Twelve Days of Christmas - Debbie Macomber

Twelve Days of Christmas

By Debbie Macomber

  • Release Date: 2016-10-04
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 268 Ratings
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Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Continuing in a festive annual tradition, Debbie Macomber returns with a new original holiday novel full of romance and cheer—and the magical prospect of finding love in the most unexpected places.

Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a particular challenge. No matter how hard she’s tried to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn, preferring to keep to himself. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper from the lobby of their apartment building, that’s the last straw. She’s going to break through Cain’s Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness.

To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won’t even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie’s blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain’s gruff façade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain—and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love.

Praise for Twelve Days of Christmas

“Another heartwarming seasonal [Debbie] Macomber tale, which fans will find as bright and cozy as a blazing fire on Christmas Eve.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Twelve Days of Christmas is a delightful, charming read for anyone looking for an enjoyable Christmas novel. . . . Settle in with a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, and curl up for some Christmas fun with Debbie Macomber’s latest festive read.”—Bookreporter

“If you’re looking for a quick but meaningful holiday romance that will be sure to spark a need inside you to show others kindness, look no further than Twelve Day of Christmas.”—Harlequin Junkie

“Twelve Days of Christmas is a charming, heartwarming holiday tale. With poignant characters and an enchanting plot, Macomber again burrows into the fragility of human emotions to arrive at a delightful conclusion.”—New York Journal of Books

Reviews

  • My Absolute favorite book EVER!

    5
    By Kitty kat1268
    This book is an amazingly perfect romance novel. It is so sweet of how the two characters fall in love. I do recommend this book to anyone who loves a sweet romance (and a little comedy, I think) story. I don't know how to describe how much I love this book, but it is for sure the BEST novel I have ever read.

  • KINDNESS CAN CHANGE YOU

    5
    By Sheysss
    This book is phenomenal! It's incredibly joyful and relatable for the readers in many ways.

  • Love it!

    5
    By BANDITNCADE
    This story so cute and funny! It would make a great movie too! ;-)

  • Twelve days of Christmas

    5
    By Leanne Angela
    Excellent, quick read, made me happy, made me cry and wanted it to last longer!!!

  • So cute

    5
    By vmb2025
    I thought this book was cute and made me laugh. I can already see it as a hallmark movie.

  • Another disappointment

    3
    By Dream Three
    I love her novels, but this story just felt too one dimension for me. I was waiting for more depth in the storyline. It was a nice quick read for me, but it did not live up to my expectant ions. She usually writes wonderful books. However, I feel this book is just missing somethings. On a positive note, I love grandpa Bernie! He reminds me of my grandfather with his wit and happy go lucky "life".

  • Can kindness melt a frozen heart?

    5
    By JenTer13
    Can kindness really warm a brittle heart? That's the question posed in this lovely holiday offering from prolific author Debbie Macomber. And this is what Julia Padden, a person with a very sunny disposition, sets forth to find out. Julia is a very responsible person, having taken the long route through college for her communications degree so she could pay as she went along and not saddle herself with a lifetime of debt. But this had not landed her a dream job and she was making a living working at Macy's until that day came. Now as a finalist for a wonderful position, she and her competitor have been charged with setting up blogs. After a particularly upsetting encounter with her cold neighbor, Cain Maddox, stealing her newspaper, she calls her best friend Cammie to vent. Cammie suggests she kill him--with kindness to see if it will make a difference and use this as the basis for her blog. With twelve days left until Christmas, Julia takes the idea and runs with it, growing her blog from a few followers to hundreds to thousands, as people read her blogs and watched the progression. As their paths continually cross--at the coffee shop, at Macy's, at the assisted living home where his grandfather lives, Julia is the object of very brutal words from Cain. He accuses Julia of following him to the home, but then must eat his words as she is a pianist accompanying the chorus entertaining there. He then back peddles to make up for his accusations, first forming a friendship, but could that just be the beginning? Is this a turning point in warming his cold heart, or only a glimmer of the warmth that may reside there? This is a delightful holiday tale that will warm the readers heart as surely as the "experiment" is designed to remove the chill from one grumpy neighbor. I definitely recommend this book.

  • wonderful Christmas book

    5
    By momof3boysj
    Kindness: something we should all strive for. Julia decides Cain needs to be "killed with kindness," but she never expected her heart to fall for him. As they get closer, she knows she needs to tell him of her secret project. But when the media gets wind of it, all bets are off. Can she salvage their relationship by Christmas? The magic of Christmas and kindness, plus a little help from family will be exactly what they need to mend things to be together. I love a story that ends in HEA!

  • Entertaining!

    4
    By Kris Anderson, The Avid Reader
    Twelve Days of Christmas is this year’s Christmas novel by Debbie Macomber. Julia Padden lives across the hall from grumpy Cain Maddox. Julia has been cheerful and polite, but Cain does not respond to her cheerfulness (besides asking if she is always so cheerful in the morning). Then he steals her newspaper, and Julia catches him at it. That is the last straw. Julia talks about her neighbor with her best friend, Cammie. Cammie suggests that she kill him with kindness. She also suggests that this would be a great thing to blog about. Julia is trying to get her dream job in social media. Harvestware (major software developer) has an opening. Julia applied and it is down to her and one other applicant. They both have to blog during the month of December and the person with the biggest following will get the position. It is twelve days until Christmas. Julia uses that as the title of her posts. Julia starts out by bringing Cain his newspaper and then buying him coffee. Slowly Julia starts to see a change in Cain. It turns out that Cain can be quite charming. To see how her experiment turns out, you will have to read Twelve Days of Christmas. Twelve Days of Christmas was entertaining. I knew how the romance would play out (predictable), but it was a fun story. I found the characters engaging and I liked the humor in the story. Twelve Days of Christmas is easy to read and has a quick pace (it can be finished in under three hours). I thought the idea of killing someone with kindness was good idea and more people should follow the practice (we would definitely have a better world). The ending will leave you laughing. I give Twelve Days of Christmas 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). There is an excerpt from Dashing Through the Snow at the end of the books. I cannot wait for Debbie Macomber’s next book. I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.

  • Twelve Days of Christmas

    5
    By celticmaggie
    I know it is a bit early for Christmas. However you don't pass up a book from Debbie! For me it isn't a good book without tissues-sad and happy. Debbie has put a switch up in this story line. Instead of a blog on a book it is a book about a blog. Awesome! Julia is a happy person. Cain is a recluse. Put them in an elevator and watch the sparks. Spoiler. They live in the same apartment. Danger. They don't like each other so she comes up with a spoiler to change his Christmas. Along the way she meets Cain's grandfather in a Home. Cain has finally found she has used him for her blog. Major Spoiler! I liked this book with all the rest of her books. This is a quick read. It will become a reread book for me. This is recommended for anybody to read. I hope you choose to read this story. Start Christmas early this year. Enjoy this story! I have this book for an honest review for NetGalley.

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