Dashing Through the Snow: A Christmas Novel

I actually thought I was going to like this book. I REALLY did. It's a forced proximity enemies-to-lovers rom-com. Super tropey, but those my favorite tropes, so I'm good.
Here's the thing though....did anything about this cover or blurb indicate that this book would be a high-stakes terrorist chasedown by the FBI and Homeland Security? Okay, okay. Maybe I've trolled in the past a time or two, but if you think I'm trolling right now (that would be a hilarious troll to get you to pick this book up thinking it has a terrorist high-stakes chase plot and it doesn't) you're wrong. I am 100% serious. Debbie Macomber decided 30 pages in she wanted to be John Gisham and it's every bit as horrible as you'd imagine it would be.

Spoilers ahead. Go show more 'way if you don't want 'em.

There is a mix-up because the female protagonist has the same name as a terrorist. What kind of terrorist would be a white girl with a girl-next-door look be? IRA maybe? One of those dummies convinced to join ISIS over Twitter? Eco domestic terrorist? Who knows. They never explain it. Just terrorist. She blows stuff up. That's it. No other backstory. Cool.....not like I needed to know that for believability or anything.

Again, I freaking wish I was trolling right now. Pretending there's a terrorist-thriller-esque plot in a novelized Hallmark movie would be funny as fuck. but I'm not that creative. Maybe Macomber is the one trolling us.

I couldn't get into the rom-com aspect of this because I was so stressed out about the whole terrorist thing. All I'm thinking the whole book is: If the FBI is chasing THEM that means the actual terrorist is getting away! People could die! Many people!

What in the world is heartwarming or cozy about the potential deaths of hundreds or thousands of people? I thought this book would be heartwarming and cozy. My own city suffered a bombing a few years back. My husband was in the city when it happened (he was fine but it was a stressful day for all of us). So, excuse me if I can't get into the cozy Christmas rom-com feels with a freaking terrorist bomber on the loose. For real, what the hell, Macomber?

On to the book's other (many MANY issues).

-Everybody in the book sounds like a boomer. No disrespect to boomers, I'm only stating the facts. The characters are supposed to be in their 20s. They are several years younger than me. And yet, they sound like my grandparents. No millenial is saying "Whatever for?" or "Odd duck."
There's also the issue of making jokes about mental illness. The man who talks about having an alien wife is poked fun at by many characters in the book. So, I really get the sense Macomber wants me to laugh at this. I don't think it's funny to laugh at the mentally ill. Millenials usually don't. So, when Ashley, a millenial half a decade younger than me, cracks a joke about him belonging "in the looney bin." Yeah, no. I don't buy it. Not only because a millenial, especially a grad student surrounded by liberal academia, wouldn't think it's funny to laugh at someone for mental illness, but "looney bin" is just such an outdated term and I don't for a second believe anyone under 50 would use it.
Another character, an FBI officer, says Stan-the-Man belongs in a padded cell. A member of law enforcement would know all about the deinstitutionalizion of the 1980s and know that even people with delusions (so long as they aren't a threat to themselves or others) would not be insitutionalized. Right or wrong, that just doesn't happen anymore. This ads to the workload of police officers across the country, and to be an FBI agent don't you have to undergo much of the same training as police officers? Aren't a lot of them police officers first? I feel like zero research was done for this book.

Then there was the chase itself. Totally unbelievable that two regular people who don't even know they are being chased wouldn't get caught, right-a-freaking-way. The sub-plot with the teenagers swapping the license plates was sooo forced. Come on? Two teens swap license plates because one can't afford to update his registration? That's ridiculous.

And then when Ashley and Dash realize what happened, they're like "But those kids were so clean-cut!"-What does that even mean? They aren't black kids in hoodies? Sorry, maybe my brain went to racist too quick. But again, what in the hell does "clean cut" mean? I think it's a term from the 60s to differentiate the good teens from hippies. This is another example of everybody sounding like a Boomer, even the 25-year-old characters. (and maybe racism. Not sure. The term "clean cut" is so unfamiliar to me that I can't tell and I am older than the characters who used the term).

On to my next complaint! (you still reading?): None of the scenes that were supposed to be funny actually were.
Okay, one was. The scene with the teenagers being chased by the FBI and there's a helicopter and a dude shouting through a blowhorn, and the kids think it's all because they swapped a license plate, so they're in this high-speed chase with Homeland Security in a snowstorm, because they stole a license plate. That was absurd and I loved it and it is the only compliment this book will get from me.
As for the other scenes: the puppy dragging her bra into the kareoke bar after she forgets to close her hotel room door (who forgets to do that?!) Stan-the-Man talking about his alien wife, none of it was funny. More cringe-inducing and forced than anything else.

Speaking of forced, Macomber definitely TOLD me enough times that there was chemistry between Ashley and Dahs, but I did not see it. At all. I would forgive every other book sin if the romance was good. But it wasn't. Dash was obnoxious and unlikeable and Ashley was bland and forgettable. They went from fighting to be like, "Do you like me?" "No, do you like me?" Gross.
And after knowing each other for one day, not being in any sort of relationship, Dash is getting jealous of Ashley flirting with the hotel clerk. Jealousy and scolding you for flirting before you're even in a relationship? Girl, run! This is how you end up chained to a radiator. That shit ain't normal. Emotional abuse red-flag parade. Not one red flag, a freaking parade of red flags. I wasn't feeling all the feels and saying "awww." I was wondering how long it would take for Ashley to end up on that Dateline show she loves so much. Dash was not good.

That's another thing. Ashley decides Dash is good because he likes the puppy she adopts. And then the vet who talks to the FBI agents says that Ashley must be a good person because she took a puppy off his hands, and the FBI agents are all confused as to how a terrorist could possibly be a dog-lover. There is a LOT of narrative dedicated to drawing a correlation between loving dogs and being a good person.
HITLER LOVED DOGS. This argument is illogical and stupid. Anybody can love dogs. You can commit genocide and still really love dogs. Evil people don't go around kicking puppies. This whole thing irritated the hell out of me. I guess people are automatically great people if they're nice to their secretaries too.

Am I done ranting? Yeah, I guess I'm done. This book was awful. But I'm the idiot because I kept reading it. That's some good trolling Debbie Macomber. You somehow kept me reading this ridiculous terrorist thriller full of millenials who speak like boomers and jokes about the mentally ill. I'm definitely the asshole here. I'm the one who kept choosing to put the contents of this book into my brain.

Holy crap, this book was a weird ride, and if the book wasn't next to me right now, I'd really be wondering if the whole thing was a fever dream.

*Peace* show less

This was one of my favorite Debbie Macomber Christmas rom coms. Ashley and Dashiel find themselves at the same airport ticket counter, trying to book a last-minute flight home to Seattle. When there are no more flights available, and they also find there is only one rental car left, they agree to share it for the drive. The romance was cute as always, but what made this one especially hilarious was the subplot where the FBI believed Ashley was a terrorist because of someone with the same name as her. So throughout the book, they are chasing her. It put a cute, fresh spin on a Christmas book.

Debbie Macomber's, Dashing Through the Snow is a delightful story for the Christmas season but is an outstanding read for any time of the year. In the holidays of 2015, Hallmark turned the book into a movie. I highly recommend not seeing the film because here is a perfect example of when television ruins a very pleasurable book, only sticking to about 1/4 of the book. But enough about the disaster that was the movie Dashing Through the Snow and more about the book. Debbie Macomber's book tells the story of Ashley Davison, a graduate student that works as a waitress in California. As luck turns out the restaurant that she works out is closing for the holiday and Ashley now hopes to make a surprise visit home to her mother's house in show more Seattle. Figuring that all she has to do is hop on a plane and be home before she knows, becomes not so easy when told she can't get on an airplane. Ashley to upset to find out why decides to rent a car instead. Little did Ashley know that she must be twenty-five years old to rent a car. Entering into the picture at that moment is Dashiell Sutherland, an ex-military intelligence officer. Through a lot of persuading from Ashley, Dash finally decided to share the car with Ashley, since he has to be in Seattle for a job interview.. The adventure that follows is anything but normal. Will they ever make it to Seattle? Does Dash agree when Ashley wants to invite an extra passenger on their trip? Why does it seem like someone is following them? Is Ashley so sweet and innocent after all? Enjoy the ride as they dash through the snow on their road trip to a white Christmas in Seattle. show less

Ashley Davidson is on the no-fly list. Well, not Ashley Davidson, grad student, but Ashly Davidson, terrorist. But the FBI has prevented Ashley the student from flying home to see her mother for Christmas, and so she is trying to rent the last available car to drive there. And so is Dash Sutherland, desperate to get to Seattle for a job interview. A compromise leads to them traveling together and thus begins the fun. Add in an abandoned puppy, a couple of devious teenagers, and an over-zealous FBI agent and you have the recipe for a delightfully funny and romantic Christmas tale. It may not be the way these two envisioned spending Christmas, but it will be one they will never forget. The hilarious interaction between Ashley and Dash show more practically oozes with chemistry and sarcasm. A few tense moments with the police and a motorcycle gang just adds to the enjoyment. It’s Christmas, and magic is in the air, even if guns are pointed at the traveling couple. A quick and fun read. show less

Cute Christmas story.
The book is pretty short so it makes for a good one day read.

Dash and Ashley's paths cross when both are unable to buy a plane ticket to Seattle. Dash offers to rent a car and drive them both.

There's a part of the story too about mistaken identity. While it is the actual reason these two wind up in the car together, it almost didn't feel necessary.

Either way, cute story. I'm glad I read it now because it's going to be a TV movie on in December.

Just before Christmas, Ashley Davison learns she'll be able to go home and visit the holidays for Christmas. When she arrives at the airport, the ticketing agent will not sell her a ticket to Seattle. The guy behind her finds he can only fly stand-by, and he desperately needs to arrive in Seattle for a job interview by December 22. They both head to the rental counters and find only one company with rentals remaining. Ashley is unable to rent because she's not 25, so the guy suggests they share a ride. In the meantime, the agent notified Homeland Security that a person whose name was on a no fly list tried to purchase a ticket. They begin tracking the two of them on their way to Seattle. This particular book did not seem very plausible. show more Homeland Security is not so stupid as to go after the wrong person with the name, and the ticket agent's actions are simply not plausible either. The whole premise of the book and coincidences involved are a stretch. Fortunately, it is a fun book for Christmas, and even though I don't really think Ashley and Dash would have hit it off quite as quickly as they do in the book, they are both likable. The book provides a brief "escape" from the craziness of the holiday season. show less

Every Christmas Season I get the urge to read cheesy romance novels based around the season. Think Hallmark movies in book form. However, after reading the description of this book I was a little confused. I was under the impression that the main characters, Dash and Ashley were just two strangers who were forced together due to lack of transportation getting them home for Christmas in Seattle. Besides facing the challenges of riding with a stranger, a case of mistaken identity interrupts a good portion of the story.

I understand that majority of these Christmas-type stories have that unrealistically speedy love storyline. However, I was disappointed with the lack of connection between Dash and Ashley even for that 'love at first fight' show more theme. There was little connection or depth between the two that would make it daydream-worthy. They bond over the fact they both have widowed parents and a love for Mexican wedding cookies. Though the author hints of failed relationships leaving them inhibited from forming a meaningful relationship, the story doesn't dig deep into it making the characters feel like the surface only.

Despite being disappointed by the lack of hot chocolate and sugar cookies during the tree lighting in the small town square, I did enjoy the antics between the couple as they traveled. I almost would rather have seen this story as more of a Stephanie Plum's (One for the Money- Janet Evanovich) style romance. It would be great to see the adventure that Dash and Ashley would encounter due to the mistaken identity. Now that would deserve more than 2 stars.

Overall, it wasn't what I expected. However, it was a good quick read between dealing with the kids today. I'd recommend it if you are looking for something that doesn't require a lot of commitment. show less