All I Have to Give
by Melody Carlson

All I Have to Give was my first holiday book of the season, and also marks my first book for the Christmas Reading Challenge!  It was a very enjoyable story that I zipped through in an evening, and it succeeded in helping to get me in the Christmas spirit – which was the intention! So, overall a successful reading venture.

The story opens with sisters Anna and Meredith chatting about their respective marital issues as they clean up from Thanksgiving dinner, and proceeds to follow Anna’s attempts at creating “the best Christmas ever”.  Despite her greatest efforts to have a happy holiday, Anna’s health and various family issues threaten to ruin the festivities. But as with any good holiday story, the good persevere, and miracles are waiting to occur.

I really liked all the characters in All I Have to Give, and found the story relatable and believable (sometimes this is not the case with holiday stories). It’s very nice to see romance and marriage portrayed in a realistic manner for a change.  My one complaint with All I Have to Give would be that it’s a little predictable. It’s loosely based on the traditional Christmas story The Gift of the Magi, so some obvious connections are hard to avoid, but one of the major plot points was pretty transparent as well. This doesn’t really take away from the spirit of the story though, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading All I Have to Give, and would definitely try some of Carlson’s other books.