Too sweet, too twee, too much forced Christmas cheer with insta-love - and not enough story development or fleshed out characterizations. Carol Claus, daughter of Santa Claus, is going undercover as a nanny (Carol Candy Kane) to the Hanson family as a favor to her dad. The father of the family is working on a book "Beyond Bah Humbugs: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus is a Bad Idea", and wants a low key, low expectations holiday for him and his two kids (girl 8 and boy 5). Miss Kane must help him find the Christmas magic before he ruins Christmas for his kids forever. In addition to all the toos I mentioned at the beginning, there is also the spectre of the awful, evil dead wife. At least it was short 91 pages.

I was in the mood for some Christmas spirit, so I downloaded a bunch of free books off Amazon. We all know that can be a huge hit or miss. I found this novella cute, and a quick little read. There were some things that didn't sit well with me, as I am not a fan of insta love and that is exactly what this story is.

This story is totally cheesy, and I mean no disrespect to the author. There is good cheesy and then there is bad cheesy. This one is good "Hallmark" type of cheesy. Perfect for this season when you want to get lost in a feel good story.

A family story that is appropriate for young and old. Freebies usually end up being erotica, nothing against it, but I was happy this was just some good, clean fun. I do think this would have been better as a longer length novel, with the characters more fleshed out and the love being more realistic. Sure, there is magic involved and maybe destiny, but insta love is still not my cup of tea in most cases.

I liked the idea behind the naughty elf who brought some mischief to the story. I would have liked to see that part more in detail.

Overall, I think it is written well and it flows decently, but it does feel like chunks of the story is missing.

Cute, but I really didn't like the main characters. Carol was way too pushy, essentially taking over Ben's house and ignoring everything he said, purposely doing things she knew he wouldn't like. Ben, on the other hand, was grumpy throughout most of the book, but they never really said what his grudge was against Christmas specifically.

In the end, everything is magically better. Three stars only because I liked Santa & Mrs. Claus, the elves, and Ben's children. I'll read another book in this series just to see if it's better with a different set of main characters.

* 4 stars *

This cute Christmas short story has Angelique Devereux winning a trip to the North Pole a week before Christmas. Her guide for the week is Garrett McCree. Garrett is an engineer who was adopted by Santa Claus as a boy and lived at the North Pole ever since. Angelique is pretty outgoing but Garrett is shy so he has a hard time being with her.

I enjoyed this fun read about Angelique's visit to Christmas Central. It's a great Christmas story with a modern twist complete with elves!

If you are looking for a quick Christmas read I recommend this light-hearted story.

The North Pole Prize is a sweet short story with all of the whimsy of the North Pole and the elves.  The blend of childhood favorites with a contemporary twist was so much fun!  Garrett is an engineer at the North Pole, a Scotsman with a troubled past who even makes an appearance in a kilt!  Always a good moment!  Angelique embodies the holiday spirit and has won a trip to  visit the North Pole.  She, too, has had a bit of a troubled past, but the two could not be more different  The romance was sweet and the interactions with the elves were often hilarious.  A short read, but a good one! 

My Recommendation

If you love a good, heart warming holiday read, this is a great one!