Candace Jane Kringle

I recieved an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

North Pole High: A Rebel Without A Claus was a very different book than I am used to reading. Everyone in the book had Christmassy names, a curse word would be changed to a Christmas word. Everyone in the North Pole loved candy, for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I laughed when I read the DJ was called Kanye North!

The book is about Candycane Claus, Yes Santa's daughter, and tells the reader about what happened on a certain Christmas when it nearly didn't happen. It is also about how Candycane who is a teenager likes a Rudy Tutti, a boy that her father doesn't approve of and tries his hardest to stop them seeing each other.

North Pole High: A Rebel Without A Claus was a very light-hearted book, it is funny and it also gets you into the Christmas spirit.… (more)

A book with a TON of Christmas spirit, from the sights, smells, and tastes to the sentiments, North Pole High is the perfect Christmas read for young adults. We are taken on a journey into the life of Santa Claus's daughter, Candycane. We get to learn all the secrets of the North Pole and we get to see that despite all the Christmas wrapping, they are just like you and me...sort of. Candycane has all the normal angst of your average teenage girl; boys, overprotective fathers, jealous best friends. Despite all that, Candycane still keeps the Christmas spirit. How could she not...she is Santa's daughter after all. The best way to describe how wonderful her spirit is would be to share her quote about Christmas trees from the book:

"Rudy, a Christmas tree by itself is just a tree...Each soul who hangs a bauble from its bough, or threads a string of lights through its needles, or tops it with a shining star, is teaching it to sing its own unique song of joy. A Christmas tree, when it's finished and all lit up, with lots of presents cuddled underneath it, reflects the magic inside each person who trimmed it."

Wonderful, isn't it!? Candycane's unrelenting spirit is like that throughout the book which makes it whimsical and lovely for anyone who loves Christmas. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Christmas, but will remind that it is best suited to the young adult audience.… (more)

Background: Candy Cane Claus is a sixteen year old who is living it up in the North Pole as the daughter of none-other-than THE Santa Claus. When a new kid comes to town her holly filled Christmas cheer is thrown all out of whack. There are two boy fighting over her and she doesn't even know who she likes more, and to top it all off her father doesn't even know she is dating already.

Review: This book is Christmas cheer in between its covers. Candy is a hilarious narrator for the story as she tells the tale of the craziness that insured in her life. I absolutely LOVE Christmas, not really the presents but the songs and decorations and the snow; and this book had it all! The characters that all live in the North Pole all have holiday based names/ nicknames, refer to Christmas excessively, and eat things like Fruitcake topped pizza... so this was amazingly fun to read.
The characters were fun, I am glad that it wasn't just a normal Santa Claus story. We meet the whole Claus family and all of Candy's friends, including Tinsel, Snowflake, and Silentnight. They played off of one another well throughout the story.

The plot was fun, cheerful for the most part, and energetic. I read through it in only a matter of a few days. In its roots it is a Christmas tale of miracles and cheer, but it is also a teen romance of sorts which was playful.

If you enjoy humor, Christmas, a good teen love, this book is definitely for you!… (more)

--I lived in North Pole, right off Santa Claus Lane. I remember the Yeti "incident" We worried sick over our moose twins, Hailey & Frank, all week when we didn't get their afternoon visits!! anyway here is my review!--

(Sauntering in sucking on a candy cane) Hey! You guys are naughty! Don’t make me tell the big man on you! This is a genuine, North Pole Candy Cane, straight from Kris Kringle’s hand himself. Yes you heard me, North Pole.. as in Alaska. this book is a heck of a lot more than just a fun, festive and fabulous frolic down Rudy Tutti’s “lane” (snickering) The author, Miss Candace Jane Kringle, a junior at her North Pole High wrote her “memoir” of the year she was faced with having to save Christmas, dealing with normal teenage angst, cliques, boyfriends and the biggest, baddest man who is the only one in the history of the world who you can sit your kid in his lap with no worries of any bad kind of touching, even if your kid pees on him. He is to hopped up on Jellybeans, after all.

But let’s get back to our review. The book is pretty much your basic story of new boy comes to school, he is supposedly a bad boy, hence Rebel without a Claus…Drag races, fire car crash, should I give it up for the boy, over-bearing father, understanding mother, Knock-Turn Alley errrr.. wait.. ummm the bad side of town, reefer, even a bit of beer.. and of course true love that saves the day, or in this case one very special night.. it is all here a nightmare of teenage angst, nothing new about the tale right?.

A challenge to say the very least, and a challenge met by Miss Candace surpassing my expectations and even making me think a bit at times. It is totally clean, nothing like the above. Even the sexual innuendos are clean, heck the dirtiest thing in this ends up being edible! YES EDIBLE! (you really have to read it to see) The Christmas Miracle? Bigger really is not better, but when it grows? Boy does it grow!

Candace, Candace, Candace. When I saw this tour come across in my inbox, I admit I groaned more than a little, but I had to open it up and find out. When I signed up for the tour with a review, I thought I am only doing this because I had a child go to NPHS, was a SPED driver for the school, and have had numerous dealings with the families and teams, including being one of the “backyards ditch sectors for when hiding from certain… Grinches with a Badge (aka North Pole PD). Yes, I harbored more than one errant child on their dad’s snow-machines, NPPD is full of jerks, I know what Candace felt like when she realized Daddy may catch on to the gangs race through town on their Snow Pods (not approved for official distribution for Christmas, so put a lolly pop in it).

Kris Kringle – North Pole, AK (he’s in the white pages)
I know I know, I am having way to much fun with this, but I just cannot help it, I am caught up in the magic of the book! We have a penguin that cooks Gingerbread cookies where the boy crumbles and the girls are soft and full of sugar and spice (and Santa uses them to do the gingerbread-birds and the gingerbread-bees after one huge “Santa Clause Interruptus”

Let’s look at some of the players in this delightful tale. Just see how clever Miss Candace is. The personalities match the names, this was no mistake

-- Candace Jane Kringle – Sweet, shiny, with pure white and wearing those the rose color glasses just like her signature red stripes. She knows how to give the shine on to her father but fails many times to see beyond her expected behavior.
-- Rudy Tutti doesn’t fit any Christmas stocking, but he is like that unexpected toy, such as a new coffee maker (hint-nudge-hint honey!) Totally unexpected and ending up to be the best Christmas present ever.
-- Snowflake – light airy, unique but always fluttering about. Consent, and Candace’s best friend
-- Tinsel – annoying and clingy, oh just like real tinsel huh? He looks pretty on the outside but frankly he is pretty much the same each time you forgive him (just like it is every year when you give it one more try) Candace gives him one more try and his shine just doesn’t do it for her.
-- Vixen – ummm let’s just say her Christmas Tree skirt is one of those cheesy ones fake felt ones from Wal-Mart that never quite fits? She’s always in the market for ‘toe and knows how to … handle those big, round… buttons on your red suit. (again with the naughty thoughts)
--Sugarplum – OK she is a fairy, she is always a support staff and never the star. Just like when I was six in the Nutcracker, and eight, and nine… one day.. one day I will be *blink oh sorry about that, anyway you see where this is going?

So what can I say that I haven’t? Mind you, starting this is a little like the beginning of Christmas season when there is candy in every bowl, and cookies overflowing from the oven, it is a bit to much to take, but once you gird up and keep on keeping the music is never enough, the candy bowl is always needing to be filled and you need just one more batch of cookies. I am totally swept up into the magic of the story. I congratulate this author for really striking out and taking on story so many have and not only succeed in making it completely safe for kids of all ages, but making it a blast for any of us kids closer to 92 enjoy it just as much. Thank you for filling my stocking this year with an unexpected treat Miss Kringle. This former North Pole town dweller knows what she is getting all her friends here in Fairbanks and North Pole for Christmas, so if Daddy gets a few angry calls from your friends parents for some of those adventures you reveal in the pages of your memoir? Umm, Sorry!?… (more)