I'm Ravi Darnit, and this is Sarah Finazis with the Black House of France and everything. Welcome. Today, I'm joined. Once again, by Page of the Boy to talk about The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson.
Just over a month's late, no big deal. We talk about what the book is trying and not trying to do about the main character of Joy and how much we adore her. And if we read A Christmas Joy Ride Part 2, the book is silly and cheesy, but also endearing and earnest in the best way. It was a great time talking to Page about it, as always, on a discussion.
Hello, everyone. I'm here, once again, with Page of the Boy to talk to Gabb about some books. How are you doing? I'm doing well.
We're talking about this a little. We're a little late. It's fine. It's okay.
It's still nice. The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson, a nice big cover of a big RV covered in Christmas lights for your Christmas novel and a picture. My Joy does not look like a lady on the cover, though, but that's- Wait, is there a lady on the cover for you? A little bit.
A little tiny lady in the window of R.V. She's kind of like- I didn't even notice her. She's like a little force ghost in there, you know, a little kind of ephemeral, but she's there. That's right.
Thank you very much. Page. Yes. I think this book gave me diabetes.
Yeah. Go on. Tell me about this new diabetes you currently suffer from. So I mean, I don't want to- You cannot judge any piece of art for something that is not trying to be.
This is not- What this is trying to be is a sweet Christmas story to- At least it's a Hallmark movie. Yeah, it's a Hallmark movie, basically. Yeah. It's- Hey.
But maybe you want nice, happy, sweetness injected directly into your veins. I think that's what this book is going for. It is not trying to be more in peace. No.
It's not trying to be the power, even. It is trying to be like, hey, you know what? Christmas is good. Remember Christmas?
Hey, do you like Christmas here's some Christmas for you? Yeah. I enjoyed my time with it. I had extraordinarily low expectations, but I think it exceeded them.
I expected less than I got more, so I think that's usually a good thing. Yeah. I think it's not that I had high expectations. I didn't.
But I expected a little bit more of a journey. Okay. I expected a little bit more. Okay.
So for context, my parents watch all of the Hallmark Christmas movies. It is on a 24-7 loop in their house, starting at Thanksgiving. It is like the only thing on the TV. They've seen, like to the point where a movie will come out and they'll be like, oh, it's this one.
And Hallmark has like their cast of actors that they use in a bunch of different movies. And so they'll be like a female protagonist, and my mom will look at my dad and be like, it's our girl. There she is. Oh, no.
It's a thing. Like it is a craze in my parents' house. And so I've seen a lot of these movies, I've seen bits of the movies, just so I had an expectation for a little bit more drama, a little bit more, not high stakes, because it's never really like super high stakes. Conflict.
Conflict. I thought there was going to be a little bit more conflict. I didn't necessarily think that Joy and Miranda would fight, but I thought that there would be some drama on each of the road trip stops. And really, it was just kind of like a calm adventure for the most part.
And so we get to about the middle of the book. But there wasn't really a whole lot of resistance, which is fine. And I think maybe in a way, I was expecting too much. I was expecting a little more conflict than was promised.
You know? Yeah. I expected, I'm not sure, I expected mostly nothing because this is, you know, it's literally called the Christmas Joy Ride and the main, one of the main characters is named Joy. So Christmas Joy Christmas Joy, I never blog 86 year old Joy, who is selling her, selling her home.
And I think there's an interesting layer of melancholy to all of it, because it's, it, it, and that's this, it was a strange thing to me. I, I, I wasn't really expecting that at all. I was expecting almost kind of just pure, like, yeah, we're just, I'm a wealthy old lady. And we're going to go do Christmas.
But there's also like, oh, yeah, I'm selling my house because I'm going to live in an assisted living place. And Miranda, her is in bankruptcy or foreclosure. And her husband left her for some younger woman. How much old is Miranda?
She's like 30. I'm like, how much younger? Right. You're not old.
You're young. Still, there's not, he's my, I mean, he, it's still, yeah, he could be a jerk and leave you for another lady. But I don't, I don't think age, they're, they're maybe like, she's like 50 or something, like they've been married for 20 years. I, yeah, I, I actually had a misconception about her age.
And then I read the book blurb where it was like 30 year old Miranda and 85 year old joy. And I went, oh, she's like, it kind of adjusted the picture I was having of her in my head where I had to keep reminding myself that she was supposed to be like around my age, which was interesting. Um, yeah. Uh, man, her husband's like, I'm like a jerk.
I was actually didn't show up. I was kind of worried that there would be a point where it's like, oh, there he is, or oh, he called and he wants money or something stupid, you know? Yes. And that's, he works better as just this off-screen boogeyman who's just, yeah, I agree.
Some bad guy. They're like, oh, yeah. And there's literally a, there was literally one of the stops they make. They talk about, it's the diner, it's the lady at the diner whose husband also skipped out on her.
And they literally have at the mention of a husband leaving her wife, Miranda growls. Like, literally, it's just Miranda growled. I laughed. I was, I, this book is not terribly subtle, but I, and I, I'm curious how much of irony I'm, I think some of that I was enjoying, ironically, I don't know how, I don't know how much of it is intentional.
I feel like some of it is. I feel like this book has, I think this book is not just solely, hey, you're, you're someone who loves Christmas and probably Jesus too. And here's some, here's some of that for you. You know, it's just, it's short and easy and everything works out in the end.
But I think, I have to think that there is another, the other audience, which is someone like me who's just like, oh man, this is so corny and you're just laughing at the corny in this sometimes. And I think like it leans into it at times. I think there's got to be, because for the, the homework movies, for instance, a lot of people watch them for serious. And then a lot of people watch them because they're like, this is some cheesy, silly, like over the top Christmas romance, like they love the tropes, they love how unsettled everything is.
They love kind of the predictability of being able to say she's going to bump into that guy or that guy secretly a prince or whatever the tropes are. Christmas. Yep. A Christmas prince, but you know, people, I think it's fun to feel like you're in on the joke or in on the, like, you know what's going on.
Sometimes. I don't know. I almost don't know how much of it was intentional. Like to me, it felt really, really earnest, like very like pure in like a, like she was doing this for like a message.
And I don't know, I think what I kind of wonder is what, I mean, there was definitely a message of giving, but the overarching message of the book kind of got lost on me as soon as they split off and it became just Miranda's adventure, like mind and love and romance. I really didn't expect that. I go, did you expect it? Literally.
Okay. So there's two things. There's two like calling them twists is I don't think they're not twists, twists, twists, they're not twists, but they are, they're turns a little bit, they're turns. And one is joy falling sick.
Yeah. That I knew would happen. Absolutely. There's no, it's literally like early on.
I think I highlighted the first time I noticed it and she's, and it's like, it's joy, you know, joy's narration kind of, and she's just like, Oh yes, I'm doing fine except for that one thing. And then it just goes back into Christmas and then it starts talking again and she's just like, Oh my, I'm feeling a little bit tired. I shouldn't trouble Miranda with it. And you're like, Oh no, what do you, what are you hiding?
Joy, you're definitely your old, there's something you're going to, she didn't die. She didn't die. I was half expecting her to be like a Christmas ghost by the end of this book. I'm so glad she wasn't.
I was half expecting her. But the second that they said the last stop was a single father who's lost the spirit of Christmas. And he has a young daughter. I went, Oh no, they're going to hook up.
This is going to be there. She's going to date this fella. They're going. And of course he's very handsome and he is that is the largest moment of conflict is their first meeting when they run it when she literally breaks into his house.
Only conflict in the book. And I was like, I say I was surprised by it were going into the book. I didn't necessarily, I thought that she might meet a man along the way, but I didn't think it was going to break off in the way it did where it's like you have joined the hospital and the rest of the book is Miranda. In a way, it felt a little unfinished like whenever I read the final page, I went, Oh, okay.
Yeah. I went in. I expected it to end. Like I expect them with a, like they talk about the Christmas dinner.
Like they haven't sent people. And I'm like, okay, so the brothers and Joy are going to join them with maybe the neighbors or whatever. And then I would have loved that. Yeah.
Like kind of be like a happy ending is just like everyone eating Christmas dinner together. And he opens the guy opens the present from the daughter and you go, and you're like, Oh, this is nice. But it just ends with him kissing. Yeah.
And I thought that that didn't honestly, like, and again, I'm judging way too harshly, but since we are in a book club and it's we're picking things apart, I thought that that's the sort of thing that was missing, like a wrap up maybe even like a flash forward a couple years where they're visiting Joy and maybe they're like decorating her assisted living facility. Something that like just showed them Miranda and the handsome man who was rough at first, but surprisingly gentle them all together as a family and kind of what their life looks like see that Joy has found happiness in her new new life, like maybe some friends with the assistant. Like I just needed a bow. For me, it was missing that that meeting missing a Christmas bow.
It was missing a Christmas bow. It needed a little bit of tinsel at the end for me. Yeah. Some some just an old box that she had in the garage with a shiny pink ornaments that's all I wanted at the end.
And instead we got a smooch. It was a good smooch. They fell in love very fast, which is all so fine, but there was a moment whenever he comes to visit her at the like camper park and she was just like in tears, like, I don't want to give my heart away. I'm like, you bet this is the second time you've you haven't even gotten a date yet.
You're not. This is not this is not a come. You don't have to commit right now. This is not your entire future.
She's just like, I'm scared to let myself fall in love with you and I'm like, whoa, I'm starting to think I know why your husband left you because you might be a little bit clingy. You shouldn't necessarily jump right on people, you know, after you've met them one time, even no matter how handsome they are, I mean, it's all trophy. It's fine. It's nothing to do.
Yeah. I wanted more. I think joy is all the fun in this book to me. And when she I think that's really why it's after Joy leaves, you're just kind of like, right?
I follow Miranda. I want this little kid to have a good Christmas. That's something. Yeah.
It would have been super fun if Joy would have been in that part of the book and she would have been like matchmaking like, Oh, no, the RV. I forgot to plug it in. Would you help us with that handsome stranger? Yeah.
Please, no, I'm in the hospital and dying. I can't do it. It's all just her act. She set the whole thing up.
Her heart is fine. Her sons know it. Oh, that's the other. It was very strange to remember like, Oh, yeah, her sons are also in their 60s and they're really, really Miranda is still much younger than them.
That was another thing where once I kind of realized the age difference because at first I was like, maybe we'll get to Phoenix and she'll fall in love with one of the sons and then I realized that the sons were both like, and also how did the sons end up so like corporate, like, it sounded like they like don't care about Christmas and don't care about anything just about me and like with like her as the mom where they just like Christmased out. They were like, Okay, mom, we got it. We got it. We never saw Christmas again.
Frankly, it might be the case. I mean, you drew up a certain way. I don't know either you are entirely in on it or you hate it and maybe they just went the other direction. Maybe they're just tired of Christmas.
They're like, we got so much Christmas. I guess she's just going to like sneak out of the nursing or assisted living place and decorate their houses every year and they're going to be like, Oh my God, mom, please. You're nine years old. You're like, you don't claim ladders the they I mean, I they are a plot device and I think that's it's fine.
Like, and that's what all these people like other than join Miranda, they everyone else is not really characters. They are ways to kind of pull demonstrate what Christmas is and what Christmas is not and what is important during Christmas and you know, you have, you know, you and each of them is like a little lesson. You know, we have the we go to the trailer park and you have the gruff punk rock. I love her.
She's great. But I mean, that is that's don't judge people by their appearances. That's the little lesson there. You know, you can have people who look strange don't, you know, the we don't even meet the mean lady at that rehab center.
She's just she's just I mean, lady that we isn't a meeting, we don't even see her. And she's like, she doesn't like Christmas and she doesn't like religion. Oh my gosh. What's decorating?
Make her angry. I feel like that was kind of Miranda's attitude of like, well, too bad. And we don't even mean that that's the other thing. I was couldn't meet that.
The kid, the 17 year old kid in rehab, wasn't he in rehab for it? Do we know we didn't find out what he was in rehab for. I think it was like hinted that it was addiction probably, but probably more in like a subtle way, just because I don't feel like the book was going to be like drugs. He does.
He did lots of drugs. The rehab, that because it's like they opened up a bunch of stuff. They were like, here's a bunch of characters. Here's a bunch of things.
And then it was like immediately joy was in the hospital and we never really saw anything with that again. I think it was Miranda's like, well, I decorated. It's fine. Joy's dying.
We need to go give her aspirin in the hospital, make sure she's all right to call her sons. I don't know how they expect her sons. She was very worried about that call to a person to say that their mother's in the hospital. Yeah.
I don't I don't see how Miranda's responsible for the for joy feels like if I was Joy's son, I would there's literally nothing you could tell me that she's done that I would be surprised by. It feels like joy has always been that person and you just go, Oh, Mom, what have you done this time? Oh, she's went on a cross country road trip decorating people with whatever with Christmas and now she had an art attack and you're in someplace was that right again again. Oh, yeah, you know, I think there was something that I liked about that phone conversation where Miranda kind of snapped at one of the sons where she was, well, how could you have let this happen?
And she's like, well, I your your mother is a grown woman capable of making decisions. And I really liked that because I feel like you see whether it's like through grandparents or just people kind of like take that agency away from seniors as they get older, you know, and it's true that like your body changes and like you can't always do the things that you were able to do. And you need to adjust to that. But also like joy is fully capable of making decisions was it smart to her for her to travel with a heart condition.
We found that out like much later. So no, probably not. But at the same time, like it was her choice to do that and she was still allowed that decision. And so I did I did like that.
I feel like I liked that they were saying they weren't taking that away from joy. They were still saying she's like she's changing. She's adjusting to changing, but she's still a person and she's still capable of choosing how she wants to live her life. And yeah, I enjoyed that message, but I wish that it would have been a little bit more completed because then it was okay, well, she's in the hospital and her consequences for taking this road trip have I said road ship cruise on down the road.
The consequences were like, okay, well, now you've done too much like you've extended your body too much you are now in the hospital. Yeah, she just loves Christmas that much. She does. Yeah.
So I just I wanted a little bit more of a message with her of her either saying like, you know what, I'm going to make the most of my new life and it will be different that I can find happiness. And I don't feel like we got that. And so that was kind of a bummer because I'm sorry, I'm just like, I mean, I think it's not really Joyce. It's called the Christmas joy and I think it's really supposed to be Miranda's.
I think the the last bit is supposed to because this is the categorize quote unquote as women's fiction. I think that Miranda bit at the end is supposed to be like, I feel like the reader, the intent is the reader supposed to be, he's supposed to love Joy and like, and just like spending time with her. And we're supposed to be Miranda. We're so we the reader are Miranda and we're supposed to be like, I like spending time with the joy.
I'm Robin. She's Batman. We are going on this Christmas road trip doing crazy things. And then we're supposed to feel, you know, when we when Joy gets sick, you were supposed to go, Oh, no, I'm all by myself now.
I'm all alone. I totally get that. I hadn't thought about that before because I was so invested in joy for me. That's that's who the story was about.
But you're totally right. And there's a lot of tension was for it to be like, your Miranda. What a cool neighbor you have. What a fun Christmas time you were having.
Like yeah, for sure. And I don't I do I do think Miranda story could be another one or two or chapters with Miranda like, does she fall in love with this mysterious lone husband? And they find love and she has a new adopted daughter, sure, why not it's nothing more ridiculous than anything else that happens on this book, it's, you know, it's what it is. So you're saying you want book two is what you're saying, you're ready for this equal.
Christmas Joy ride too. long as I want joy in it. Okay. I want, I need joy has gotten better.
And there's a new problem. And joy is also helping. I need joy in the book. Okay.
I don't, if joy, whenever joy dies, I don't want any more joy rides. I don't want any like symbolic joy rides. Okay. I know symbolic joy.
I don't mean joy. Yeah, I want real joy. Um, I would probably, I would probably read this book is free with Kindle and limited. So I would, yes, I would read a sequel that is also free.
It is also a pretty short read and I read fast already. So this thing took me like an hour and a half to read. So of sequel, that's the same length. Sure.
Why not? Sure. I don't care. I think I got a lot of Christmas books on here.
This could turn it off. I was going to say, I was looking at the author. She's has written over 200 books apparently. And it seems a lot of them are Christmas names, which I am starting to rethink my whole writing career.
I'm just going to write Christmas stories from now on. I think the only thing I, it's a little, this book is a little jesusy. It is for sure. A little jesusy.
I'm not jesusy. It's not a surprise to anyone listening. But I, it's not as bad as it could be. It could be way worse.
I have some relatives of mine will happily tell you how important Jesus is to Christmas. And Joy is an elderly lady. So I'm not going to be surprised when she's like, yeah, Jesus is the reason for the season. And I go, okay, Joy.
It's the same way I treat my elderly family members when they're starting when they're like, yeah, Christ and Christmas and Jesus and no happy holidays. I'm like, all right. Yeah. Okay.
Thanks. Let's have some more agnog. But I could go for some agnog. I know it's January, but I can, I can go for agnog for sure.
It's really, it's criminal that they stop that agnog literally only exists. You got to make your own agnog. That's the secret. Yeah.
You got to, and you need to let it, you have to let it steep. You have to let it, you have to let it rest. It's the true secret of good agnog. That's a, that's a sit for a while.
I'm, that's serious. I'm when you're making. No, no, I understand. I'm not joking.
It's, you know, I just, uh, the response I felt like was, uh, you know, like a thoughtful. It's a lot, it's a lot of work to make agnog guys, probably I didn't mind the religious undertones of the story. I, I, uh, I'm not super religious. Like, I say happy holidays.
I'm more of like, pretty modern, but you know, like, I'm somewhat religious. I will say though, writing wise, it got a little repetitive. Like the first couple of times that it was like, cute, like the reason for the season stuff. I was like, oh, that's, that's like kind of a sweet note from Joyce perspective.
Um, but then it got a little like, you just, um, taught us this message in the last chapter kind of thing, which I, I understand each chapter was kind of like doing a similar kind of message, but um, for me, it got like just a little repetitive. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I, I think that's the part that I bounce off the most and it's not really any fault. I don't blame the book.
I don't blame it. It's just, that's what this book is, that part of the book is specifically not for me. And I think if I was going to write a Christmas novel, I would just make it a modern secular Christmas novel where we just get, have fun giving each other gifts and taking care of each other and eating lots of food. I, that's where it's like, I want to write a reverse Hallmark novel or Hallmark movie where it's two people from small towns moving away to the big city where they meet someone who's also in a corporate job and they have a non, like a secular non-denominational Christmas party, holiday party in Manhattan.
And it's like, like just like totally the opposite of the Hallmark formula, like completely swapped. And I'm like, I would be here for that. I think that would be fun. I mean, that's, I guarantee you, if that doesn't exist somewhere, it will, it will, it will, you just, you just made it happen just by saying this word.
That's the world. Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't, I didn't write the tweet.
Someone, there's not tweets on that were at least five people are working on that manuscript. Yeah, they saw they're like, Oh, someone wants that? I can sell that? Okay.
I'll write it now. I'll do that in this exact moment. But I don't blame this book for having the joy as an 85 year old lady. She's going to be expecting anything.
Like, I think that book, that's the, like, the, the wise decision is to make her the anchor of the book is because whenever she's very empathetic, it's hard to like hate an old lady who is trying her best and, you know, doing this kind of remarkable journey. It makes you, and it makes you root for her just because of what she's doing and because she seems so nice, you know, she's so, she's so kind. And even if she does kind of do the Mafiosa thing, when she's given away money, she's like, you wouldn't they have refused me? Would you?
You wouldn't, you wouldn't, you wouldn't insult me and give me back my shirt and refuse my gift. Oh my gosh. I wish I had had that in my head when I was reading. That's the first thing that popped in my mind when Marina opens that letter.
And it's like, first of all, I know that's a lot of money, but I can afford it. Do not insult me by returning it. That's good. I love it.
That's, I mean, that's it. That's what, oh, ladies do that. That's what they're like, they're like, don't know, I don't, you're like, I don't think I need 50 cookies. What, what are you going to return them?
I just gave you cookies and then you're going to take them back, or you're going to not even eat them. It feels very like it's just like this passive aggressive, kind of like, Hey, the worst is that, Oh, okay. And you're like, Oh my gosh, I broke your heart. I'm sorry.
I'll eat all of them. I'll, I'll, I'll die for I can't have sugar, but I'll eat all of them. Just please you. Yeah, I don't really eat red meat anymore.
And when I visited my grandparents and my grandma made dinner like every night with like ground beef and hamburger stuff. I, yeah, everything she cooked. Cause I was like, thank you, grandma for making me. Thank you.
Yes, this is like her sweet face. And also it was really good. I'm not going to deny it. My grandma's cooking is great.
Yeah. The, the, the, the joy of joy is, it's something you don't see very often. You don't see a lot of elderly protagonists. And whenever you get one, it's, it's a really interesting perspective.
And this is, you know, this, her, her perspective, it's a little rounded, you know, saying it down a little bit. It's a little bit because of what it is. It's a, you know, it's a happy Christmas book. So it's not like, you know, but I think that, that little bit of kind of melancholy it persists.
And I think it's, you know, I think it's that bit of joy. And I think that's ultimately when they said the book successful, I would say is the fact that it's not, oh, it's not just, you know, I may, I made the diabetes joke. It is not just that there is the little bit of joy. Like, yeah, my husband, her husband's dead.
And she's selling her house. And she's going to learn. Oh, go ahead. Sorry.
She's going to live in an assisted living place. And she had a really unhappy childhood we find out. We don't get the details of it, but we do get that it was like a bad situation that she got out of. Right.
So yeah, a lot of things where it's like, you know, she's really like lived, oops, she's lived a life and it hasn't all been like joyful, but she's still like creating that joy and wanting to spread it to other people. And yeah, she's just, what a special lady. I wanted to give her a hug. She's very nice.
Joy is very nice. They live in, I also, I did not picture them living in Chicago. I did not do that either. I mean, the suburbs.
Well, that's what I mean. It's probably suburb. When people say Chicago, there could be, you could live in, apparently, you can live like an hour away from Chicago. And you can still say, yeah, I live in Chicago.
And I'm like, well, I don't really, I think of a city when I think, I think the newspapers, I do not think of like suburban homes, you know, if that's an hour to commute away. But that's what people mean sometimes, I guess. But I don't know the fact that there is kind of that layer of, oh, there's sadness and joy is just still so positive. And like, that's ultimately why I could say, yeah, the book's cheesy.
And the book is kind of silly, and Jesus, etc, etc. But I don't, I'm, I, I like earnestness. I like that. And joy is earnest.
And joy has had hard times. And she's still positive. She's still like, yeah, we're decorating this RV. And we're going to go empty this empty, septic tank in the RV.
The very lovely job. I think that's the other day that I Miranda does is a trooper for all this. This is. Yeah, for sure.
This is a lot of, it's not necessarily like driving all day in an RV, not necessarily a lot of fun. Although they act like, yeah, it's like a. It did almost make driving in an RV, like appealing. We're like, I'm driving all day.
That's fine. You're a little tired. You take a nap in the super comfy luxurious bed. And I, I knew better.
I knew better because of the what this book is. But the times that they said, super comfy luxurious bed, joy was really laying it in there. I was half expecting Miranda and handsome stranger to end up in a big mysterious comfy bed. Oh my God.
Yeah, I knew that wouldn't happen. No, but also I kind of expected her to come go inside and like sleep on their pouch or something instead of being in the RV. Like I figured there would be some sort of thing where like the heater wasn't working. That would be that's a scandal.
You can show a woman, unmarried woman slept in another person's house. Oh my gosh, that's too far. She was probably, she probably thought about it. And she was just like, no, I can't, I can't risk my heart again.
I can't risk my heart. Well, my husband left me. I'm hurt. I think that's the other thing.
Oh, go ahead. Oh, no, I was going to say he made like a really good breakfast. Yeah. Yeah.
Like pancakes and like bacon and like, I was just like, oh, he cooks too. Yeah, perfect. The only mistake was missing his wife too much. That's really honestly, that is his only flaw, which is his like his only flaws.
Like, yeah, I couldn't bear Christmas anymore because it was such a special time with my wife and she died a day before Christmas or something. And yeah, it's like Gremlins all over. You have seen Gremlins page. You know, I've only seen parts of Gremlins.
So the joke is lost on me. Gremlins is like, Gremlins is like, is a Christmas movie? I forgot. Yeah.
Well, it's not, I can't, if you see the whole thing, you can't forget, because it includes a scene where the female lead talks about her father dressing up like Santa Claus. And then I believe falling off the roof and dying. Oh, and as dresses Santa Claus and therefore, she doesn't celebrate Christmas anymore. And then, and then by killing Gremlins, she finds her Christmas spirit.
I don't remember, it doesn't, Gremlins is a silly movie. It's not supposed to be. It's less than silly than two. Gremlins two is a complete joke.
Gremlins one is earnest. Like, it's actually trying to be a horror movie. Gremlins two is like a comedy. Gremlins is a good movie.
I would say even Gremlins do is a good movie, actually. There's different ones, a real one's a horror movie and one's a comedy. It's very strange to take on me there. Wow, I'm talking about Gremlins.
I forget why I started talking about Gremlins. Oh, it's because the doodle is just like Gremlins. It's really not like Gremlins at all. This dude lost his wife here at Christmas.
That's why. But yeah, that's his only, his only flaw is I just miss my dead wife so much. And I, you know, that's not, I'm grumpy because I'm sad. And that's, that's easy.
And also, you're a stranger in my house. Yeah, you're taking care. You're like, that's my daughter. She's all I have.
Plus, she was so beautiful. She was just taking an off guard in her green, velour, buddy with sparkles. That's the first thing I think when I see so much like that. I go so beautiful.
I'm just taking it back. I'm struck. But it made her hair and her eyes even brighter. I was just, that's what I knew.
As you put that hoodie on, I'm like, oh, you're gonna fall in love today. Today is the day. People really gonna steal a duffel bag full of clothes from an RV. Right.
And it's like the whole RV was clean. They just took the duffel bag. That was it. Yeah.
I wouldn't target the Christmas decorated RV if I'm a thief. No, then you're a thief and really mean. I would say they thought that there were gifts in there. I guess there are those kind of miscreants who have that no conscience whatsoever.
But I can't imagine. There's still people, you know, like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna go target the Christmas RV. Like, really? Really?
You have no conscience. I'm gonna steal it from the Christmas RV. Look at it. It's all shiny.
Come on. I do want some of those. Like, I would like some of those vintage Christmas decorations. I know.
Me too. It was ugly, ugly things. Whenever she was talking about the pink ones, I was like, can I have them? Like, please?
Can I have the ugly, those ugly things that are made? Yeah, but once they were like, oh, these are hideous. I said to myself, that sounds great. I want the ugliest.
Give me the ugliest Christmas decorations. I mean, I think they're coming back. I think they're that realized. People have realized that there are people our age who want to have the feeling of, you know, like the Christmas story and that time period where Christmas decorations, that's all they could make were ugly ones.
I guess they just did not have the technology to make good looking things. And you're just like, yeah, I want that. I want that. I want to make it feel like I could only buy the worst looking ornaments they're made.
And they fall apart. If I touch them, they break immediately fake popcorn on strings. And I'm like, next year, I'm going to do it. I we did not hold up a tree this year because we did move.
I mean, it's not we left that are, you know, we came to Florida for a week and the tree probably would be destroyed by the time we get back because of the cats. So it would be putting up a tree decorating it and then just taking it down before we left because it would be destroyed, probably, or at least all the ornaments we knocked off and probably some plastic needles would be eaten by cats. And that's not good. There's already enough of a mess coming back.
I don't need the cats to also be throwing up plastic Christmas. Merry Christmas. Here is some throw up of plastic Christmas trees. This is fun.
This is a fun book. Yeah, it's cute. Yeah. It's it's not.
I don't think anyone taking this up expects anything but what it is. And I think that's fine. I don't I think the fact that this what did they say she's she has sold over like ever I'm trying to find there's a blurb of this. Oh, I have her sales around 6.5 million books of too much.
She's written 200 over more than 200 sales of 6.5 million. And there's obviously a market for it. Obviously people want it. And she knows her market and her audience too.
You can tell like I think she hit all of like the the beats that people would probably be expecting if they're in this into this sort of book. And yeah, yeah, it was cute. I am definitely not the I just was looking at the reviews on Amazon and it's like five stars from a middle-aged man question mark. Yeah, we're not the target audience for this for sure.
There were times I thought it was I think a little boring and just like I wanted something to give at points in time but I mean you're not reading this book for the drama. I actually I was kind of in a place where I'd been reading my own books editing my own editing my own book which is not it's not pleasant. It's not it's not pleasant revising your own work anyway. And then not pleasant because of how I write because of the story content.
And then I oftentimes for just for for my pleasure reading I will read other horror stuff or other heavy things. Having this I've been looking for stuff to like just have light easy reading just it is popcorn on your Christmas tree. It is it is that and that is fine. I think it knows what it is.
And I think the only I think there are there is a so next Christmas page. We have to keep this in mind. Yeah, there is the Christmas dog and the Christmas cat. I know I saw that afterwards and I went I made the wrong decision.
I mean this is this I don't know. Joy was I like Joy a lot. I know I do too. Joy is great.
Joy is great. Enjoy is worth the look. You know if anything else having to get in time with Joy the 85 year old Christmas blogger who doesn't know the internet but it's like yeah my neighbor puts up pictures on there. I don't know what I'm doing.
Okay. I run contests for people and half of people don't want don't want they don't even know they're in the contest. They just show up and I throw Christmas okay you're 85. I will let you do things for me because you're nice.
You're nice and cute. You're nice and the lady. You're wearing a velour jumpsuit with Christmas sparkles all on it. Do you think they have those some incisors?
I think they do. I think you're in luck. Okay good. Next that's my next Christmas.
It's like a video version of the podcast and we're both in velour track. So it's like hello. Hello. This is our annual reading of the Christmas joy ride.
Welcome back. Here's what we got out of it this time. It's the it's the it's the Mac or I brothers with the worst podcast ever guys who they watch Paul Blart mall cop everything's giving. Oh my gosh.
I do a podcast everything's giving. I think they've done it three years now. So they have they they've they that it's like that but pleasant. Is it where's the worst idea ever?
Forget about those guys. It's two guys from New Zealand and they watched they've done it twice now. They did two podcasts where they went movie was it the first time. I know the second time they did Sex in the City 2.
They watch it every day for a year. That's a every day for a year. I think it took me a minute to process what you just said. I think every day or is it every week.
Whatever it is. It's a lot of it. And that movie's two and a half hours long and it's not very good. And I don't know if that's that's that's kind.
I'm a gummy and I'll say that fella's name. They're both from New Zealand. They have very pleasant fun New Zealand accents but that is besides. We're not doing that.
No, that's you listen to the podcast. It makes it very clear. It is a terrible idea. It's the worst idea of all time.
That is what it's called. The worst idea of all time. No, I need to have four seasons of this one. They kept going.
Just every day for four years. This is their life now. It's a lifestyle. It is weekly.
The first season was grown-ups too. Then they did Sex in the City 2. This is once a week. It is not.
Now they're doing they did a season. I'm gonna have to investigate because I need to catch up because I'm listening to any of their pain podcasts in a while. Pain casts. That's what this Christmas cat is.
I need this Christmas cat in my life. This is a very beautiful cat. Big furry main coon. What to do with both the Christmas dog and the Christmas cat?
Yes. Comparing contrast. I don't know. Hey, if you're on a limited.
Hey, it's free. The price of free is an easy sell. It's apparently cost $9.59 to buy. I don't know if I would do $9.50.
That might be a little. I imagine that if you like Christmas books, this is probably just an easy sell for you because you're Jones and there's probably people who only read Christmas books. Oh yeah, probably. Yeah, I would agree.
I would say if you like Christmas books, if you're missing Christmas, if right now it's January and you're like, man, wish I had some Christmas. It's a cute book. Joy is great. Joy is great.
That's really it. Joy is great. Ready for joy. Yeah.
Enjoy. Ready for joy and joy. Joy and joy. Anything else you want to add, Paige?
I don't think so. No, I think I think we covered most of it. Yeah. Okay.
It was fun. I'm glad that we read it. Next time, we have another. It's a 180 again.
We are we are we are vast differences in the content of the books, which is fine. That's even that's good. Even we are reading Melmoth, Melmoth, Melmoth. I assume it's Melmoth, not Melmoth because it's I believe she's British.
So Melmoth, a novel by Sarah Perry, some gothic romance or thing. I don't know. Yeah. I like like Sarah Perry.
We'll be talking about that next time. You can read along with us. Even. Hey, what we know is no Che guys out there.
You can read this book with us. Yeah, send us Jeff tweet reactions. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait Play your stuff where you find your novels and all your other things you do. Oh man, you can find all the books on Amazon if you type in my name, Page Love Boy.
I have February 1st and February 14th. I've written two cute romance stories that will be coming out in some anthologies, also linked on my Amazon. And yeah, most of my internet stuff is under my name, so come stay hello. I love links to everything on the show notes.
If you want to go there and click on stuff to buy books from Page, you should do that, support artists, it's important. We'll do it, Page. Thank you for joining me. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, Christmas. Hey, Christmas. Thanks again to Page for joining me. You can find me on Twitter, at RobbieDorman, and the show's website, these are openassist.com.
You can follow my Facebook page at facebook.com slash, this is openassist. If you'd like the show, please give it a five star review on iTunes, Apple Podcast, whatever you want to call it, or whatever you listen to us on, whatever app you use, subscribe to our friends. Word of mouth really helps. I greatly appreciate it.
Until next time, thanks for being a fan.