It’s my aim every year to celebrate the holiday season as little as I possibly can. Call me a Grinch, I’ll gladly say “bah humbug.” It’s not the universal sense of giving that dissuades me (I try to encompass that attitude year-round), but the relentless commercial cheer that forces me into a month-long eye-roll. Which is why the closest I got to a Christmas review last year was The Price of Salt/Carol. So why, you may ask, am I covering a whole series of holiday novellas? If you read In the Palm or Lucas by Elna Holst you may understand my willingness to step into an area I don’t exactly fancy. Holst is a writer I am constantly enamored with. Plus, these books are pretty unique. They take place in Sweden in the late 90s to 2000 (each 2 years apart), covering the same gang of characters which includes a radical feminist, an intersex person, a hard-ass, and an Indian woman set on making a point to share a few. With such a vast array of characters portrayed by one of my favorite writers, I knew I was in for more than just a sappy ride (no offense to those who enjoy Christmas corn).
The series starts with Candle Light Kisses in which feminist, Erika Stolt, is forced into volunteering at the St. Lucia beauty contest after being caught red handed in a graffiti incident. The situation doesn’t seem ideal until she realizes that the contestant who she’s supposed to help is Padma Lindgren, her school-girl crush. Feeling encouraged by her grandmother, Padma enters the contest because she’s tired of being the gingerbread man. As an adoptee from India, this is as racist as it sounds. I don’t agree with beauty contests, but damn did I want Padma to win. This little story covers that feeling of otherness while two people fall in love in a very sweet way, but I’m not going to spoil that part for you.
The story continues in Little X where Fifi Anderson, a young attractive bus driver, meets American social anthropology student Roz while picking them up at a bus stop. Smiles are exchanged and Fifi can’t get that attractive person out of her head. As fate would have it, Mia, Fifi’s older sister, knows Roz from University and brings them along to help Fifi move into her new flat. Roz is charming and funny but is due back in in New York in two weeks, which is incredibly unfortunate because these two goofballs deserve each other. Don’t worry, it’s Christmas, which means miracles are aplenty.
Wild Bells might have been my favorite of the four, though it’s hard to choose. The “cold-hearted” Mia Anderson has it bad for Linda Lang; the hottest too-cool-for-school straight girl has Mia—the Dykemaker—Anderson at a loss. However, it’s Linda’s twin sister, Sandra, who wheels in and makes Mia speechless. A top who is not used to being topped is always a fun story, and I greatly enjoyed watching Mia “melt” into her first relationship. Sandra is an equally strong character—a woman who is assertive and knows what she wants. She’s also disabled, with no feeling below the waist she uses a wheelchair to get around, but that certainly doesn’t prevent her from achieving her goals.
We return to Erika and Padma in And Then They Were four who are having twins and still just as crazy about each other. This story opens with some pretty sweet and steamy pregnancy sex. I should state somewhere that Holst does a superb job writing erotic scenes that don’t sanitize the human body. This realism adds something hotter to the mix. Poor Fifi is nursing a broken heart as she left Roz in New York six months ago. Don’t worry, no one’s unhappy this Christmas. Especially me, who all but squealed at the threesome chapter.
These stories are cheery and sweet but not in an obnoxious-over-the-top-the-magic-of-Christmas way that the season tends to produce. I think what helped is that the characters felt real enough, flaws and all, that a cynical ass-hole like me actually rooted for them. People who drink hot chocolate by the gallon, listen to holiday jingles 24/7, and are just itching for that snowy moonlight kiss are going to enjoy these books, but if your skin is green and hairy and you’re likely to be visited by three ghosts on Christmas eve, you’ll also appreciate them. There’s something for everyone. 4-3-2-1—what are you waiting for?