Rejoyce: The Christmas Album  (Audio CD) 
by Jessica Simpson

Not only does Jessica Simpson know how to light up a room (and a TV series, various awards shows, and a flurry of magazine covers), she's also got a gift for warming up rooms. If you have yet to feel the heat, look no further than Re-Joyce, on which things get roasty-toasty in the space of a few tracks. Simpson's is a crooning style that's carol-ready--she toboggans her way through opener "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" effortlessly enough to make us wish we were riding shotgun; vamps it up on "Baby It's Cold Outside," a duet with husband Nick Lachey; and pounds out the rum-pa-pum-pums impressively with sister Ashlee on "Little Drummer Boy." On more heartfelt numbers like "O Holy Night" and "What Child Is This" the odd vocal quirk that makes it sound as though she's choking back a song rather than singing it surfaces, and at times her singing is a little too Amy Grant-clean, but on balance Re-Joyce, named for Simpson's late grandmother, supplies welcome kindling in a winter wonderland overgrown with deadwood. --Tammy La Gorce