to say it's all pretend, pretend the story is like it, but it's not like we

(01:10:30):
do generally have feelings for each other.
Story in like a storm of like desperation grabs all the lights, runs to Martha and May's
house for some reason, which these are elderly women.
So I don't know really how they could help her too much and ask them for help fixing
up Cole's house.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
And then just like, if she would have walked in and said, Hey, can you help me get the

(01:10:51):
town to kind of help me?
I would understand going to Martha and May, but she almost just like, no, I need you to
help me hang up these lights.
And I'm like, they're a bunch of elderly women.
Like what are they going to do?
Also the whole like, okay, I got to be honest and I know this is insane.

(01:11:13):
All I could think about was if she took out those bulbs and toss them into a trash can,
they would have broken.
Agreed.
That's all I could think about.
Cause then we claim you just got them back out of the trash can and just put them back
up.
True.
And it talks about that she took out each bulb, but left the wires.

(01:11:35):
And then when it talks about them putting them back up, it very clearly says that Jimmy
hung the like the full strips and like made stripes or something like that.
I was like, wait a minute, you said she took the bulbs out and then.
So my thought was, is she did throw it in the trash can and she grabbed those to like
ask them to help re-hang them, but she didn't realize they were all broken and like her
upset like phase.

(01:11:56):
And so then whenever she actually comes to like realization and game plan, they're like,
Oh, well, all these are broken.
So then Jimmy brings over the light strands and hangs the light strands.
Where did you get that from?
I implied it with everything that I collected.
Okay.
So you made it make sense for you.

(01:12:17):
Yes.
That's not what the book said.
No.
Okay.
I thought maybe I missed it.
No, I just like connected some dots that made sense to me.
Okay.
Well, I can pretend that happened to make it better for me too, but it did not.
And I would have liked it to be more clear because that's all I could think about was
those bulbs would have been broken.

(01:12:39):
Well, I'm going to see like her being so upset.
Like she didn't notice that.
And so whenever she went to Martha May and finally they got her to like calm down, then
they're like, but then it says they're plugging back in the lights, but it says Jimmy hung
more strands.
I just imagine whenever the town came over, they brought their all their own decorations.
I don't know.

(01:13:00):
There's some kind of Christmas movie where it's like some kind of decorating contest
and like the Grinch.
No, because like they come back and like decorate the whole like whole town kind of situation.
There's some competition where like Christmas means everything to the person and all the
lights get like burnt out or like something happens to where the whole town gathers together

(01:13:24):
and like redecorates this one place.
Is that a hallmark movie?
It's possible.
No idea.
Anyways, so Cole ends up going back into his like depression basically just states he's
done with this holiday.
He's not going to participate in any of the festivities.
So Anne Cindy ends up confessing that her hip was never broken and that she did it to

(01:13:44):
basically get them to come back and try to repair the relationship as sisters.
And Max tells Cole that his parents really want him to participate in Christmas.
So he ends up telling him he's driving him to his parents house, but he ends up like
passing by and going to back to his house to see what the town has seen.
And Max admits that he was wrong and that Cole needs to let story explain what happened,

(01:14:06):
which I would love to see like kind of redeem Max a little bit in my eyes if they would
have actually shown the exchange between Max and story and like her explaining what happened
and everything.
I agree.
So story ends up admitting that she's in love with him stating, I love you Cole, these feelings
I have for you are unmistakable as if whenever I see you the air in my lungs is refreshed,

(01:14:29):
my pulse is revived and my soul feels at peace.
I don't want to lose that ever.
And Cole returns the statement saying, I love you too story and you being here, it feels
like coming home.
You've reminded me about the good memories I buried so deep in my heart and carried with
me through the dark.
And so we end kind of there not knowing who wins the competition, but we do get an epilogue.
We end up finding out that Jimmy actually won the previous competition, but we don't

(01:14:53):
know when they, which is kind of upsetting because I was like, kind of invested in seeing
what comes out on top.
But they end up having a girl named Florence, which not Christmas Eve again, but they didn't
getting married on Christmas.
So I do feel like their daughter needed to be some kind of like Christmas Eve.
Was it Christmas Eve?
I thought it was Christmas day because they said that Ursula had sent them like an angry

(01:15:14):
letter saying that she was upset that they had gotten married on Christmas.
I thought she had sent a letter, but I thought she sent a letter saying she was mad at getting
married on Christmas Eve.
One of the other.
One, yeah.
Either way, Christmas name for the baby.
A thousand percent.
Yeah.
I feel like that would have like met a little bit with on brand theme.

(01:15:35):
And so they end up moving in together pretty much right away after the whole incident with
the lights and apparently even Terran and her boyfriend moved into the town whenever
story got pregnant.
We also end up finding out that Max has now entered the contest.
So I kind of wonder if we're going to get another book with Max's point of view and his
love story in the contest, but they did make sure to put that in there.

(01:15:58):
Okay, listen, I kind of thought that too.
So what is your final thoughts and ratings?
Okay.
So as always, going to preface my rating with the fact that I literally don't pick a number
until I'm sitting right here right now.

(01:16:18):
So take this with a grain of salt, probably, but take it however you want.
I would give this book a 4.5.
And let me tell you why I took off a point five.
Partially what you've heard throughout here.
There's little complaints here and there that I have that didn't wrap up the story.
Things that were added that didn't make sense or they were added, but then never clarified.
Some of the characters didn't totally match their character as they went through their

(01:16:41):
personality.
Mainly because him barging in Ant City's house and talking to her like that made me mad.
Okay.
You got a whole point five for that?
No, he had a point one at least for that.
And then everything else added up to take off some more, maybe even a point two.
But I didn't like that.
It was out of character.

(01:17:02):
And I felt like throughout the entire book, I would get a read on a character and then
it would change and something would change me.
So that was a little frustrating.
Everybody likes smut.
I enjoy a good smut book.
And to be quite frank, I probably could have done without smut in this book.
And I don't think I've ever said that in my entire life, but we jumped in headfirst.
We went super far, super fast.

(01:17:23):
And it didn't fit the characters, didn't fit the scene, didn't fit the plot.
Like it almost just kind of was like here, let me throw in a little bit of that just
to satisfy, but it didn't make sense.
So actually wasn't a fan, especially of the candy cane scene.
That is so unsanitary.
Anyways, so yes, I would give it a 4.5.
I enjoyed it though.
And if you like a little smut and you like a little Christmas romance, I would recommend

(01:17:46):
you read it, but you should be aware that it is very explicit sexual content.
So Emily, what about you?
So my working system starts at three, goes up and down from there.
And I actually as well give it a 4.5.
Really?
We have been in sync lately and I'm getting concerned.
We never agree.
And lately we've been on the spot.

(01:18:07):
I'm starting to read more smutty books.
So I'm getting to your level of reading.
I really enjoyed it.
I thought it was such a sweet cute little Christmas you read.
I've read a couple other Christmas books and I have not enjoyed them as much.
I feel like this played so much into Christmas.
It was almost corny, but at the same time she made the rest of it like normal in a way.

(01:18:30):
So it made the corny kind of offset.
We're usually they just play into the corny and that's what it goes with.
I've not read a Megan Quinn book before.
So this was my first read of hers and I definitely will be taking up more of her books to read
because I did thoroughly enjoy the laughter and the banter and stuff that they had was
just so enjoyable.
I really, really enjoyed it.

(01:18:50):
Usually whenever somebody tried to execute that kind of thing, it doesn't end up very
well.
I can't say that not one joke did not make me at least chuckle a little bit that was
made.
I did thoroughly enjoy it.
I'm not like what would they do with Max because I did really think that he was a good side
character that it could have been involved a little bit more as more of a positive offset.

(01:19:12):
Now I can understand where Cole, if he was trying to say like, oh, I think she's trying
to screw me over.
I think she's trying to play me or whatever.
Cole saying that would have made more sense to me than Max ever saying that.
I get where the sister like came in, but I almost think that it would have made more
sense if we would have cut her out and made like a jealous X like we were talking about
earlier and like it be Cole's jealous X kind of sabotaging trying to make like ruin the

(01:19:36):
relationship.
I think that would have made more sense.
And I do think even, even keeping Aunt Cindy in there and she like basically try like fakes
breaking her hip to have story come back because she missed her or something like that.
I would understand it, but I agree.
I don't think Taryn was a prominent character that needed to be there for the storyline.

(01:19:58):
I agree and I think it like if my idea about her being the love interest in the next book,
if that actually played out, it would make more sense while she was in there.
Yeah.
But like we just talked about, I don't think she's even going to be the love interest in
the next book.
So it really doesn't.
If there even is a next book.
That's a good point.
We're hoping.
The way it ended, I'm thinking there probably is, but it might be next year.

(01:20:20):
Yeah.
Well, and I think that it's pretty well written to the point that we want a second book because
I mean, usually it's kind of like when we have so much like stuff to say about stuff,
it's like, it's not usually a positive thing.
But I mean, there was a lot of things that like it, you had to imply your own storyline

(01:20:40):
to it.
And I'm just wondering if like maybe she did that is almost like making the narrator
its own character of like trying to do that.
I don't really know like what the actual if she even intended to do it to be honest, but
I think it added something to it for where you can kind of imply your own storyline to
satisfy kind of your thoughts with it.
And so I kind of like that as well, because that's how I read every book.

(01:21:02):
We know.
No, I agree.
I definitely will be reading something else by her.
I've seen her other series, one of them that comes to mind is a not so meet cute or something.
Yes.
And I've been wanting to read that series in particular.
I just haven't had time yet, but definitely this didn't discourage me from reading something
else by her for sure.

(01:21:23):
It encouraged me.
I think it's a lot higher ranking than some of the other ones that we've had like a lot
to say about as well.
So I think the humor and the banter and stuff made it a lot higher in my book because I
actually enjoyed going through and reading it.
Like I didn't want to stop reading it.
I wanted to find out like I knew it was going to happen because it was like a typical book
as far as the storyline, but the banter and the humor and stuff added that extra element

(01:21:45):
that I wanted to see what they were going to come up with next to continue reading it.
Yeah, I agree.
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(01:22:06):
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(01:22:27):
at likewereadthem at carlmpodcast.com.
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in the latest news.
Carl, do you want to let us know what our next read is?
Yes.
So on January 3rd of 2025, I cannot believe we're almost in an entire new year.

(01:22:51):
I know.
We'll be discussing I'm Collide My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy.
This has been a long time anticipated read on my TBR.
So very excited about that.
And I'm going to read the excerpt.
Jeanette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition.
Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star and Jeanette would do anything

(01:23:14):
to make her mother happy.
So she went along with what mom called calorie restriction, eating little and weighing herself
five times a day.
She endured extensive at home makeovers while mom chided your eyelashes are invisible.
Okay.
You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tent hers.
She was even showered by mom until age 16 and was also forced to share her diary's email

(01:23:35):
and her entire income.
And I'm glad my mom died.
Jeanette recounts all of this in unflinching detail.
Just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true.
Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called I Carly, she is thrust into fame.
Though mom is a static emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first name basis with the
paparazzi.
Hi gal.

(01:23:56):
Jeanette is riddled with anxiety, shame and self loathing, which manifests into eating
disorders, addiction and a series of unhealthy relationships.
These issues only get worse when soon after taking the lead in the I Carly spin off Sam
and Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer.
Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jeanette embarks on recovery and decides

(01:24:19):
for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I'm glad my mom died is an inspiring story
of resilience, independence and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
I will say that I've started this probably about halfway through and based on like what
I've heard from everybody else that has read it, it is a very, very, very good read.

(01:24:43):
It is also very triggering.
So I want to put that out there before anybody jumps in the next book.
But as always, we promise to Carly like we read them.
Depth of dud�

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