The Stocking Was Hung by Tara Sivec

Synopsis:
What happens when your life goes to crap the week of Christmas? You invite a hot Marine you met in an airport bar to come home with you for the holidays, to distract your crazy family from the truth.

With a handsy aunt, a meddling mother and a father concerned for the wellbeing of his daughter’s eggnog, there’s no chance Sam and Noel will have time to fall in love…or will they?

The Stocking Was Hung is a standalone, Christmas story that will make you laugh, make you HOT and maybe even make you say, “Awwwww” a few times.

Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27872306-the-stocking-was-hung
Order it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1lcHxPX

My Review:
2.5 stars — I’ve been procrastinating writing this review.  I remember trying to start Ms. Sivec’s Seduction and Snacks awhile ago, and not getting into it at all.  So I set it aside thinking I just wasn’t in the mood.  Turns out, she may just not be a good fit for me as a reader.  The same thing happened with this story — I had a hell of a time getting into it and feeling out the characters.  I kept plugging away b/c I figured it was a shorter story, and I wanted to know what everyone else was raving about.  And quite honestly, I would occasionally catch glimpses of moments that got to me.  But they just weren’t enough in the end.

The humour didn’t fit me at ALL (putting me in the minority).  It was terribly outlandish and over the top, and I didn’t realize that I wasn’t into that kind of thing, but apparently I’m not.  B/C I just had skeptical cat face going on through most of it.  I seriously don’t think I laughed once.  Which makes me really sad, and kind of lonely in my little corner of un-fun-ness over here.  I can’t really elaborate on it either, cause I can’t articulate what didn’t work for me without coming across kind of rude to everyone who enjoys that sort of thing.  I will say that it sometimes felt a little forced.

I also found the story a bit formulaic for me.  I actually usually don’t mind that, but I guess since I wasn’t enjoying the humour, it just stood out more for me.  I didn’t end up appreciating all the times the hero called himself a pussy for feeling (even though that’s probably very realistic for some guys).  And I didn’t really care for the times the heroine called herself a slut.

The steamy moments weren’t bad, but they would inevitably be interrupted by the humour that I wasn’t a fan of.  Heck, at one point the heroine called her vagina a doodlebug (or something to that effect), and it kind of took me out of the moment, you know?

So how did I end up rounding up to 3 if I didn’t ever laugh?  Well, some of the heartwarming moments really got to me.  It’s like how in general I’m not a huge fan of the Simpsons (though my hubby loves it), but I actually really love the heart-warming episodes.  Well, even if they did fall in love kind of quickly, I really felt their feelings for each other, and I enjoyed Sam’s opening up to the idea of the holiday and spending it with a family for the first time.  I just wanted more of that.

So yeah…bit disappointed right now.  I hate being the odd one out of a party, even if I call myself a hipster enough times that it shouldn’t surprise me that I don’t like what the masses love….but sometimes I just don’t want to be different, you know?  Oh well…