Review: Decked with Holly

Summary: Holly Dayton is about to go way out of her comfort zone…

Spending Christmas vacation on a cruise with her two cousins from hell isn’t Holly’s idea of a good time. And when in a moment of seasick-fueled desperation she lurches into an open suite—she’s greeted with an eyeful of pepper spray. The culprit? A gorgeous guy calling himself Nick. But when Holly goes to make her exit, she gets the shock of her life: a corridor crammed with screaming teenage fans. Because Nick just happens to be Dominic Wyatt, drummer for ReadySet—one of the hottest bands in America.

Suddenly rumors are swirling, and Holly’s face is captured on countless phones and plastered all over the Internet. But the band can’t risk a scandal destroying their family-friendly image, so Dominic convinces Holly to be his fake girlfriend—just for two weeks. How bad could it be to be fauxmantically involved with one of the cutest rockstars on the planet? Holly’s about to find out… -- Kensington Teen

After reading Kathy's (aka Bermudaonion) review of DECKED WITH HOLLY by Marni Bates, I thought it sounded like such a fun read for this time of year. Fortunately, she shared her copy with me! I have to agree with her. DECKED WITH HOLLY was a good escape read for me this week, and since I'm swamped with Christmas activities and feeling a wee bit stressed, it was exactly what I needed.

DECKED WITH HOLLY tells the story of Holly, a teen girl who is spending her Christmas vacation on a cruise with her family... and that includes her evil twin cousins. It's not exactly Holly's idea of a dream vacation, but when she finds herself suffering from an extreme case of seasickness, it soon turns into a nightmare. Holly rushes into a suite to locate a bathroom (she's really seasick!) and ends up getting pepper sprayed by Nick/Dominic, the hot drummer of ReadySet -- a hugely popular rock band!

In a strange twist, Holly is caught coming out of Nick's suite by tons of adoring (and screaming) tweens looking very pale and upset. To put an end to all of the rumors, Holly and Nick agree to pretend that they are dating until the end of the cruise. Playing the parts in this "fauxmance" is easier said than done because Holly and Nick don't exactly hit it off. However, as they get to know each other, they both realize that they might be having some genuine feelings towards each other.

DECKED WITH HOLLY is a very cute book and a lot of fun. I'm not going to say that the storyline and characters weren't predictable (because they pretty much were!), but it was still a very entertaining read. I couldn't help but adore both Holly and Nick, and I certainly wanted them to see that they were perfect for each other. And I have to say that if they didn't eventually realize that, I would have been disappointed!

I think I most enjoyed Holly's character, though. She wasn't the smartest or prettiest (and definitely not the most popular!) girl in her school, and she was dealing with some serious insecurity issues. Having said that, Holly was extremely funny and she had lots of spunk, and I loved seeing how she was able to frazzle Nick.

I have a feeling that teen readers are going to love Holly and maybe even relate to her. She epitomized "normal" in that she wasn't skinny or gorgeous, and yet she still ended up with the guy. DECKED WITH HOLLY was almost a fairytale story and what teen girl doesn't sometimes dream of ending up with a hot rock star, right?

Overall, DECKED WITH HOLLY was a light and sweet read. Since I haven't read many books like this lately, it definitely worked for me.