The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth BraddonBook Review

The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was as curmudgeonly against this old tale as the character Sir John Penlyon was about life at first. It seemed dull and but a feeble carbon copy of one of my favorite classics, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It did borrow from that tale but as the children characters came onto the page of this book I became delighted with the story. Sadly that didn't last. Their bright little characters lightened the story as it lightened the heart of old Sir John Penlyon. By the end though he still liked her for selfish reasons and didn't grow as a character in a way I would consider worth telling a story about. So while I liked the middle of the story a little, overall it was boring and to me the resolution fell short. The character growth I was hoping for was lacking. I got this book for free from Audible and continued reading it only to finish it so my list of books read could pile up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge. When in the middle of the story I was glad I kept listening, but by the end it wasn't worth it to me. To each his own. Read A Christmas Carol by Dickens instead ;) 

On the bright side - Richard Armitage's narration of the story was very good.

The Case of the Missing Snowman | New Book!

I have a new book out!

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I've been sitting on this one for a couple years now because I haven't been able to get the illustrations done. I see more and more kids books without illustrations and while this book is short it is definitely for older elementary school readers. I WILL be publishing a second edition with illustrations someday, I have like 9 of them completed, but for now it's the perfect time of the year to publish this book!

Here's the synopsis:

SMART KID MUST SOLVE A MAGICAL CRIME TO CLEAR HIS FATHER'S NAME

Barnabas and his friend Jeff made a great snowman but it has gone missing! From the huge round footprints in the snow it looks like it came to life and walked off. Then they see on the news that the local bank, where Barnabas's dad works, was robbed. A strange crime scene was left behind with large puddles inside and half-melted snowmen outside. No one believes Mr. Thackeray's claims that snowmen robbed the bank, so he loses his job. Barnabas must solve the crime to get his dad's job back.