Review ~ "Checkin' It Twice" (Blog tour+giveaway)

Checkin' It Twice & Other Heartwarming Holiday Tales by Various
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Received to Review
Genre: Inspirational Christmas (LDS)/ Short stories

Book Description:  Can Santa learn a lesson from the Savior? 
Can a foreign exchange student help you see Christmas a little more clearly? 
Do things really look better from a distance? 
And just how many holiday ornaments does one woman need? 

Get in the Christmas Spirit with Volume 2 of award-winning stories from LDS Publisher's 2010 and 2011 Christmas Story Contests! Sixteen short stories from popular LDS authors to help you remember the reason for the season!
My thoughts:  I am very happy to say that I liked each of the stories presented in this collection. Every one of them appealed to me in different ways.

There are stories dealing with Santa, Christ's Birth, kindness to others, death, and the atonement. I don't want to pick a favorite, because each one had it's own appeal. There wasn't one that I didn't like.

I will mention that my next door neighbor, Lee Ann Setzer, is one of the contributing author's.  It was fun for me to read her work.  She and I have spent many hours together and her sense of humor shines in her story.

A few others have taken residence in my brain.  The young woman who is feeling unworthy to spend time with an old friend because of an indiscretion.  The teacher who finds out that homemade ornaments are not to be scoffed at. (My tree is full of them.)  Santa learns that he is spending too much time checking the naughty list when he could be helping the children instead.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy short and well developed stories. I was surprised by the quality of each. Usually in an grouping of short stories there may be an odd story that doesn't appeal, that wasn't the case for me in this grouping.

Best of all, it's a book that you can feel good about reading. In the end you come away with a positive feeling about the Christmas season.

I have been authorized to offer one person an ebook copy of the book.  Use the rafflecopter to enter.  You must be 13+ to enter.  If under 18, you must have parental permission.  This book will come from the publisher.  The contest will end on 12/13/2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There is a special promotion associated with this book.  If you purchase a copy before December 15, you can email a copy of your receipt and get bonus goodies.  All of the details can be found at this link... http://www.checkinittwice.blogspot.com/p/the-bonuses.html.  There is also more information about the book that you can check out.