Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Holiday Entertainment

Just trying to prove that I can now deal with the holidays. 😊

I admit I tend to lean toward the unusual during the holidays. I do like the feel good type, but my faves tend to be a bit odd in nature.

Some of my past fave holiday books:

Audiobook:
I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas
by Molly Harper
Series: Half-Moon Hollow #2.7
Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
It's Christmas in Half-Moon Hollow and newly turned vampire Iris Scanlon-Calix wants to make Gigi's first visit home from college as normal and special as possible. It's taken months for Iris to work up the nerve to spend time around her baby sister after her vampire transition, so she enlists help from Jane Jameson and Company to keep her blood-thirst under control and assure Gigi's safety. 
Gigi, on the other hand, has problems of her own, including the demise of her relationship with high school sweetheart, Ben, and a looming job interview with Ophelia Lambert, the scariest potential employer in the Hollow. And then there's the small matter of the handsome, frustrating vampire who keeps appearing in Gigi's peripheral vision, then disappearing before she can talk to him. 
Can the Scanlon sisters negotiate romantic problems, vampire politics, and Christmas cookie disasters and enjoy a relatively normal holiday?
This novella is fun to listen to and you don't have to really have read the series before diving into this one. Granted I was familiar with the world this one inhabits so I was not completely lost. This one is good for those that want a bit of "red" with their holiday treat as well as some laughs.

Kindle book:
A Karma Girl Christmas
by Jennifer Estep
Series: #3.5
Novella
It's Christmas time in Bigtime, New York, but society reporter Carmen Cole isn't in the mood to celebrate since her husband, Sam, has to go on a business trip and might not make it home for the holiday. But Carmen has plenty to keep her busy, since she moonlights as Karma Girl, a member of the Fearless Five superhero team.

On Christmas Eve, Carmen, as Karma Girl, is assigned to guard toys, clothes, food, and more that are intended for needy children and their families. But an ubervillain also has his eye on the toys and plans to steal and then sell them to the highest bidder. Carmen will have to use all her empathic powers just to stay alive, not to mention make sure Christmas is a happy one for all the kids who are counting on her. It's all in a night's work for a superhero ...
This is another novella that can be read as a standalone. I love this series and it holds easter eggs from the other series the author writes. This one is if you want a little superhero in your holiday bag.

Short Novel: 
Tim Cratchit's Christmas Carol
by Jim Piecuch
Standalone/Retelling
Tiny Tim is all grown up in this continuation of Charles Dickens’s beloved holiday classic A Christmas Carol, and this time, a certain ghost shows him the true meaning of Christmas cheer! 
In A Christmas Carol, evil Scrooge was shown the error of his ways by three helpful ghosts and vowed to become a better person. Bob Cratchit and his family benefited most from Scrooge’s change of tune—but what happened after the goose was given, and Scrooge resolved to turn over a new leaf? 
Tim Cratchit’s Christmas Carol shows us Tiny Tim as an adult. Having recovered from his childhood ailment, he began his career helping the poor but has since taken up practice as a doctor to London’s wealthy elite. Though Tim leads a very successful life, he comes home at night to an empty house. But this holiday season, he’s determined to fill his house with holiday cheer—and maybe even a wife. 
When a single, determined young mother lands on Tim’s doorstep with her ailing son, Tim is faced with a choice: stay ensconced in his comfortable life and secure doctor’s practice, or take a leap of faith and reignite the fire lit under him by his mentor, Scrooge, that fateful Christmas so many years ago.
This is another short book which is a sort of retelling of A Christmas Carol, one of my favorite holiday stories. In this one Tiny Tim is all grown up and on the verge of making a lifetime decision.

Speaking of Scrooge...

Movie:
Scrooged
In this modern take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life, Claire Phillips (Karen Allen). But after firing a staff member, Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.

Speaking of retellings of A Christmas Carol...
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 Christmas animated musical comedy television special directed by Chuck Jones.


Of course there are a ton of movies from that era that I still love but I HAD to mention the Grinch. Plus, Chuck Jones rocks and had sent me something in the mail a million years ago. 

AND speaking of unusual...

A Wish for Wings that Work

I don't know if anyone here has watched this one, but it is off the long gone Opus the Penguin. This one made me laugh. This is actually the full movie, so it is 23 min. long.
ALBATROSS! 😆



🎀

Also, don't forget to do something kind and enter for a prize (just click on the pic below to go to the post):

Remember even the smallest kindnesses counts. The smallest kindness can make someone's day. Even the Grinch found that out. 😉 That is all that is needed to enter. I did make the rules a bit more clear (I hope. LOL). We all need to see kindness right now so share! Plus kindness tends to spread and that is also why you need to share. Just remember to share at the giveaway post.

As for the entertainment... any odd holiday suggestions for me? I may do music on another post.
🎄🎅

36 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of these books so I definitely need to make time for them this holiday season. As for movies, I love Christmas with the Kranks, Home Alone, and The Polar Express. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for all of the recommendations!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the Grinch animated show SO MUCH. I have it on DVD and must watch every year. I also loved Polar Express movie when the kids were younger - they don't care for it as much now. Maybe I can get them to watch with me this year. I read a handful of wonderful holiday-centric novellas this year. I like light and happy romances!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I've only seen the Polar Express once. Might have to watch it again. I haven't really read a specific new to me holiday read yet. :)

      Delete
  4. I always wanted to try Molly Harper. I've heard good things about her books. I don't celebrate Christmas, but I absolutely LOVE the Grinch animated movie and It's a Wonderful Life every time it comes on TV. I never get tired of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Molly Harper is such a good one for a laugh. I really like her books. My family is a mix of everyone must celebrate Christmas and those that don't at all, to those that are a different religion... so I get it, but usually there tends to be at least one holiday film we like. I also like It's a Wonderful Life!

      Delete
  5. I love Molly Harper! And I love Scrooged! *hehe* I don't tend to read many holiday-themed books around the holidays but I don't know why. I have them! ;) As for movies, we watch them as a family every night leading up to Christmas. Our repertoire has expanded as the kids get older and we try to add a new one every year. Christmas Vacation is a favorite! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean! I don't gravitate toward those books but on occasion. I don't know why either. :) Oh Christmas Vacation! The lights! LOL

      Delete
  6. I need to read more of that Estep series! I think I've only read one :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. lol. I haven't seen Scrooged in ages! Great list of books too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do love the Grinch. I am determined to start Harper next year. Loving all these holiday shorts!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm pretty hooked on my Hallmark movies but I also love the classic cartoons and we watched Krampus (Christmas horror lol) the other night.

    I read SO many holiday novellas last year but none so far this year. I did just dl one this morning though.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have yet caught the Hallmark bug. LOL I'm too wimpy for Krampus. :)

      Delete
  10. I will check out your novellas, I need a couple to get me over the top on my reading goal. I want the Estep one. Glad you are finding your holiday spirit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you'll have fun with the Estep one. That whole series is fun. :)

      Delete
  11. I'm always on the look out for fun holiday reads! And I do love Molly Harper, might have to give that one a go! I haven't checked out that series yet.
    Glad you had a bunch of great holiday listens/reads/watches!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Heh I "read" the Harper one too and have it up later this month. It was a fun one :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. These look fun esp the undead christmas

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like the sound of I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas! And How the Grinch Stole Christmas was always a fav!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you'd really like that audio! It was fun. Grinch rules. :)

      Delete
  15. I just relistened to Molly Harper's book last week. I have How the Grinch Stole Christmas on audiobook too. I love the cartoon, which is on my DVR to watch soon. I also have Mickey's Christmas Carole, Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph too.

    Melanie @ Hot Listens & Rabid Reads

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! I ❤ comments!