Home for the Holidays

Frederick, Heather Vogel. Home for the Holidays.
In this fifth installment of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series, the girls prepare for Christmas while reading the Maud Hart Lovelace Betsy-Tacy books. While they would all like to recreate the warm family environment of the books, all of the girls have some unheaval in their lives. Cassidy's family may move to California. Megan's British boyfriend breaks up with her. Becca's father is out of work. Jess suffers an injury that prevents her from going on a ski trip. Emma is busy, and all of the girls come to blows over Secret Santa presents that they find to be insulting. In end, the girls work it out, and the New Year finds everyone able to celebrate.
Strengths: The covers on these are gorgeous. Shiny, too! I got both of my Heavens to Betsy books checked out yesterday, so maybe there is hope. As much as I don't see girls today getting as involved with the characters as the Mother-Daughter Book Club girls do, I certainly did!
Weaknesses: Still have trouble keeping the girls straight. I know they all have distinct personalities, but I have to take notes on which girl has which parents, boyfriends, activities, etc. It was nice that the one father was out of work, but a little hard (for some odd reason) to believe the other families would put together such a support package.