Book Review: 25 Days by Per Jacobsen
25 Days
Author: Per Jacobsen
Published: November 1, 2024
Paperback: 360 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: December 1-25, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
Hoping to bring his family closer together, Adam Gray arranges a vacation in a remote cabin on a snowy mountain. Things take a dark turn, however, when someone starts leaving gifts in the Christmas stocking mounted on the barn door.
Each morning brings something new, and with every passing day, the contents become more terrifying. Soon, the family makes a spine-chilling they’ve been dragged into a deranged game of Secret Santa, and if they want to survive, they will have to fight.
Curry’s a little nervous with what’s going to happen next!
Jessica’s Review:
I wanted to get my review for 25 Days in before we got too far into 2025, and thus father away from Christmas. This book is unique! Jacobsen wrote it ‘advent style’: Where the reader reads one chapter a day from December 1st and ends the book on Christmas Day. But ultimately in his author’s note he says that you can read it in the way that you choose. This advent style is what drew many of his first-time readers to 25 Days, myself included! I read it advent style and completed the book on Christmas. I admit I did fall behind three times, but still caught up and ended it when I was supposed to. I am very proud of that fact!
Jacobsen also had a Facebook group where readers could talk with him and his publisher wife Sarah daily in regards to the book, and many just had to keep reading, they just couldn’t stay with ‘a chapter a day’. I will say this: the further along you get in the book, the harder it is to stay with the ‘chapter a day’, but I can proudly say I did it!
We have the Gray family on vacation and their little stay in an isolated cabin becomes a living nightmare! I became attached to each of the family members, but had no idea who was going to make it to the end of the novel, if anyone did.
25 Days is a horror novel and will not be for everyone. It’s a violently graphic novel that will not be for everyone! Reader discretion is advised, especially with chapter 19. I can handle violence, but this chapter did a bit of a number on me! In addition to the torture of the family, there are animal deaths in the book.
Some readers were not happy with an ending that doesn’t give all the answers, but I loved it! Life and villains don’t always have complete answers. If anything, maybe we can get a continuing story in the future!
Jacobsen worked very hard on this novel, especially with the ‘advent style’. Imagine having to come up with a story that had to end with a certain number of chapters and to also have each chapter develop with enough of the story in it and keep readers wanting to come back the next day!
I enjoyed and appreciated 25 Days so much that it made my Top 10 of 2024, being number five! I will definitely be reading more of Jacobsen’s novels in the future.
There are some things that I just won’t see the same again anymore: Among those things are stockings, Secret Santa, isolated cabins in winter with snow, and snowmobiles! If you want to know why, then you must pick up 25 Days!
Purchase Links:
The Author’s Website where you can purchase signed copies or bookplates and more!
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Short Story Sunday: Holiday Hideaway by Mary Kay Andrews
Holiday Hideaway: A Short Story
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Narrator: Eva Kaminsky
Published: October 29, 2024
Audio: 1 hour 59 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Listened To: December 2, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Short Story Description:
Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.
George Holloway is here to sell his granduncle’s house—and to reconsider whether he and his fiancée are right for each other. Amid home repairs, George notices strange noises and missing food, but as much as he gets his rental agent on the phone, Tilly dodges every invitation to meet. He’s sure that someone’s here with him, and it’s certainly not the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future.
As Tilly and George circle each other, they both wonder where their lives are headed and if, maybe, meeting each other is just the Christmas miracle they need.
Jessica’s Review:
MKA wrote a Christmas short story, so you know I was going to read or listen to it!
Holiday Hideaway was a cute short story that could really use being expanded upon! It was almost too short for me. It’s not realistic at all: Hiding in the attic of a house that your company rents while the new owner who inherited it is staying there. And add your dog to the mix? Does this dog not bark… Ever!?!?! Come on. Other than all of that, Tilly and George’s banter and chemistry seeps through the audiobook. You just know what is ultimately going to happen. I was ready to go on this short story and see what ultimately happens. And with MKA you know it’s never really that easy!
The narrator for this short story is Eva Kaminsky and she did a good job with her narration!I did enjoy it an gave it 3.5 stars, but I think MKA needs to stay away from short stories and at a minimum write novellas, like her previous Christmas novellas have been. Which I loved both of those!
My reviews for those novels are here:
The Santa Suit This one was a double review with Kim!
Bright Lights, Big Christmas
Audiobook Short Story Review: The Gift by Freida McFadden
The Gift
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrator: Alyson Krawchuk
Published: December 4, 2022
Audiobook: 1 hour 4 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Listened To: December 20, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Short Story Description:
It’s Christmas Eve and Stella Hansen is broke.
She is so broke that despite working two jobs, she can’t even afford a present for her husband on their first Christmas as man and wife. But then a mysterious storekeeper at a pawn shop offers Stella an intriguing trade.
Stella wants more than anything to buy her husband the Christmas gift of his dreams. But will it come at a terrible price?
The Gift is a gripping Christmas-themed thriller inspired by the classic O. Henry tale, The Gift of the Magi.
Jessica’s Review:
I wanted to share my review for this one before we got too far away from Christmas, so I am sharing it now!
Please note that this is not a full-length novel, but a short story. The book is about 50 pages and the audiobook (which I listened to) is just over an hour. I knew this going in as it says right there on Amazon the pages/ how long this story is. It is not the author’s fault if the reader does not notice that, and yes, I knew going in that it was short. I was ready for that as my commute is right at an hour and I knew I could get completely listened to then carry on for my work day!
The reader should also be aware that is inspired by that classic that we have all read in school: The Gift of the Magi, so we know the general direction this short story will go. But in McFadden fashion she has her own twist to it!
For me this short story was just average. The buildup was good, but the big twists didn’t shock me as I was hoping they would. It was more of a ‘what goes around comes around’ in a way certain characters did not see coming.
The narrator was Alyson Krawchuk and I have listened to her before. Her narration was good, especially with the old lady portrayal!
I’d love to see McFadden try her hand at more short stories, but with the ‘negative reviews’ as to the length of it (which again is mentioned if readers would actually… read ‘about the book’) I don’t think she will write more short stories.
If you enjoy McFadden books give it a try, but please realize that this is a short story!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK