Secret Santa

Reader reviewed by Ruthie

Reader reviewed by Wiesteria

With the Christmas dance less than a week away, the students of North Ridge High are participating in a school-wide Secret Santa exchange. Everyone wanted to get the person they liked, eager to have a chance to confess at the ball. However, things did not go as planned. Noelle wanted Charlies name but got his brother, Ryan instead. Celia suspects that Jake was her Secret Santa, but it was in fact Froggy who had her name. Lily, who had Connors name, tried her best to get him good gifts, and she attracted the attention of Simon in the process. Meanwhile Shawna felt that Connors Secret Santa was threatening their relationship and drags David with her to uncover who had Connors name. Needless to say, confusion and laughs ensued.

While the premise of SECRET SANTA was decent enough, the book tried too hard to squeeze so many characters and relationships into only 350 pages. There was too much going on and such a large cast was hard to keep track of. There were around seven main characters and the constant switching of points of views was not only jarring, but it cuts scenes of character growth and prevents the reader from caring for any character in particular. Also because of the limited pages, the ending was way too rushed and everyone seemed to find happily-ever-after rather unbelievably quickly. The writing itself is pretty good, but the book is crippled by the plot and characters. This is the first I have read from Sabrina James and while it was a disappointment, it did not succeed in completely scaring me off. Hopefully her next offering would have only a few main characters, not seven to ten of them. Recommended for preteens.

Reader reviewed by abscae

Well, was this book a huge disappointment for me or what?

The principal of their school has just announced a Secret Santa program to commence at the beginning of the week, and all that strikes most people is that this is their chance for romance! Noelle, the ever hopeless romantic, thinks she can woo the guy whose name she didn't pick, and forgets all about the guy she did pick. Lily, after a tremendous heartbreak, is reluctant to like a guy, but all for making herself the best Santa ever. Meanwhile, Celia, the popular girl who feels out of place is crushing on the guy she chose while Froggy (Freddy) crushes on her. And so the circle continues, full of mayhems and mishaps.

I really don't know how I can write down all my disappointments, but the primary ones are:

1) It really bugged me that all that came out of the program was ROMANCE. A guy and a girl can become and stay friends. Everything does not have to turn out perfect, in fact it rarely does, so this book leaves me highly disappointed because there's no reality to it. Life isn't a fairytale, and frankly reading a book that is doesn't help me learn anything.

2) There's no emotion in it. Sure, it's cute and all, but I really couldn't sympathize with any of the characters. Lily and the guy she ends up with happened in a snap, I really don't see how that relationship developed, and Noelle was just annoying after a while.

I didn't like most of the characters, I didn't sympathize with any, and I found the book a drag.

I don't usually go this harsh, but I found this novel a waste of my time, and I rarely say that. I'd recommend you skip this one, unless you're looking to pass time quickly.