ARC Review – The Spirit of Christmas by Liz Talley

What a light and fun Christmas book “The Spirit of Christmas” was! A little bit of sass and a lot of Scrooge. ~ Guilty Pleasures

Description:
What would you do if you won 2 million dollars?

Well, Mary Paige Gentry gets to decide when she stops to help what she thinks is a homeless man ill-equipped for an unexpected cold snap in New Orleans and ends up with a lot of extra cash. When the bum turns out to be eccentric billionaire Malcolm Henry who has a plan for bringing the true spirit of Christmas back to the Crescent City, the soft-hearted accountant finds herself plunked down into the middle of a publicity campaign and toe-to-toe with the Henry heir apparent..

Malcolm Henry’s grandson Brennan Henry despises blinking lights, holiday music and busy-body do-gooders, but he can’t deny the attraction he feels for the clumsy blonde with the too big bottom and too big heart. In order to claim the CEO spot of MBH Industries, he must play the happy executive and squire Mary Paige about town…something he finds oddly satisfying even if he has to wear the occasional elf hat.

Join a former nun, an adorable Dachshund and a plucky breast cancer survivor in this modern-day A Christmas Carol as they watch Brennan meet his past, present and future…and learn the true meaning of Christmas and love.

What a light and fun Christmas book “The Spirit of Christmas” was! A little bit of sass and a lot of Scrooge.

Mary Paige and Brennan are thrown together by Brennan’s Uncle, Malcolm Henry, Jr. of Henry Department Stores to be the faces of Christmas for the department store chain. See, he had an epiphany after he took a heart attack – he was alone. Yes, he had money, he had work associates, he had a nephew that he raised to be just like him but he had no one that thought enough of him to even visit him in the hospital. Brennan did adore him, but, he was just like his Uncle … raised to believe that money was the bottom line. So Uncle Malcolm turns over a new leaf and starts turning his life around before it’s to late. He starts donating his time to the charities he has been funding, buys himself a dog and has come up with the scheme for the holidays.

Mary Paige is just your plain old accountant. As she is heading to her uncle’s house for a pre-Christmas party, she stumbles upon a “bum” in an alleyway when she stops at a convenient store to buy a “white-elephant” Christmas gift. After much debate with herself and a few mishaps, she offer’s him a coffee and then a pair of socks. What she didn’t know, in doing this, she proved to the old man in the street that she was one of the few giving and loving people left in New Orleans. His gift back to her was a check for 2 million dollars. See, the “bum” was actually Malcolm Henry, Jr and all she had to do was spread her feelings of giving throughout the community as a spokes-woman for Henry Department Stores. The catch – she had to do it with Brennan Henry – New Orleans biggest playboy, most eligible bachelor and SCROOGE. Bah humbug!

The Spirit of Christmas was a wonderful turn on the classic “A Christmas Carol”. Even though there were no “Spirits” visiting Brennan, the true meaning of Christmas was brought to him in Mary Paige and even Uncle Malcolm The back-stories of Mary Paige’s life, how Brennan was raised and Uncle Malcolm’s life all added meaning to this wonderful, heart-warming book. There were parts where you laughed-out-loud (loved Mary Paige and her Spanx) and cried. Being a woman, you wanted to slap Brennan up-side of the head when everything he ever needed was right in front of him and he couldn’t see it. But, in the end, he was redeemed and I absolutely loved the marriage proposal.

I’d be remiss in this review if I didn’t mention two very important back-stories in The Spirit of Christmas that drove home what the real meaning of Christmas is….giving. Mary Paige did not want the responsibility of the 2 million dollars, she just didn’t know what she would do with it (when you read about how she was raised you’ll understand). Her Christmas presents were truly amazing and wonderful – a breast reconstruction for her best friend Mitzi after her double mastectomy, a gaming system for her brother Caleb that synced with his wheel-chair and computers and, finally, the funding for the Crosshatch Charter School so that children with disabilities didn’t have to fight the system any more.

Liz Talley’s writing was light and fresh. She mixed the perfect batch of Christmas cookies: A pinch of salt (Brennan), a tablespoon of sugar (Mary Paige), a touch of Anise flavoring (Mitzi), and a cup of flour (Uncle Malcolm) to bind them all together. God Bless us, everyone!