again, merry christmas and let the spirit of good ole saint nick flow thru ya etc etc. i was excited for this one, but the writing style never quite managed to draw me in fully. it's both archaic and modern and that can be interesting, but it only really served as a stumbling block for me. i liked all the characters and their backstories as they were revealed, but again the way that things were presented didn't hook me until the very last page, at which point — i had already finished. and the love story came out of nowhere, with no build up. it's an interesting story based on a true story and the last lines make it all worth it, but still a solid 3.