Jennifer Crusie's novella Hot Toy, the first story in St. Martin's new collection Santa, Baby, is absolutely adorable. I couldn't believe how much Crusie packed into a mere 111 pages--her book was the only Christmas story that I've ever read that featured an Alfred Hitchcock reference (the hot toy of the title, which all of the characters are obsessed with, is the Major MacGuffin, The Tough One Two action figure), Chinese double agents, and gin-soaked gumdrops. Hot Toy was funny, sweet (well, as sweet as Crusie ever gets), and the perfect way to while away a pre-holiday hour or two.Unfortunately, I found the other two novellas in the collection to be nearly unreadable. To be fair, starting with the Crusie story meant that my standards were set quite high, and I might have enjoyed the other two novellas more if they'd been released independently (or, at least, if I'd read them before I read Crusie's contribution). As it is, one can only hope that St. Martins will eventually re-package Crusie's story and sell it individually. Hot Toy is cute enough to become a holiday classic, but first it needs to shake off the dead weight.
Labels: Jenny Crusie
4 Comments:
Crusie is an amazing writer, but, to do them justice, some of the stuff the other authors have written has been cute, too!
Looking forward to picking this up....
4:39 PM
I've already bought this, but I haven't read it yet, so I'll make a point to read the non-Crusie stories first. Why shoot yourself in the foot, enjoyment-wise? I'm sure I'll like 'em better if I don't have the mighty Crusie casting her shadow over the whole thing.
9:56 AM
I was so excited to read this because it has been a while since we have had a new Cruise book! I had hoped it would tide me over till the next book but now I can't wait!
10:31 PM
This was such a great story! I really love Cruise’s characters!
11:46 PM
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