Book Review: Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber

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[/i]Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a challenge. No matter how hard she tries to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper, that's the last straw. She's going to break through Cain's Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness.[i] [/i]To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats, and the disagreeable grinch won't even accept them. Meanwhile, Julia's blog becomes an online sensation. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain's gruff facade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain - and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog grows, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationshp to the rest of the world is worth risking her chance at love.[i] ~~~~ What a beautiful story about how a woman decides to "kill him with kindness" when she encounters a grumpy neighbour a couple of weeks before the holidays. Being kind to others does rub off. It works in more ways than one. It works in marriages too. If things aren't going well, be a wonderful, adoring spouse and your partner will begin to respond. I've done it. And as this story shows, it works with strangers too. A good lesson for all of us to treat others the way we want to be treated. It has always been my mantra (though maybe not always lived by it). This story is very "today" as Julia decides to do a "kill him with kindness" challenge over the twelve days leading up to Christmas and posting it on her blog. The response overwhelms her and causes others to do the same. The idea was not meant to bring romance into her life but the turn of events that comes from being kind to someone is lovely and fun... until he finds out about the challenge, and then the blog. A very heartwarming holiday story that should be thought about year 'round. I gave this book 4 stars.