Thoughts before reading:
I just hope this is better than most of the books have been lately. It does have a pretty cute cover going for it, if nothing else...
The basics:
Mary Anne goes overboard buying her Christmas gifts this year, because her dad has allowed her to use his credit card for the first time, leading to her spending about three times as much as she's actually saved up. She's supposed to pay him back right when the bill is due, because he's meticulous about paying it off each month before the interest kicks in... so this only gives her about two weeks to come up with the extra money. Clearly babysitting isn't going to cut it, so she decides to get a second job. After all, the local mall is hiring holiday help.
She's not sure if her dad would let her work at the mall though (it's unclear exactly why however), so she lies and says she's going to the mall for the current BSC fundraiser. (The local hospital, due to budget cuts, can't sponsor the usual Toys For Kids program, so the BSC is helping to raise money for it.) Once there, at the encouragement of another applicant, Angela, she also lies and says she's 16. She gets the job, but is surprised/embarrassed to learn it's as an elf in Santa's village, so she doesn't tell anyone about it.
Shortly after she starts her new job, Dawn and Jeff arrive for their holiday visit, but things feel off to Mary Anne. Dawn's friendly, but also aloof and distant. She keeps referencing her school, Vista, where the 8th graders are in with the high schoolers, and she doesn't seem interested in the BSC anymore. (Why would she be? It has nothing to do with her life anymore...)
Mary Anne's so busy with school, the BSC, and her mall job, that she hardly sees Dawn anyways. (On her day off she hangs out at the mall with Dawn and Logan, but Dawn's driving her crazy, acting too mature for everything.) Then Mary Anne accidently overbooks herself, scheduling a sitting job for the Brunos during a mall shift. She gets Dawn to cover for her, but Dawn and Logan end up showing up at the mall with the kids while she's working. In her full elf costume, they don't recognize her, which she's actually disappointed about. Hunter does though... he comes over alone to say goodbye.
Eventually Mary Anne admits to Dawn that she's working as an elf, and Dawn opens up to her about the pressure of being in with the older kids in school.
She also makes enough money to pay her dad back in time.
Timeline:
It's December, 2 weeks before Christmas at the beginning.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten Suzanne Weyn
*I miss mall bookstores! They were a huge part of my 90s childhood.
*Mary Anne says her house was built in 1774, but didn't the earlier books say the 1790s?
*Anyone with a credit card has definitely made the mistake Mary Anne makes in here. I'm not sure what Richard expected, given that she's only 13. At least she learns this hard lesson about interest early on, though. Most of us learn this in our 20s, with more at stake.
*Why would Richard mind Mary Anne working? The book never makes this clear, and it doesn't really make sense. It's the responsible thing to do in her situation, and she's worked at the mall before, during the class project in a Short Takes class.
*Mary Anne says she's starting to think of Sharon as her mom.
*Richard worries that Mary Anne's turning into a mall rat, except he calls it "mall cat", haha. Was this a big parenting concern in the 90s? My parents never worried about this when I wanted to spend every weekend there.
*I don't get why Mary Anne was so embarrassed about her elf costume that she didn't want any of her friends to know. Jessi was Santa in one of the super specials, so she'd definitely understand.
*From what I've heard about the California Diaries books, none of Dawn's behavior in here is a surprise. I'm glad they're trying for some continuity with those. Amalia and Ducky are also mentioned by name in here.
*Apparently now Dawn can't even stand to see anyone eat meat? That's never been a problem before.
*Mary Anne finds out at one point that her coworker, Angela, is homeless. Her parents kicked her out for "the way she chooses to live her life". Is this BSC-verse code for gay? I was definitely getting that vibe. She says she was constantly embarrassing them by existing, and they didn't have room for individuality in their world.
*Mary Anne thinks that sometimes life seems really unfair, but it should at least be fair on Christmas? A nice thought, but very naïve. She still has a lot of growing up to do.
*Dawn and Mary Anne fight in almost every book that one of them narrates. They really aren't compatible as BFFs.
*Mary Anne finally makes a mistake with the record book in here, missing one of Stacey's commitments, but she catches it in time.
*Richard tells Mary Anne "he's not sure he wants her associating with someone who can't get along in her own home"? That's really fucked up, not to mention judgmental. He doesn't know anything about the situation! Her parents could be abusive, or mentally ill, addicts, or a myriad of other things that are in no way her fault.
Books mentioned:
*Veggies Rule (definitely fiction)
My rating:
3 stars. This was cheesy, but at least (mostly) entertaining. Had a realistic and readable plot too, compared with the recent fare. Definitely one of the best of the latter books.
No comments:
Post a Comment