A Short Review For A Cute Novella- Miss Kane's Christmas

It’s the beginning of December and you all know what time it is! Yes, you guessed it. It’s time for me to sift through countless Christmas romances and see which one catches my fancy enough to give everyone that holly jolly feeling. The problem with that is that I am a retail cog and refuse to feel Christmas-y anytime past Black Friday. Even more of a problem for me is the fact that most Christmas novels are saccharine sweet stories with almost no conflict and such happy endings that I come precariously close to swearing off of the things like cookies on New Year’s Eve.

“But Leah,” you might be thinking while blasting Christmas music in your background at obnoxiously high levels. “How can you hate Christmas novels? They always end in a happily ever after and are so festive! Why do you sound like the grinch?” Well, isn’t the answer obvious, dear reader? It’s the fact that by the time I locate a book, I am already on overload. From decorations that start being sold during the first week of September to the sickening mad rush of people that flood retail stores on Black Friday. This time of year has nearly turned me into Ebenezer Scrooge in regards to all things holiday related. Naturally, when I found a short novella about Santa’s daughter who has to bring the spirit of the holidays to a single father and his children, I strode into this novella with a layer of “bah humbug” so cold and thick that it could actually simulate a real winter here in the south (not like the south knows what winter even is considering our high of 80 degrees this past week.) It’s Miss Kane’s Christmas by Caroline Mickelson.

Santa has given his baby girl, Carol a mission. She must make a firm non-believer of Santa into a

believer. To say that Ben is a non-believer is putting it quite mildly, as it’s actually worse than that.  Ben is writing a novel entitled Beyond Bah Humbug: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus Is a Bad Idea. As a single father, Ben would rather his children live with the lowered expectations of the holidays than for them to risk getting hurt learning that Santa is a myth and that this should be applied to many aspects of raising kids. Add in the fact that his wife passed away right after trying to leave him and the kids, and you get a broken man who wants to do right by his kids but doesn’t know how to be happy anymore. Patrick and Hillary write a letter to Santa, asking for one and only one thing for Christmas. Their father’s happiness. So, in comes Carol, under the guise of an au pair, to bring the joys of the holiday into this family’s life.

Ben is beyond reluctant to even attempt to let Carol into their lives. But due to several unfortunate yet funny events, he ends up standing by as Carol sneaks holiday cheer into the household. The book is refreshingly funny in the fact that she has no actual experience with children, and how she and Ben interact when he’s not ready to remove her bodily from the house. Their failed trip to see the actual Santa in the local mall ends in a hoard of crying children and parents ready to end Ben in front of security left me in laughter tears from picturing this event happening in our little mall. Even the appearance of Santa’s little helpers in a normal setting is done quite well with a good layer of humor. It is when Santa summons Carol home on December 23rd that the story takes a turn.

After all of his dislike of the lies and good will he associates with Christmas, Ben has learned one thing. When spent with the ones you love, Christmas is whatever you make of it. During the house party, he resolves that he is going to tell Carol that he loves her despite her crazy obsession with the holiday but freaks out when he finds his children outside with “the mall elves” and a sleigh on the roof. He is promptly knocked out and he and the children are flown to the North Pole. Despite her heartbreaking from having the man and children who she loves dearly in her home, she sends them away and helps to prepare Santa for his biggest night of the year. In the end, Ben and the kids make one last ditch effort to get Carol back in their lives forever and succeed. And the family gets their HEA.

While I do have Scrooge-like tendencies sometimes, even my heart can melt a little for a well-written comedy. Carol is both naive when it comes to children, yet methodical in her handling of implementing holiday cheer around the house. Ben is equal parts brooding angst and bleeding heart for his kids. And the children are thoughtful of their father's needs yet still filled with childlike wonder for the little things in life. The novella is well fleshed out and funny with just enough heartbreak to almost make me think that they wouldn’t get a happily ever after. It’s was a nice short read that snapped me briefly into the holiday spirit.