The Expat Diaries

by Michele Gorman

[Rowena]

The 12 Days to Christmas is a novella that follows Misfortune Cookie. Misfortune Cookie ends with Hannah thinking about second chances and 12 Days starts off with Sam and Hannah back together again. Hannah has decided that Sam deserves a second chance and they’re working things out. I never doubted Sam’s love for Hannah, I just thought that he was a bit greedy with his pleasures. Technically, he didn’t cheat on Hannah but what he did was still a betrayal and just like Hannah, I felt it. In this book, Sam is the model boyfriend and Gorman really puts both Sam and Hannah through the wringer in this short story but it was still an enjoyable read.

Hannah is still up to her old tricks in this story. She overthinks things, she under shares things and she’s all over the place but by now, I was like Stacy. I took all of her quirks in stride because at her core, Hannah is a good person. She means well and well, she’s Hannah.

In this book, she’s got a secret that she’s keeping from Sam. She thinks that if Sam finds out about it, it’ll be the end of things for the both of them and she worries herself silly over it all and her friendship with Brent is all up in the air because there are feelings there. For such a short book, lots of things are happening in this one. Hannah’s dealing with her feelings about taking that next step with Sam. Sam ready to take those next steps. Hannah coming to terms with her friendship with Brent. Stacy and Josh and their relationship. Going home for Christmas with Sam meeting Hannah’s family for the first time. The potential sale of Josh’s company and well, Hannah’s secrets. I thought that Gorman did a great job of riding these different storylines out. While everything is happening, the reader is front and center. One of my gripes with Hannah is actually something that Josh finds comforting in his assistant and that’s how much she talks. She babbles on and on about everything under the sun and there were plenty of times when I wanted to skim ahead because well, when Hannah went on those tangents, I tuned her out anyway. But aside from that, this was a cute read.

It wasn’t as interesting to me as Misfortune Cookie but I’m glad that I read it because this novella serves as the ending of this series of stories. In this story is where we say goodbye to the Single Girl in the City and got over the Misfortune Cookie. Everything wraps up in this story and I was happy with the way that it ended. We went through the wringer with these characters and if you stuck with them, they repaid you with an ending that puts your mind at ease. It ended the way that it was supposed to end and I was glad for it.

Thanks for the entertaining hours that I spent with these characters Michele Gorman. I came to love them even though I had my doubts early on.