Synopsis
“This sweet and magical romance about a girl who has just one wish–someone to kiss under the mistletoe–is the perfect holiday escape!”
In the book, our main character, Bailey, is a teenager girl, that only wants one thing for Christmas – a boyfriend. She is consumed with having a Holiday romance, but I think she has watched far too many Hallmark movies. She did admit to loving those movies. Don’t get me wrong, as a teenager, I too was eagerly hoping for a boyfriend. But Bailey came off desperate and boy-crazy. Also, I want to make one thing clear. I too love Hallmark movies, despite how cheesy they tend to be.
Bailey tries hard to come off as a holiday addict, but not being in a relationship made her more of a ‘Holiday Grinch’. Listen, being single isn’t the end of the world. Bailey acted as though a holiday romance would magically make the season better. Truthfully, relationships are hard work, and during the holidays, you should focus on making memories with the ones you love.
In the first chapter, not only are we introduced to Jacob Marley (yep that’s his real name). Can you get any more cliché? After meeting Jacob, and Bailey being outright rude to him, I could already tell where the story was going to go. Sure, Bailey was starting to feel something for Jacob, but she kept making him out to be someone he wasn’t. If I were Jacob, I would have never even given her the time of day.
I thought that this was an enemies-to-lovers YA contemporary, but then Bailey meets Charlie. He is a charming British boy, which does make him more appealing than Jacob. Why are accents so attractive? Nevertheless, I was very bothered by the fact that Bailey was suddenly all about Charlie – way too quickly. She barely knew him, but already thought he was her boyfriend. Honestly, Bailey came off as immature, vain, and argumentative. And, all readers know that disliking the MC makes for a less than enjoyable reading experience.
“I’ve watched more than my fair share of Hallmark Christmas movies, and even though I’m not a big-city lawyer who has moved back to my hometown to save the family business or a world-weary writer who falls in love with a recently widowed baker, I still believe in the power of Christmas Magic.”
Frankly, a lot of the time I felt that the plot was going nowhere. I didn’t even know what was going to happen throughout a vast majority of the book. However, the book is under 250 pages, so it is a very quick read. I finished it in two days, yet I didn’t find the story to be particularly interesting.
As for the ending, I was blown away with how ridiculous it was. I could see what was going to happen before it did and I was still floored. The fact that the author went this route was comical. One small spoiler about the ending – think ‘The Bishop’s Wife’ meets ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’.
Overall, I don’t regret reading this book. but feel that it was a waste of time. Maybe it is meant for a younger audience, since I could see tweens and young teenagers liking the story. The writing style wasn’t terrible, but as I said before it was a little juvenile. I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you want to read something that will make you roll your eyes.
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Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny