"Home for the Holidays" by Heather Vogel Frederick

First off, I don't get the title of this book. Megan and Becca go on a cruise, Emma and Jess go to a winter resort and Cassidy goes to California.While Christmas isn't the only holiday covered in this book, it is the biggest one and so I found it interesting that Home for the Holidays mainly focuses on plots that do not take place at home. But aside from that, I liked this book. The Mother-Daughter Book Club is currently reading the Betsy-Tacy books though some of the girls aren't as excited for this series as the others. Each girl has a lot going on in their lives and it seems like life might be getting in the way of their friendships. On top of that, when the girls exchange Secret Santa gifts no one gets gifts they would actually wants and this puts further strain on their friendships. Could this be the end of the club?

In some ways, I didn't enjoy this book as much as the earlier ones in the series. I don't know if it was because it has been awhile since I have visited this literary universe so some of the previous plots were fuzzy (this is common with my reading experiences) or if the story just wasn't quite as good (I plan on reading Wish You Were Eyre soon, so that will likely answer this for me). I think part of it came from getting so frustrated with the girls because of how they were acting. I didn't feel that they were being good friends and all of them seemed a little too self-absorbed. I did enjoy getting to go on their various holiday adventures and it is very interesting to see how the girls have grown up. And having read this book, I am interested in finally giving the Betsy-Tacy books a read (I am so behind with all of the books I want to read). Fans of the series will definitely want to add this to their collection.

*Special thanks to Catharine A. Ward for sending me this book as part of the Bookies Secret Santa last year!*

Happy Reading!
-Melly