The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman

 I'm a bit behind on my review so please don't mind the occassional review of a christmas book :-)

Goodreads Summary:

Mark your calendar. It's the Christmas Cookie Club! Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather in the evening with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish, a bottle of wine, and their stories. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie's oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story might end? Jeannie's father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal, and how can that be forgiven or forgotten, even among old friends such as these? Rosie's husband doesn't want children, and she has to decide, very soon, whether or not that's a deal breaker for the marriage. Taylor's life is in financial freefall. Each woman, each friend has a story to tell, and they are all interwoven, just as their lives are.

On this evening, at least, they can feel as a group the impulses of sisterly love and conflict, the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the agony of losing a child, and above all, the love they have for one another. As Marnie says, the Christmas Cookie Club, if it's anything, is a reminder of delight.

The Christmas Cookie Club is about the paths Marnie and her friends have traveled, the absolute joy they take in life and love despite the decisions they've regretted, the hard choices and amends they've had to make, and the sacrifices along the way. Ultimately, The Christmas Cookie Club is every woman's story. As you read about Marnie and her friends, their struggles and triumphs, what makes them laugh and what has made them cry, you'll see yourself and some of the ingredients of your own story. Celebrating courage and joy in spite of hard times and honoring the importance of women's friendships as well as the embracing bonds of community, Ann Pearlman has written a novel that speaks to us all

My Review:

That is a very long book summary so I’m not going to add to it. I’ll just give you my opinion. Each of the 12 women has their own chapter but their stories are interlinked. It felt as though there were too many characters and I spent part of the book struggling to follow who everyone was. The Christmas Cookie Club also has a bit more heartache than I like in my Christmas novels. Each woman has their own troubles and although there were some silver linings it wasn’t enough good to outweigh the bad. I know that not every book has to be ‘happy’ because life isn’t always happy but I like a little more cheer in my holiday reads.

I was talking to a fellow blogger (Wendy @ Wall-to-Wall Books) about this book and my review. She suggested I say who my favorite character is and why. Well I could take the easy road and say that my favorite is Marnie because she is the head cookie bitch and you learn that she is sometimes the glue that keeps the group together. But I’m not going to say that because I really don’t have a favorite. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. I’m not sure if it’s the writing style that I didn’t resonate with me or if it’s the fact that I haven’t experience the things they have.

I did think it was neat that the author included the recipes for each of the cookies. A recipe and a short history of some classic baking ingredients were given before each chapter. I think that including all of this information at the beginning of each chapter really threw off the flow of the book. Because of this, I ended up not reading any of that extra information. I might go back and read it separately but to me, it would make more sense to have all of the same information, but add it at the end of the book.