Over the Holidays by Sandra Harper

The best holiday traditions are meant to be broken.

It's only December 1, and Vanessa Clayton has been dreading Christmas since she spotted tinseled trees at her local mall in September. Thankfully, she and her husband, JT, can't afford to drag their twin boys across the country to New England for the annual celebration at her stuffy sister-in-law Patience's home. Not that Vanessa has prepared a proper Christmas for her family in years, and she has less time than ever since she agreed to consult on the script of a local play. Her older sister, Thea, is no help -- she'd rather make art and flirt with surfers than babysit her nine-year-old nephews. Then Patience drops a holiday stress bomb: Her family will come to California instead.

In between "baking" cinnamon rolls for the school potluck and overbearing Patience testing her patience, Vanessa can't stop thinking about the difficult but charming playwright at work. Meanwhile, Patience's teenage daughter, Libby, obsesses over a college boy she has met by the pool, and Thea searches desperately for the meaning of Christmas -- for her latest installation, of course. As their holiday plans go comically awry, these four women discover the true spirit of the season is hidden in every festive surprise. [borrowed from GoodReads]

Three women, three different ideas for the perfect Christmas... and, of course, nothing going as planned. I thought each character - Vanessa, Patience, Thea - were well fleshed out and, although flawed, were fun to read about.

Patience had that Martha Stewart appeal to me. She wanted the perfect Christmas - I sympathized with her the most, because I myself get all stressed and worried about making everything absolutely perfect for the holidays (sans the snow since we're in South Florida). Vanessa was the most relateable though. She was the one dealing with her kids, job, stressing over money, impressing her sister-in-law and her family; all while trying to make their Christmas traditions as perfect as possible with everything that could go wrong, going wrong. Thea was just a free spirit with no cares - you just had to love her.

This was a fun, fluffy read. All sorts of holiday hoopla ensues. It had plenty of laugh out loud moments. Ms. Harper's writing was fun, young and hip. I will forewarn there was some cussing, but nothing that can't be overlooked. I really enjoyed this and though t it was the perfect read for this time of year. I guarantee there is at least one moment in this book that you can relate to. If you are a fan of chick lit with a fun holiday twist or just in the mood for a light, entertaining read, you won't want to miss out on this one.

This book was provided for review by Pocket Books.