Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances
By John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (352 pages)
Published by Penguin
Bookish rating: 3.5
Who doesn't love Christmas? And who doesn't love young adult (YA) lit? Well, this girl loves all of the above, so when my good friend Lauren said, "Hey, YA Christmastime literary BUBBLEGUM," I was sold.
In this collection of three stories (actually, I'd call them "novellas," but the book's marketing team didn't consult me), we get a fun, interconnected saga of a big fat snow storm, hormones, and teen angst. And a Waffle House. Oh, to be young again . . .
As is the plight of such collections, you get some good mixed with the bad. I thought the first story by Maureen Johnson was great. Super funny, adequately angst-y, solid YA tone. John Green's tale was equally good: absorbing and fresh and witty. Lauren Myracle's was LAME LAME LAME. She brought the entire collection DOWN, and to end with her story just made the book end on a flat, uninspired note. Myracle utterly lacks the wit and YA tone that drives the genre. After reading Johnson and Green, her story felt like it was written by a PTA mom trying to be "in tune" with young folk. I'd imagine the editorial people did their best to clean up her so-called "YA" sludge, which makes me wonder what she actually submitted for the publication, but I definitely have no interest in reading her other work. Bummer.
Overall, a worthwhile read: Cozy up to a fire and bask in the first two stories, which can stand alone on their own. Then skim or skip the third.
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