Early Reader Review: The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson

Source: Netgalley and Revell in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this book in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson
Publisher: Revell
Publication Date:  September 1, 2015

 

Format: Ebook


Rating:
 


 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Miranda did not put adventure on her Christmas list, but thanks to her eighty-five-year-old neighbor Joy, that's exactly what she's getting this year. When Joy tells Miranda that she plans to drive an old RV decked out in Christmas decorations from their Chicago neighborhood to her new retirement digs in Phoenix--in the dead of winter, no less--the much younger Miranda insists that Joy cannot make such a trip by herself. Besides, a crazy trip with Joy would be more interesting than another Christmas home alone. Unemployed and facing foreclosure, Miranda feels she has nothing to lose by packing a bag and heading off to Route 66. But Joy has a hidden agenda for their Christmas joyride--and a hidden problem that could derail the whole venture.

No one captures the heartwarming fun of the Christmas season quite like Melody Carlson. Fasten your seat belt, because it's going to be an exciting ride!

Review: 
SO many feels for this book! I requested this book thinking that it would be a wonderful 'chick-lit' book for me to read during the holiday season, and it was. It was absolutely everything I wanted it to be and more. The story is beautifully written following an 85 year old woman named Joy and her neighbor, Miranda, a much younger woman who has fallen on some rough times. 

Over the course of a week they drive down Route 66 to award Christmas Prizes to various people along the way. Joy wants a Christmas hurrah before moving to assisted living and Miranda isn't sure what she is after but goes along anyway.

The tales of the people that win these prizes are sad yet the book makes the experience heartwarming and Joy is an adorable character - very grandma but VERY spunky. Miranda is down but as the holiday can do, she begins to come around.

This book made me laugh, it made me freak out, it made me cry - everything a good Woman's fiction book should and I loved every second of it deeply.