I have a friend who prefers to read holiday stories in season--it's never much bothered me to read stories set at holiday times at other times, but this one, I might agree with her and say that it might be better read during the Christmas season.

Cara Talbot takes a lot on herself. She feels she needs to atone for the behavior and actions of her father and she feels the guilt of not checking on her mother sooner. Since her father's actions put his employees out of work just before Christmas and her mother committed suicide at Christmas, Christmas is not her favorite holiday. Yet, Cara is determined to save not only her own job but the jobs of the other employees at the small department store where she works.

I don't think I could work for Cara's boss who always seems just a tick away from firing Cara--and who comes up with monthly schemes to increase business at the store. At least her December idea does seem to bear fruit and she does seem to listen to Nick (who's somehow related to a friend of hers).

I didn't catch what song they were doing at first. I thought it had to do with the 12 days of Christmas. So the "sable under the tree" was a bit confusing when you're thinking "partridge in a pear tree". It did eventually become clear--it might have been nice if the author could have included the song lyrics (or a link to them) somewhere in the book to clue those of us who don't know "Santa, Baby" by heart in to what was going on.

I liked that Cara had a heart. She helped William, the homeless man. She volunteers at a suicide hotline, and later at the homeless shelter that helped William. She's concerned for her fellow employees (even though many don't seem to treat her nicely). But she does take on things that aren't hers to correct too.

I liked the idea of creating window displays that coincided with the publicity that was being done for the store. They seem creative. ( )