All
is not sparkly snowflakes and sweet candy canes in North Pole City.
Office workers Tim and Noel do nothing all day but antagonize each
other—petty fighting that might be based on hatred… or a heated mutual
attraction. It’s up to Jack Frost and his elf-friend Rudy to broach the
hostilities and introduce some Christmas kisses, but is the Frost Prince
up to the challenge of launching a new romance when someone’s trying to
break his holiday spirit?
Have you ever found yourself
in the North Pole amongst elves, sugar plum faeries, and reindeer who aren’t
actually deer? No? Then you might want to take the time to listen to Mending Noel by Charlie Cochet. Though,
I gotta warn you, it takes most of the book to figure out what is going on.
First off, the description of
the book leaves out a lot of information that if had been clear ahead of time
might have made the book make more sense. (If there is any sense to actually be
had.) First, remember the first time you watched the Nutcracker? How confusing
it was unless you had someone whispering in your ear the whole time what was
actually going on – which was an annoyance in and of itself? Well, take the
premise of the Nutcracker, add in a few gay elves, a reindeer who isn’t
actually a reindeer but an elf whose job it is to deliver toys at Christmas
time, Jack Frost, and some tin soldiers who’ve gone to the dark side and you’ve
basically got the premise of the book. Add in that Noel has no idea he’s
attracted to Tim (oh yeah – Tim and Noel are the main characters – they take
such a backseat to the strangeness that is Mending
Noel that I forgot to mention that) so he’s just been treating him like
crap for a long time and when he finally the light goes on and he realizes he
is actually attracted to tiny Tim – yes, Tim is tiny – well, to be honest by
that time I was just sitting there listening wondering what would happen next.
It was kind of like sitting
at a stoplight waiting to see if anyone else would run a red light or cross
against the lights… only not that exciting.
I think my favorite part of
the whole thing had to be the narrator, mainly because he was one of those
gifted souls who actually created different voices for the different
characters. So any time one of them spoke, I basically knew who it was. So Dave
Gillies gets 2 thumbs up.
However, even his gifted
voice could not save Mending Noel for
me for a first reading. The audiobook was only 1.5 hours and yet it was the
longest 1.5 hours I’ve spent. Now that I actually understand the story – and it
took about 1.25 hours before I got that far – I have to say I liked it in a
strange, fascinated, how-could-anyone-write this, and
I-have-got-to-get-to-know-this-author kind of way.
I think next time I listen,
I’ll fantasize about how Rudy the head Reindeer actually looks. What? I know
the story is about Tim and Noel, but Rudy would be the one I would want to look
at.
Rating - Audiobook: 3.5 stars
Rating - Story: 2.5 stars
eBook Formats:
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