What Light

By: Jay Asher
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 256

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sierra's family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it's a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. 

Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other.

By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb's past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love.

                                                        First Impressions

A few years ago I read Jay Asher’s novel 13 Reasons Why and absolutely loved it. When I found out he was coming out with another book I was super excited. Even if I hadn’t read his other novel, how beautiful is this cover?? It immediately puts me into the Christmas spirit and all I want to do is read it in front of a fireplace while it’s snowing outside.

                                                                               What I thought

Sierra’s family owns a Christmas tree farm in Oregon. Every year, starting the day before Thanksgiving, she and her parents drive down to California where they have a lot to sell their trees. For an entire month, their family lives in this town and sells their trees as they have done for almost 30 years. This year may be their last year and it is also the first year that Sierra meets a boy who catches her eye. However, Caleb carries a lot of baggage and Sierra is worried about falling in love before she has to return to Oregon.

What Light is a very cute Christmas story that is perfect for the upcoming holiday season. Sierra and Caleb are not my favorite characters, but their story is cute and short which is just what I need in a holiday love story

Sierra lives in California for a month during the holiday season and has done so since she was a year old. She has formed a little bit of a life there with one best friend. Every year, she enjoys working on the tree lot with her family and spending time with her friend, but other than that she doesn’t do much. Her dad, as a former baseball player, has always hired boys from the high school baseball team to work on the lot. However, they have always been very off limits. Sierra and her dad have never wanted her to fall in love during that month, like her mom and dad did, because they knew heartbreak would be waiting when she had to leave for another year.

While I understand the teenage thought process, I felt her dad was a bit overkill. Considering the tree lot is where he met his wife, it seemed a bit unbelievable that he would be so vehemently against Sierra meeting someone. It also got to be a bit annoying hearing Sierra with the same thought process. I felt like every other line was “but I will leave in a month! And maybe never come back!”

Caleb is an interesting character and I can’t decide how I feel about him. While I want to believe, like Sierra, that he made a mistake and is a different person, something about him seems a bit off. I feel like her relationship with him, while adorable and fun, really did only start to scratch the surface. He does some very sweet and good things, but I would definitely read an entire book on him just because I feel like there is a lot more to him that I need to know.

Overall, the story is a cute, predictable love story that is centered around the holidays. I loved the holiday aspects and the fact that there was a set timeline on how long Sierra was in California. My one issue with the book, and maybe this is because I’m not in my late (eek!) 20s, is that all of the characters were so whiny. Not only were Sierra and Caleb moody and whiny and refusing to enjoy what they had while they had it, but her friends were super complainers as well.
 

This book is cute and easy to read. If you want an easy Christmas story to read during the holiday season, I would recommend it. It’s not a book that I will read again or purchase, which is why I didn’t rate it higher. I finished it in a day and enjoyed every minute, so don’t let the maybe not so rave review deter you from this book.