Tom is on a train because he was banned from flying domestic. 

 

He is going to spend time with his current girlfriend Lelia. 

 

On the train, he met his old girlfriend Ellie and her boss Max.

 

Now the train was unscheduled stop deal to natural occurrence. 

 

200 pages later, we learned that Eleanor, who was dating Tom as a conflict zone journalist, want him to change career and settle down without really telling him. 

 

Gee. what a bitch. 

 

As if war zone journalists couldn't have a career and a family. 

 

That premise is wrong. And she was wrong to even try to give him an ultimatum to propose to her. 

 

So very stupid. 

 

Tom was in the dark. From his point of view, Eleanor woke up angry, asked him to leave with her, when he didn't know how to respond, she walked out of his life.

 

Feel sorry for dating such a stupid bitch. 

 

Now, what on earth would he want her back? 

 

One true love is a stupid idea. 

 

Now, entered the surprise of Lelia boarding the train to propose to him.

 

He didn't love her. That's obvious. 

 

So, he dumped her. 

 

Good that she already got a backup.

 

It would be a half star read if there is no final twist at the end. Still, it is a stupid romance that really not enjoyable at all.

 

Mature adults know how to work things out and articulate their wants and needs and compromise without harming anyone. 

 

Stupid romance characters didn't know how to use basic communication skill and create unnecessary emotional stress and distress. Half way through the book I already hope that it turned into a disaster book and killed off Eleanor. 

 

So, not a good read. The only book from Baldacci that I was disappointed.  

 

Read this for Dec 25 book task

 

 

 

The first disappointing book read from Baldacci.

 

Where is the magic as advertised in the back cover?

 

A guy Tom Langdon, a conflict zone journalist, was dumped by a woman Eleanor years ago. Now he is dating Lelia. 

 

He boarded a train because he was banned from flying domestic after an incident at the airport. 

 

Now he met this Eleanor who didn't really explained why she dumped him. She acted angry as if he should know without this stupid bitch articulating it. 

 

Now the current girlfriend Lelia surprised him and proposed to him. 

 

Gee... the guy sounds like a jerk as he would just cheated on the girlfriend, or date someone who he didn't loved truly. 

 

True love is a bit of bullshit. If they loved each other so much, they would have reconciled years ago. 

 

The premise is fine. The story sucks. 

 

One star so far. 

 

Reading this for Dec 25 book task 

Full review on my blog.

4.5 Stars

The Christmas Train is the story of Anna and Eva. Anna is a sweet little 10-year-old girl who lives with Nana Rose, her grandmother. After the inevitably sad death of Nana Rose, her mother decides she can’t take care of Anna and sends her to live with her dad in Iowa; a man Anna has never met. It is on her journey on “the Christmas train” that Anna meets Miss Eva, an older woman who thinks she’s on a train to her villa in Germany in pre-World War II. Having had such a close relationship with her grandmother, Anna sees a little of her grandmother in Miss Eva and so we follow them as their lives become intertwined in a friendship that will melt your heart and give you all the feels.

This is a feel good story, with lovable characters and a warm positive message. It’s impossible not to fall for Anna. She’s this adorable 10 year old that thinks and behaves like a grown up. Miss Eva, even though she’s the grown up that acts like a lost 10 year old, you can’t not fall for her in her time of need. As a family member of someone who is struggling with senile dementia, it was impossible not to feel compassion for Miss Eva.

My favorite character is Nana Rose. You gotta love Nana Rose! Find out what I loved about her in the full review on my blog.

If you’re looking for a short and cozy Christmas story to read curled up in a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and candy canes, this is the book for you. If you are traveling during this Christmas season and you need reading material, this is the book for you and your journey. It will warm your heart, make your trip more cozy but most importantly it will make you want to be aware of the people travelling with you. Who knows, maybe you will meet your “Anna” or your “Miss Eva” on your Christmas bus, plane or train. If you do, you will be blessed.

 

 

BUY ON AMAZON US | BUY ON AMAZON UK

 

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

I received an Electronic copy of this book but was not financially compensated in any way nor obliged to review. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal experience while reading it. This post contains affiliate links

"The Christmas Train" is the first of four books I've bought to try and read myself into the Christmas spirit. It didn't go so well.

 

The start of the book was so sickly sweet, I thought it might raise my blood sugar enough to push me over into type two diabetes. I persisted because it's a Christmas book and a certain amount of schmaltz was to be expected and I hoped things would get better when the book go into its stride.

 

The book never got into its stride. It stumbled along from scene to scene, clumsily structured and underwritten.

 

David Baldacci seemed to be trying to do some kind of homage to Mark Twain but ended up simply emphasizing the gap between Twain's storytelling ability and his own.

 

I could have forgiven the cardboard characters in the supporting cast and the inept attempts at some kind of magical realism, and the over-long info-dumps and pro-Amtrack propaganda that sat in this under-cooked Christmas Pudding of a book, as indigestible as a sixpence, if only the main character, Tom Langdon had been worth caring about. Instead I got an implausible, inconsistent, cipher of a man who, it seemed to me, was a self-absorbed, immature, manipulative, prankster who didn't seem up to the task of being the romantic lead.

 

The book is narrated by Tim Matheson. He did the dialogue reasonably well but the prose dragged him down with its mediocrity no matter how much seasonal cheer he tried to inject.

 

The only thing that made it worth trudging through the slush of this book for seven hours were the insights into the, to my European eyes, peculiar attitude of Americans to passenger trains. I use trains for long journeys all the time. These days, the high-speed, high-tech trains are a viable competitor to planes for many business trips, yet here they were presented as a dying anachronism. Still, given how bad the rest of the book was, I'm not sure I can rely on this information.

 

This was my first David Baldacci book. I assume, as the book cover declares him to be a "Number One International Bestselling Author", they can't all be this bad but my experience of  "The Christmas Train" doesn't encourage me to find out.

"The Christmas Train" is the first of four books I've bought to try and read myself into the Christmas spirit. It didn't go so well.

The start of the book was so sickly sweet, I thought it might raise my blood sugar enough to push me over into type two diabetes. I persisted because it's a Christmas book and a certain amount of schmaltz was to be expected and I hoped things would get better when the book go into its stride.

The book never got into its stride. It stumbled along from scene to scene, clumsily structured and underwritten.

David Baldacci seemed to be trying to do some kind of homage to Mark Twain but ended up simply emphasizing the gap between Twain's storytelling ability and his own.

I could have forgiven the cardboard characters in the supporting cast and the inept attempts at some kind of magical realism, and the over-long info-dumps and pro-Amtrack propaganda that sat in this under-cooked Christmas Pudding of a book, as indigestible as a sixpence, if only the main character, Tom Langdon had been worth caring about. Instead I got an implausible, inconsistent, cipher of a man who, it seemed to me, was a self-absorbed, immature, manipulative, prankster who didn't seem up to the task of being the romantic lead.

The book is narrated by Tim Matheson. He did the dialogue reasonably well but the prose dragged him down with its mediocrity no matter how much seasonal cheer he tried to inject.

The only thing that made it worth trudging through the slush of this book for seven hours were the insights into the, to my European eyes, peculiar attitude of Americans to passenger trains. I use trains for long journeys all the time. These days, the high-speed, high-tech trains are a viable competitor to planes for many business trips, yet here they were presented as a dying anachronism. Still, given how bad the rest of the book was, I'm not sure I can rely on this information.

This was my first David Baldacci book. I assume, as the book cover declares him to be a "Number One International Bestselling Author", they can't all be this bad but my experience of "The Christmas Train" doesn't encourage me to find out.