I was merrily surprised by this book. I don't usually pick up fiction like this, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It started out slow, but quickly picked up the pace. The characters all feel very...real. Just reading about Vanessa's stressful life made my stomach clench from worry and my heart rate speed up. I feel like when that happens, I can accurately claim that it is well written. I loved that you could tell what the characters were like based on their clothes, and I thought it wrapped up very nicely too. I got a little annoyed with some of the characters occasionally, but otherwise I enjoyed the book quite a lot. ( )

I received this as an Early Reviewer and therefor felt obliged to finish it and write a review. Over the Holidays is a snapshot of contemporary women that I would prefer not to have met. Light and fluffy? No. Self absorbed and dull.

Over the Holidays is a lot like a holiday movie in book form. As a matter of fact I can imagine someone like Sarah Jessica Parker starring in the movie version of this book. It is a perfectly told, perfectly paced tale of holiday/family angst that is somewhat predictable, often very amusing, and overall a very entertaining and light read. The various scenes are well brought to life to the classc New England winter scene to the party in the Hollywood hills -- the reader can picture it all. The characters are a little one-dimensional, but still endearing and worth caring about. I really enjoyed it cover to cover and will certainly seek out more books by Sandra Harper. ( )

I won a copy through the Early Reviewers program. It wasn't as a light and fluffy read as I had hoped it would be.

The author weaves stories about different women together. The voices change quickly and sometimes it was hard to follow. I thought that the characters were a little flat.

Not a bad read, overall, but just not what I was expecting.

Vanessa Channing is ready for things to be different. After traveling every Christmas with her husband JT and twin boys from Los Angeles to the snowy suburbs of Massachusetts, Vanessa has elected to stay home in L.A. and enjoy more of a secluded holiday. This drastically changes plans for the Boston-based Channings, however, and JT’s brother Richard — along with his wife, Patience, and teenage daughter Libby — decide that rather than spend their holiday without their family in Massachusetts, they’ll just bring the holiday to Vanessa’s family.

That’s all well and good — except that Patience, Vanessa’s sister-in-law, is totally Type A and crazy about Christmas. Though they’re now on the West Coast and there’s nary a snowflake to be found, Patience brings her conventional ideas of a “traditional” holiday with her, and Vanessa wants little to do with it. After JT comes down with the flu, leaving Vanessa to entertain and prepare for the big day alone, the life vest she’d been wearing to get her through the season begins to deflate.

Sandra Harper’s Over The Holidays is a tongue-in-cheek look at those traditions that both bind and break us, and the maniacal way in which we all flutter around this time of year — trying to be everyone to everybody. I loved that the book was based in Los Angeles, giving us a glimpse of a warm-weather Christmas — something I find fascinating! And Harper did a solid job discussing the Channing traditions and their meaning to each individual member.

While the novel was definitely a fast, entertaining read, I had a hard time getting past my annoyance with several of the characters. The Boston-based Channings — Richard, Patience and Libby — came across as such stereotypical, uptight New Englanders, and they felt more like caricatures of WASPs than real people. Like Vanessa, Patience’s OCD began to really grate on me. And if it was supposed to? Harper did an excellent job! I came dangerously close to wishing I could grab her by her skinny, twinset-wearing neck and give her a good slap. And Libby, their teenage daughter, was so incessantly whiny, ungrateful and selfish that I would have been tempted to ditch her in L.A. on my way back to Massachusetts.

Through our all-knowing, third-person narrator, we’re able to dart in and out of the minds of every character in Over The Holidays – a fact I found jarring. Vanessa seemed to be the story’s anchor and principle player, and I think I would have enjoyed the book better if I’d seen everything through her filter — and gotten her “side” of things more clearly. Thea fascinated me, too, and was my favorite person in the novel; I could have enjoyed the story as told by her perspective, too. Her examination of what the holidays “mean,” as explored through her art, was an interesting concept. Seeing even more of that would have been fun.

Overall, a fast and simple read which satisfied my desire to read something with a Christmas bent. A little more substance in the story would have rounded out my holiday feast, but I’m happy to have spent some time with the Channings in their pursuit of something lasting — and something real. ( )