Probably more like a 2.5 Was so over the MC going from "we must do everything the same every year because tradition!" to "OH EM GEE TRADITION IS JUST SProbably more like a 2.5 Was so over the MC going from "we must do everything the same every year because tradition!" to "OH EM GEE TRADITION IS JUST SO CHILDISH EWWW" like I’m pretty sure I know which of these is more childish but hey. Also her and the love interest having sex like 24 hours after her love confession was way too fast for me. I don’t care if you’ve known each other your whole lives, you only just realised you have romantic feelings for each other and actually don't even know that much about each other in all honesty. And lastly, she treated her lifelong friend like absolute shit for something that he didn't even do in that timeline. What was that about childish again ...more
I saw this being pitched as a Grinch retelling, and I was THERE for someone learning to appreciate the joy that Christmas can bring into people's liveI saw this being pitched as a Grinch retelling, and I was THERE for someone learning to appreciate the joy that Christmas can bring into people's lives. Unfortunately, there was no joy for me when reading this novel.
Some people may enjoy reading about unlikeable characters, and you do you for them, but for me there needs to be at least something redeemable and/or likeable about the character I am spending multiple hours inside the head of, and there was none of that for Matthew Prince. He was just a selfish, spoiled brat that I could not have cared less about.
The romance was also ... not it. Especially towards the end where Matthew literally calls Hector a "bottom feeder" because he thinks Hector did something shitty and there was no apology, no regrets, nothing. Hector was just like "uwu I understand why you would have felt that way if it was me". I do not stan couples that start with this kind of thing.
All in all, this book was a hell of a disappointment. Traditionally published Christmas books are really not hitting the mark....more
God this book was so extremely average, I was almost brought to tears.
One thing that I am getting so tired of is books being marketed as "romantic comGod this book was so extremely average, I was almost brought to tears.
One thing that I am getting so tired of is books being marketed as "romantic comedies" and proceeding to have exactly zero comedy. This book literally says "laugh out loud" in the blurb and not once did anything remotely funny happen. Not. Once. Please, publishing, don't just use romcom as some blanket term for a contemporary romance. There is "contemporary romance" for that exact reason.
But even the romance in this was not on the mark. The two characters never even spent time reconnecting over their many years without speaking. It was just "omg I hate her" to "omg I want to bang her" with nothing in between. And even when they did start banging, there was no development beforehand. They were basically frenemies with benefits tbh. They spent all their time either bickering or banging.
Also, there was nothing even Christmassy about this book. They literally mentioned Christmas only at the very end, and yet I was under the impression this was a Christmas book. The entire point of a Christmas book is that Christmas plays an integral role in the storyline and it simply did not in this.
When I was browsing Net Galley and saw that this anthology was about sapphics finding love while adopting rescue animals I was in even though I don’t When I was browsing Net Galley and saw that this anthology was about sapphics finding love while adopting rescue animals I was in even though I don’t read much romance because that premise is chef’s kiss ...more
