All He Wants for Christmas - Review

All He Wants for Christmas by Lisa Plumley

Rating:  3 Stars
Source:  NetGalley

Description:  Toy Company CEO Jason Hamilton has appeared in some very un-family friendly photos.  To revamp his image the board sends him to Kismet, Michigan to the highest performing store and home to manager, Danielle Sharpe.  Danielle's goal is to get into the corporate and get herself and her children out of Kismet.  She's hoping Jason's visit may just be the way to do it.

Genre: Romance

Why I Picked This Book: It sounded like a cute premise and the cover looked adorably winter-y.

My Impression:
Pro: There's a lot to like about this.  The premise is unique.  I can't think I've read a book around a toy store and the challenges to keep it not only going but successful. The amount of scandal worked.  It was enough where you could see some outrage but not so much that there was no way to recover.  The banter was cute and light and as characters these two really worked well together.  I loved how Jason was not only fine with Danielle's kids but good with them. As well, the setting of Kismet, Michigan is nicely done.  It's definitely steeped in Christmas but not so much it's silly.  I can easily picture it as a tourist-y destination for the holidays.

Cons: Here's the hard part.  Have you ever had a book just not work for you but you can't put your finger on exactly why?  That was this book for me.  Obviously, there's a lot of good points but this isn't a book I would say I enjoyed.  After much thinking it over I think my problems were the characters were just a bit too over the top.  While I liked Danielle and Jason the way they acted reminded me far more of teenagers than a company CEO and top performing store manager.  Their internal dialog just seemed a bit immature.  Danielle's kids were a little to adorable.  Her ex was a little too much of a jerk and the new wife was a little too much of a bimbo.

Overall:  While I think this would be a fun holiday read for many people it didn't quite work for me.  The setting and the premise were great but the characters seemed a little too stereotypical or over the top.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?:   There's a lot of potential here so I'd like to read one of the earlier books in the series.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  Not sure.  If someone is looking for a light holiday romance this would certainly fit that but it's not my favorite of the Christmas books I've read this year.