It's the last wrap up of 2020! I really can't believe 2020 is over, it still feels like March to me. December was a very busy month, as it always is, so I didn't get to read quite as many books as I had wanted to. I did manage to read 6 books, which is still pretty good, and everything was Christmas/holiday related. I even really enjoyed almost all of them as well.
In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren -
This is the newest release from Christina Lauren and it's their first Christmas book. It follows a woman whose family are spending their final Christmas at the cabin they go to every year, but after an accident on the way home she wakes up back on the plane on the way there. She ends up reliving the holiday period over and over again until she can discover what makes her happy. It's a really fun, Christmassy book with the most adorable friends-to-lovers romance. The Groundhog Day element isn't something I usually enjoy but it was done so perfectly in this book that I loved it. I also really loved the family, and found family, dynamic and all the characters. It is filled with festive fun, which made it the perfect December read. I had some small issues with the ending, which is why I knocked off a star, but overall I really loved it. I shared more of my thoughts in my Christmas New Releases post if you want more detail.
Rating: 4/5
All I Want For Christmas by Joanna Bolouri -
This is another fun Christmas book, following a man who takes a job working as Santa at his local mall and ends up meeting a young boy who's Christmas wish is for his mother to be happy. He ends up setting the boy's mother up with his best friend, but soon starts to develop feelings for her himself. This was such an adorable book and completely exceeded my expectations. It is the love triangle trope done so well, with really well developed friendships and strong chemistry. I loved all of these characters, particularly our main character Nick, and their relationships with each other. This takes place throughout the year, bookended by Christmas, so isn't as festive as some of the other Christmas books I have read, but it did still feature prominently. Again, I have more detailed thoughts in my little review in my Christmas New Releases post.
Rating: 4/5
The Christmas Pact by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward -
This is a Christmas romance novella that I picked up at random. It is an enemies-to-lovers, fake dating romance, following two colleagues who take each other home for Christmas pretending to be dating. This was such a surprise, I loved it! It's super short, so a very quick read, and loads of fun. Our main characters have such great chemistry and their banter is very entertaining. I did feel like they stopped being enemies pretty quickly but I didn't mind too much. There are a few little twists thrown in to keep things interesting and it kept the plot moving. We didn't get any steamy scenes in this novella but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. It was a really sweet romance and a very entertaining, enjoyable read.
Rating: 4/5
All About Us by Tom Ellen -
This was another surprise for me. I picked it up at random and wasn't really sure what to expect. It follows a man whose relationship with his wife is on the rocks when, on Christmas Eve, he finds himself thrown back into the future to the day he chose his now wife over his university crush. He then finds himself thrown around his past to see the path his life has taken and where he is heading. I ended up really enjoying this. It's another love triangle in a way but also focuses a lot on their troubled marriage and if it could be salvaged. I enjoyed the time travel aspect in this one as well, which as I said is not something I usually enjoy. I thought it did a great job in this book of really developing the characters and the relationships between them. This was a much more serious book than the other Christmas books I have read and touches on some really important topics, such as grief and the importance of talking about feelings. I did have a little bit of an issue with the way one of the female characters was portrayed towards the end, I think it took away from the story a bit. However, I did really enjoy this story and loved the way things wrapped up.
Rating: 4/5
The Naughty List by Ellie Mae McGregor -
This was everything I never knew I needed. It is a smutty novella involving a romance between a single mother and sexy silver fox Santa. This is super short, super steamy and super fun. It was only around 50 pages and was exactly as it sounds so I don't really have too much to say about it. I enjoyed it, the steamy scenes were very well done, Santa was just perfect and I liked the relationship. I just wanted a little bit more of everything. Another 50 pages and this would have been perfect.
Rating: 4/5
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens -
After a month full of 4 star reads, I unfortunately ended the year on a bit of a low. This follows a man and a woman who were born on New Years' Eve, in the same hospital, just minutes apart, who end up meeting at a party on NYE 2019. The book follows them throughout the year as they keep bumping into each other and, despite being complete opposites, start to develop feelings for each other. I just didn't love this. I found both main characters incredibly annoying and kept getting frustrated by the decisions they made. There's a whole 'jinx' aspect of the story that I just couldn't deal with. However, the thing that really got me was the anxiety portrayal. The mother of one of the main characters has severe anxiety and has spent years struggling to even leave the house, until she is suddenly rid of her anxiety in a few months because she got some tough love. There was a good overall message to this book, and some really great friends who help deliver that message, but I just couldn't get past the things that annoyed me.
Rating: 2.5/5
And those are the last six books I read in 2020! I know I said it already but I really cannot believe that year is over. December was a pretty good month in terms of quality of the books I read and I loved finding some great Christmas books. It was a really good end to my reading year. Hopefully January will be an even better month for reading.
What was the best book you read in December?
Sophie :)
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