The Snow Globe: a heartwarming, uplifting and cosy Christmas read (Christmas Fiction)

by Sheila Roberts

[celinenyx]

The Snow Globe is a short novel filled with Christmas spirit. An antique snow globe is being passed from person to person, working in a miraculous way to change their lives for the better. In the book, the snow globe makes its way to our three female main characters, and plays a pivotal role in changing their lives.

Fans of holiday movies will gobble this up. Filled with every-day problems, The Snow Globe solves them all with a neat little bow. Written in a forward manner, Ms Roberts goes straight to the point - the problems of the three friends, Kiley, Suzanne and Allison, are immediately and concisely laid before us. Kiley is dealing with a crappy break-up and the lack of a boyfriend, Suzanne tries to juggle her career and her family with the family drawing the short end, and Allison misses her grandmother who passed away a year ago. These issues are dealt with in a predictable, though satisfying way.

The Snow Globe does exactly what it promises: leave you with a good mood and the belief that all is right with the world. It left a slightly bitter taste for me, because I had some fundamental issues with the way some subjects were handled. But don't mind this Grinch if you're looking for something light and fluffy for the holidays - The Snow Globe will probably do perfectly.

Grinchness and huge spoilers beyond this point.
The sad thing is that I have something bad to say about every single of the stories in this book.

First of all, we have Kiley. Kiley is incredibly obsessed with her ex boyfriend, to the point where I'd calmly escort her to a psychologist, because girl, you're not coping well. Of course Kiley finds a perfect hunky boyfriend, whom she knows she will marry in like a year. Healthy, right?

My gripe with Suzanne's story is pretty stupid. Suzanne has a daughter (and a terribly obnoxious one at that), who desperately wants a puppy. Her husband is like "don't be such a stuck-up, let's get a dog". Suzanne responds with "but we don't have time for a dog, they need company". Husband says "you're just making up reasons, I'm sure we can figure something out". NO. Just NO. You do not adopt an animal if you're not sure that you can actually care for it. That's why animal shelters are so incredibly bursting with abandoned animals. A neglected dog will bark, whine, destroy your stuff, and basically turn into a huge nightmare. This completely ruined that story for me. You don't adopt a puppy without having a plan.

And the Allison story just didn't make much sense to me. Yes, your grandmother passed away. And the solution is that you meet a completely random old woman that resembles your grandmother, and now everything is okay? There are plenty of old people in any retirement home near you, she could have just visited any of those.