Actual Rating 3.5 stars.
My Initial Reaction...
It was so fun to go back to Half-Moon Hallow for I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas. I couldn't help feeling that I'd missed something though... Just the same, I found myself laughing my ass off, as usual with this series.
The Good...
The humor and the narration! Gah, Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi make an incredible team! The snark and witty humor just never stops coming and the way that Amanda delivers Molly's writing is spot on. I laughed so hard a few times that my boyfriend came and shut the door. Apparently I was having too much fun :)
I just love these characters! I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas is a slight shift, though. We're not following Jane anymore, now we're with Gigi. I loved seeing her battle the questions of what she was going to do about her current relationship and her sister's attempts to make her first Christmas home for the holidays perfect, despite the fact that Iris (her sister) is now a vampire. I think it was even funnier that Iris was trying so hard to deal with being a newly turned vampire while Gigi didn't care AT ALL. Her family is surrounded by vampires and the occasional werewolf, so what's one more?
The Bad...
This isn't the bad so much as the watch out...
So the first thing is that I came into this going, what a minute, who are Gigi and Iris? Guess what? There's a whole series called Half-Moon Hollow and it is not just another name for the Jane Jameson series. On one side this is great news! I have a lot more of Half-Moon Hollow to read. The bad, I didn't figure that out until writing this review, so I was a bit lost at times.
The only other thing - and this relates to the book itself... I got left hanging! We get all this mysterious glowing eyes and stuff (like how I'm being non-descriptive? That's to avoid spoilers... read it, you'll know what I mean) and then no real explanation. Frustrating!
Concluding Sentiments...
I'm thrilled to know that I now have more of the Half-Moon Hollow world to read! This was hilarious and I can't wait to go back and pick up with the first book!
Reread August 2016: I'm really glad I reread now that I'm actually familiar with all the characters - I enjoyed it so much more!