Customer Reviews

Scenes From A Holiday: The Eight Dates Of Hanukkah\Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution\Emma Townsend Saves Christmas (Red Dress Ink Novels)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Eight Dates of Hanukkah by Laurie Graff is a fun and unusual story about a committment-phobic, workaholic woman. While working late on the first night of Hanukkah, trying avoid her boyfriend's proposal, she gets hit on the head by a menorah during a botched burglery attempt and falls into a coma. As her family rallies around her, she slips into singles fantasyland where she must date a different quirky guy on each night of Hanukkah. In the process, she learns valuable lessons about love, life and appreciating what (and who) she has. Although I am not Jewish, this was my favorite story in the anthology. I enjoyed accompanying Nicki on her journey of self-discovery while she was in the coma, and found that her spiritual awakening was something I could relate to and apply to my own life.

Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution by Caren Lissner features a 20 year old intellectual genius who is socially inept. Her resolutions for January are to break out of her unsocialized predictament and to meet people who are more like herself, specifically a boyfriend. She attempts to "normalize" herself, with the help of a therapist and a delightful friend named Kara, who provide a refreshing balance to Carrie's issues with not fitting in and being different. While this story had very likable characters and an interesting concept, I was disappointed by its non-ending. The issues set forth in the plot were unresolved and Carrie was left pretty much in the same predicament as she started in, and it would have been more satisfying to have the loose ends tied up into a solid conclusion.

Emma Townsend Saves Christmas by Melanie Murray is the funniest story in the collection. Emma is now a sophisticated New York lawyer determined to distance herself from her country upbringing on a Christmas tree farm in rural Vermont. Instead of heading to Aspen this Christmas with her upper-class boyfriend who is about to propose the her, Emma reluctantly returns to her hometown because she feels pressured not to disappoint her parents. She arrives to find that they've abandoned her to spend Christmas in Jamaica. She feel obligated to represent her parents in the town's hokey Christmas Faire, and with the help of her Nana and her childhood crush, she revitalizes the celebration for all, and rediscovers the charm of her roots. Although a highly enjoyable read, I found this story to be the least believable and realistic of the three.

I could envision each of these short stories being featured in the holiday issue of a woman's magazine. Very entertaining, and hilariously written, they are sure to inspire the spirit of the season and chase away the humbugs!

"The Eight Dates of Hanukkah" by Laurie Graff. Events planner Nicki Heller believes the first day of Hanukkah is God's vehicle to test her. As a kid, her new doll had its head twisted off; her marriage ended on another first day; and now Mark Baum proposes, but when she says no he drops her. That same night a thief enters her shop leading to a menorah crashing on her head. Unconscious Nicki believes she is trapped in Menorahville where she goes on a date from hell every night of the festival of lights.

"Carrie Pilby's New Year resolution" by Caren Lissner. Having graduated from Harvard before she turned twenty, but receiving no social education in the process, Carrie Pilby vows to attend two events a week, one social and the other professional. She also swears she will talk to two strangers at these events, hopefully a male and if asked out will say yes. The genius actually has a friend Kara who she confides in that she thinks of returning to college so she can gain the social skills she never learned the first time around.

"Emma Townsend Saves Christmas" by Melanie Murray. When she left her parents' Maine Christmas tree farm for New York City, Emma Townsend vowed to never return for the holidays. Yet Emma heads home thinking of White Christmas when Rosemary Clooney gave up Manhattan for Vermont. To her shock her parents are going on vacation to Jamaica leaving it to her with the help of her high school sweetheart Tim Latch to save Christmas.

These three holiday novellas are fun chick lit tales that will bring good cheer to sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed the first two stories in this collection: The Eight Dates of Hanukkah and Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution.

The Eight Dates of Hanukkah, written by Laurie Graff, is about a self-sufficient NYC career woman named Nicki. Nicki keeps putting off her boyfriend's proposals of marriage. Then, after getting struck on the head by a robber, Nicki goes into a coma. In her coma, she enters the world of Menorahville, which is like NYC but with different street names: Dreidel Way instead of Broadway, and Latke Lane instead of West End Avenue. The only way to get out of Menorahville is to marry one of its bachelors...but none of the men want to get married when there are so many desperate women willing to date them. It's an interesting story of the tables getting turned; Nicki had run a dating agency in real life and never understood the difficulties her clients had finding the right man.

The second story, Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution, is great. I loved the novel Carrie Pilby, and this story picks up where the novel left off. Carrie is a genius with no social skills, who has hilarious thoughts but finds it very hard to fit into the world around her. Carrie resolves to find a guy who's like her, but it's harder than it seems, even as she attends "intellectual events" (e.g., a conference on media bias) and tries to flirt with soup kitchen volunteers.

The third story, Emma Townsend Saves Christmas, didn't do it for me. Emma is a selfish young woman who wants to marry rich and drags her feet about going home for Christmas. She and her brother both want to stay in New York, but for reasons that are never explained, Emma ends up going home to Vermont. She's resolved not to help out with the annual "Christmas Faire," but her parents leave town for a Jamaica vacation and she's stuck helping out. Emma was so selfish and shallow that it was hard to relate to her, the men in the story are scarcely developed and Emma's transformation at the end is hard to believe. Also, the scenes in Vermont, although they are supposed to be heartwarming and quirky, are dull and stereotyped.

I'd still recommend the volume though, for the first two stories.

'SCENES FROM A HOLIDAY' is a collection of three short stories from three of Red Dress Ink's most popular authors, Laurie Graff, Caren Lissner and Melanie Murray. Overall the book was a good way to kick off my holiday reading list but the stand out story in this book was clearly Laurie Graff's 'The 8 Dates of Hanukkah'.


'The 8 Dates of Hanukkah' - 5 stars

Graff delivers a strong and very likable main character in Nicki Heller (definitely a character I would like to see again!) and a very unique story line. Commitment-phobe Nicki Heller knows that her boyfriend of over a year is about to propose but she isn't so sure that marriage is in the cards for her, so she plans to avoid his proposal at all costs. She even manages to unwittingly knock herself out with her grandmothers old menorah sending her into a coma for several days. While in the coma Nicki travels to Menorahville, a town much like New York City but the only way out is to find a mate and get married. A determined Nicki refuses to stay in Menorahville but finds that finding a good man is much harder than she ever imagined!

'Carrie Pilby's New Years Resolution' - 3 stars

Possibly had I read Caren Lissner's hit book 'CARRIE PILBY' I would have found this story much more endearing. However, not having previously been introduced to the character I found the story of Carrie Pilby a young genius trying to fit in a bit pointless. When Carrie decides that she wants to meet someone just like her in the new year (preferably male) she sets out on various adventures to try to find this person, unfortunately Carrie finds that she needs to find herself before she can find a mate. This second story left a bit to be desired and seemed unfinished...maybe there will be a sequel to that hit novel?

'Emma Townsend Saves Christmas' - 4 stars

Emma Townsend is dreading going home for Christmas to her small Vermont town where Christmas is serious business. She has a new life in New York and does not want to trade in her DKNY suites and Ferragamo heels for flannel shirts and work boots but when her brother Jeff bails out first Emma is left holding the bag. Only when she arrives she finds the town in chaos, her parents are spending Christmas in Jamaica, the town is in an uproar over changes to the Christmas Faire and...is she just paranoid or does everyone in town seem to hate her?? Now with the help of her high school crush Emma must save Christmas while finding out that maybe tradition isn't so bad after all.

This is the first Laurie Graff book I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book has three completely different stories in it by 3 different authors. I have only finished "Eight Dates of Hanukkah" to date, but I recommend the book just for that story.

As a guy, I thought that Laurie's writings only appealed to women. I was wrong (and I can admit it? What's that all about). I found her writing highly enjoyable and as one who has been single for many years, I could easily relate to her humor.

Laurie uses a surrealistic dream sequence to take her character through a singles journey; one that is funny and insightful, and one that we have all probably been on . . . just not condensed into 8 days.

Get this book. It's a very enjoyable fictional read. But be careful. You might just learn something about yourself in the process.

I really enjoyed reading the three stories from Scenes From A Holiday because it really evoked that holiday feeling (even though I read the book in July). I would recommend reading this book.

There was a lesson learned with each story. You also got a glimpse into each character and their lives.

I was able to finish this book over the course of a weekend and was a bit disappointed with it overall. Several reviewers have already done a great job of summarizing all three stories included, so I'll just give brief opinions on the three:

I thought the first story was really strange - similar to any movie you've seen where the character gets stuck in another realm and realizes what life is all about. The second story started out great but I was annoyed by the ending. This might have something to do with the fact that I haven't yet read Carrie Pilby? The third story was the best by far, unrealistic at times, of course, but funny as several parts made me chuckle. I will definitely be checking out more stuff by the third author.

I read this book at the beginning of December and it helped to kick off the holiday season. I would recommend purchasing it used or borrowing it from a library, but I don't think I would recommend purchasing it new for yourself or a gift.

This was a cute book to get someone like me in the spirit of the season. I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, so I was so glad to see a Hanukkah story!
All three were fun reads, but I really enjoyed 'The Eight Dates Of Hanukkah' and 'Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution' the best.

I recommed this book to anyone who's looking forward to the holidays. If you're a 'bah hum bug' right now, this will surely get you in the spirit of the season.

Happy reading!

"Scenes From A Holiday" is a fun fast paced read that will get you into the spirit of the holidays. Trust me...this is a perfect book to pick up after all of the holiday crowds!

"The Eight Dates of Hanukkah" is a little bit "Groundhog Day, mixed with "It's a Wonderful Life." The end result hilarity! Nicki Heller is a thirty something divorcee who is an events planner with a raging case of commitment phobia. Been there done that, bought the T-Shirt, no using said T-shirt as a dust rag. So when she realizes that her boyfriend Mark is about to "pop" the question she avoids the meeting. Well, too bad for her. One attempted burglary later she's out cold and getting ready to enter "Menorahville" and proceed to have the worst dates in history. But when she wakes up will she realize that what she already has is better than anything she could hope to get?

"Carrie Pillby's New Year's Resolution" is the story of genius Carrie Pillby. She is ready to make the New Years resolution of all times. She's going to be less geeky, more social, and finally find "Mr. Right." Well, easier said than done since she never manages to leave her apartment. Well, you have to start somewhere right...With the help of some friends this twenty something lady might just live her dreams...

"Emma Townsend Saves Christmas" is the story of Emma Townsend and her coming to grip with the concept of family, tradition, and really taking a hard look at what you truly want. Emma thinks that since she left Bethlehem and her family behind she can now finally get out of Christmas the things that she thinks are important. But this Christmas is going to be much different and with the help of Tim, Emma is going finally get the gift that she's always wanted.

This was truly a fun holiday read that will leave you laughing and perhaps a bit teary-eyed. All three authors have truly contributed fun, feel good reads that will put you into the holiday spirit!

Official Reviewer for Romance Designs

All three of the stories were very stereotypical. You have all three types of stereotypical women in the stories:

1. The overly independent type who allows herself to settle down in the end.

2. The really smart but socially clueless type who is much overused.

3. The rich and sophisticated but from a small, embarrassing town type, who is also much overused.

I found this book to be way too typical to be enjoyable. I found the first story the most ridiculous, it sounded like something my younger sister would make up. It was like one of those airplane movies that you want to end but it never does.