Christmas by Accident by Camron Wright

Christmas by Accident by Camron Wright

Book Description:

Carter is an insurance adjuster whose longing for creative expression spills over sometimes into his accident reports. Abby works for her adoptive father, Uncle Mannie, in the family bookstore, the ReadMore Café. Carter barely tolerates Christmas; Abby loves it. She can't wait past October to build her favorite display, the annual Christmas book tree stack, which Carter despises.

When an automobile accident throws Carter and Abby together, Uncle Mannie, who is harboring secrets of his own, sees a chance for lasting happiness for his little girl. But there are so many hurdles, and not much time left. Will this Christmas deliver the miracle everyone is hoping for? Where love and Christmas are concerned, there are no accidents. 

Tarah's Review:

First of all, I need to complain just a little bit about the cover and the size of the book. The cover is cute enough, but there is just something about it that throws me off. I'm guessing it's the size of the book. I realize most people will think I'm crazy for this, but none of my other books are this size and it just throws my bookshelves off kilter. Especially if I'm organizing by author. His other books are not this size and that drives me batty. I'm sure the publishers have a reason for making a smaller book, but since I don't know what the reason is it just drives me nuts!

Okay, now that that's out of the way...on to the book! I love Christmas books. I have no problem reading Christmas stories in July. Now, setting up Christmas in stores, I have issues with them getting earlier and earlier every year. I think they should wait till after Thanksgiving, but no one asked for my opinion so there you go.

I haven't read everything Camron Wright has written, but the handful that I have read have been serious, gut-wrenching, reach for a tissue type books. I admit I was expecting more of the same from this one. Well, if that is what you are expecting throw those expectations out the window and I think you will enjoy this book a lot more. This book is a satire, and part of me is wondering how serious he was when he wrote this, and the other part of me said, "Hey, it's funny, so let it go." The book is filled with cliches and humor, but I did love the "I chose Christmas". I really can't take this book seriously, but considering I read it in one sitting very quickly and I occasionally burst into laughter I can't say bad things about it either. I was entertained. Let's maybe just leave it at that.

Andrea's Review:

Christmas by Accident is such an interesting story. It's not like many stories I've read with Christmas as a theme. In fact, it was sort of . . . making fun of those. Kind of. It's not like it was mean, but one of the main characters, Carter, doesn't like Christmas. He's an aspiring author though, and decides to write a Christmas story. He finds that there is a Christmas book about everything (that's where the kind of "making fun of" came in). His process is . . . strange. So, in part, Christmas by Accident is a book about writing this book. That part was unusual and unlike your typical Christmas story.

However, even though this isn't the deep, heart-wrenching story you may have expected from Wright, there is a touching story on top of the writing the book story, and that has a nice message of hope.

I enjoyed the characters. Carter is an insurance adjuster-a job that would slowly kill him from the boredom if he didn't spice up the claim reports. However, the insurance industry isn't known for feelings, and Carter's creativity gets him into trouble. He was a quirky character, and I enjoyed seeing his growth. I liked Abby as well. She has such a good heart and positive outlook. Mannie and the employees at the Read More Cafe are an entertaining group.

This wasn't a gripping, read it all in one sitting type of book for me. But, I did care about what happened, and I liked the happy ending.

Rorie's Review:

Based on the description on the back of the book, I was expecting a sickeningly-sweet, "Christmas is my life!" meets bah-humbug "I hate everything Christmas!" sort of story. That's actually not what happens at all. Yes, Abby does love Christmas, but she's not super-obsessive about it. Carter isn't fond of Christmas, but the story doesn't really get into that aspect of it very much. I honestly wish there had been a bit more butting heads involved, to be honest.

For me, the story was just ok until the last few chapters. Then things picked up and really started to get interesting. The author is a little over-exuberant with his descriptive words, so I think that's part of the reason why I struggled to get into this story. It was kind of distracting.

This is a cute, quick read, but it had a very powerful lesson at the end. Plus, yummy-sounding recipes are included. That's always a bonus in my opinion.

Title: Christmas by Accident Author: Camron Wright
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Published: September 2018
ISBN: 1629724769
Source: We received copies from the publisher in exchange for honest reviews.

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