Elaine White's Life in Books

Review will be included in a full Volume review of Warders: Volume 2.

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This was a fantastic little snippet of an action packed Christmas.
It was really nice to see Malic's old insecurities about the age difference between him and Dylan, because that's not something that is easily resolved or just forgotten, no matter how hard a person might try. There are always niggles and doubts, especially during situations like those presented here. At the same time, it was nice to see Dylan getting jealous, when Malic found a new friend his own age and the hear the amazing way that Dylan's friends supported him when he most needed it.
Again, though, there was the issue of no clear POV label. I know I keep harping on about it, but if someone were to pick this up as a Christmas story, not knowing or seeing that it was part of a series, they'd have no idea for 4 pages who the POV was for. There are hints for those of us familiar with the series, but nothing for an accidental out-of-sequence reader. It would also make my life easier (as I have, medically, a terrible memory for names) to just have it pointed out to me in the first page who is talking, since there are so many characters in this series that it gets confusing trying to remember who is who and how they're related to each other.
I loved that this was a Christmas story, since it's the first of the series and pretty much needed. Just because I love Christmas, it's that time of year as I was reading it, and Christmas is always a special time of year. I was eager to see how it would be for Warders and loved how Ryan had the most natural reaction to being disturbed on Christmas Eve.
It sucked to hear the story of Dylan and Ethan. What Brad did to Malic was crazy but believeable and action-packed.
All in all, it was a great Christmas story with completely normal, human situations to cause drama and chaos, as well as the supernatural demon kind. The ending was great, too. But I can't help but feel that it's not the end. I'm not sure it ever will be.

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Favourite Quote

““How do you like Christmas cookies?”
I squinted at him. “How should I know?”
He stopped walking and just stared up at me.
“What?”
“Didn't you make Christmas cookies with your mom when you were a little boy?”
“No.”
“Are you telling me you've never made Christmas cookies?”
“It wasn't something we did in my family.”
“You didn't make Christmas cookies and then leave them out for Santa on Christmas Eve?”
“Santa,” I scoffed.
“No?”
“No.”
Dylan turned and yelled at his mother. “Mom, you're not gonna believe this!””