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Title: North Pole Reform School
Author: Jaimie Admans
Date of Publication: November 6, 2013
Genre: YA rom-com, fantasy
Blurb:
Mistletoe Bell hates Christmas. So would you if you had a name like hers. Her Christmas-mad parents make the festive season last all year, and with another Christmas looming, Mis doesn’t think she can take any more. After her carelessness causes an accident at school, it seems like things can’t get any worse.
Then she wakes up to find The Ghost of Christmases Ruined in her bedroom.
She is taken to the North Pole, to a reform school run by elves determined to make her love Christmas. Stuck in a misfit group of fellow Christmas-haters with a motley crew of the weird and even weirder, watched over by elves day and night, she doesn’t expect to meet cute and funny Luke, who is hiding a vulnerable side beneath his sarcastic exterior. She doesn’t expect to fall in love with him.
But all is not as it should be at the North Pole. A certain Mr Claus is making the elves’ lives a misery, and pretty soon Mistletoe and Luke are doing more than just learning to like Christmas.
A YA romantic comedy in which Santa is the bad guy, teaching reindeer to fly is on the curriculum, and zombies have a fondness for Christmas music.
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Suitable for older teens and upwards due to bad language.
Review :
This was a cute read with a couple of moments that tugged on the heart strings.
This book is full of the humor and imagination that I have seen in other titles by Jaimie Admans—but to be honest, I knew just from the blurb that I would enjoy this book!
I loved the relationship between Luke and Mis, and I felt that it developed really naturally and didn't feel at all forced. Mistletoe's first impressions grew into something more, and eventually Mis doesn't even want to think about graduating from the North Pole Reform School and never seeing Luke again.
I really enjoyed the fact that a humorous book could have a serious side too. Oh, and Santa? What an awful guy!
One thing I would like to have seen a bit more of was the rest of Mistletoe and Luke's reform group towards the end of the book. It would have been good to see how the school changed them (one of them in particular), but this is a minor point and didn't spoil the story at all.
If you are in need of a shot of Christmas Cheer, my recommendation is to grab this book and your Christmas beverage of choice and settle in for a fun evening.
Excerpt :
It started with a purple moose.
At least I thought it was a moose. On reflection, it could have been a reindeer, but
it didn’t matter at the time because it was obviously just a dream.
“Mistletoe,” the moose-reindeer said.
Yep. Still hate my parents for naming me that.
“Mistletoe,” it said again in a spooky echo of a voice, “I am the Ghost of
Christmases Ruined, and I have come to tell you something.”
“Go away.” I turned over in bed.
“Mistletoe Bell,” it said sharply. “Listen to me right now.”
I sat up, suddenly wide awake. God, what a freaky dream.
“Mistletoe Bell,” it said again. I jumped out of my skin. I clutched the duvet to me
as I turned around. Of all the things I expected to see, the purple moose sitting in the
middle of my carpet and looking annoyed was about the last of them.
“Wh… what are you?” I asked quietly. I didn’t really believe my eyes. I must still
be dreaming.
“I’ve tried to tell you already. I am the Ghost of Christmases Ruined.”
I tried to pinch myself awake without the moose noticing. It didn’t work. I didn’t
wake up and the moose noticed.
“It won’t work,” the moose said. “You’re already awake.”
“I’m looking at a talking purple moose. I don’t think so.”
“You are Mistletoe Bell?” the moose asked.
I dropped my head into my hands and edged closer to the other side of the bed.
The moose continued to look at me expectantly.
“Unfortunately, yes. I couldn’t be anyone else with that stupid name.”
“It’s a very nice Christmas name.”
“That’s exactly the bloody problem. You try having a stupid Christmassy name in
the middle of July or something.”
“Ah yes, but it’s December now.”
“Screw December,” I muttered.
“Aha,” the moose said. “This is exactly why I’m here.”
I gave it an angry look. “What the hell are you going on about?”
“Well, if you’d be so kind as to allow me to get to my point, I will enlighten you.”
I sighed in frustration.
“Mistletoe Bell,” the moose said, “you have been charged with ruining Christmas.
Multiple counts over the years, but a particularly aggressive case this year when
taking into account the fire—”
“The fire was an accident.”
It gave me a glare and I rolled my eyes. “Please go on,” I said, complete with a
sarcastic hand gesture.
“As I was saying…” The moose had an annoyed tone to its voice now. “Ruining
Christmas, multiple counts, we can’t let it continue. We’ve been keeping an eye on
you for a while now. We were actually hoping you might grow out of it now you’re
nearly seventeen, but the fire this year is the final straw. Mistletoe—”
“Please stop calling me that.” I interrupted it again. “It’s Mis, Misty, or nothing.”
The moose rolled its eyes. “I am required to call you by your proper name at all
times. Now, can we get on with it?”
“Get on with what?”
“Mistletoe Bell, tomorrow you will be taken to the North Pole where you will stay
until you can learn how to behave acceptably and stop ruining Christmas for others.
You will be part of a group who will learn the value of Christmas to all involved.”
“That’s ridiculous. Who’s going to teach me? The polar bears?”
“The elves will teach you.”
“Of course they will.” I smacked my forehead. “Of course there are elves. I don’t
know why I expected anything else from a purple moose.”
The moose made a frustrated noise. “Mistletoe, do you understand?”
“I will be taken to the North Pole and taught by elves? Yes, I understand
perfectly.”
“I must be on my way. Sweet dreams, Mistletoe.” The moose got up and jumped
out of the window.
I rolled over and went back to sleep. I must’ve eaten cheese before bed last night
or something.There were more weird dreams. I dreamt of flying above the rooftops and over the
oceans, and it was really, really cold. I’m pretty sure I could hear strains of “Walking
in the Air” in the distance.
About The Author :
Jaimie is a 28-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, drinking tea and watching horror movies. She hates spiders and cheese & onion crisps. She has been writing for years but has never before plucked up the courage to tell people. Afterlife Academy is her third novel and she hopes you enjoy it. There are plenty more on the way!
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