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oceanwriter's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m always in the mood to pick up a romcom or two around Christmastime. I pick carefully as I’m finicky in the genre. Given I enjoyed The Holiday Swap, I figured another Maggie Knox book would be a safe bet. Sadly, I wasn’t invested this time around.
Both hoping to make their break into the Nashville music world, Sadie and Max fake a relationship for the sake of their fans after they get paired up for a duet on the reality show Starmaker. It’s a rouse neither are sure they can keep up given their distaste for one another. But is it possible that there could be more there after all?
I retained very little about this book if I’m being brutally honest. I didn’t care about the characters or the plot. The vibes were good but I wasn’t feeling it. I do remember chuckling at a couple of the lines, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. Nothing was memorable for me aside from a strange time jump I should have been expecting but wasn’t and an obnoxious amount of miscommunication. There were some cozy bits, but not enough to make up for the rest. I normally love fake dating, or maybe I used to and my taste is changing, because this is the second time in recent months that this trope has let me down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing and Sexual content
aus10england's review against another edition
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
bookcheshirecat's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
“Life doesn't always play out the way you imagine it will but that doesn't mean that what you do instead isn't worth anything.”
➽ All I Want for Christmas turned out to be a huge disappointment for me. I liked the author's previous holiday Romance The Holiday Swap, but this one didn't work out for me. The story follows Sadie and Max, two country musicians, who are on a casting show together. Technically, they're supposed to compete with each other, but it'll gain them more media attention if they become a duo and fake date. Sadie's a newcomer who hasn't been able to make it, so she needs the team up, even though she dislikes Max immediately. Max is the son of a famous musician, but he wants to come out of his father's shadow and build something for himself. The show is his opportunity to make an independent career!
➽ This was a mess of miscommunication, angst and drama! The reviews were mixed and they were right about the utter lack of communication between Sadie and Max. They keep withholding information from each other at crucial moments which in turn creates unnecessary drama. It didn't help that there's a one-year time skip in the middle of the book and that the actual casting show is barely utilized. We're often told about the outcome of the votes and don't end up seeing much of the competition. It's clear to me that Max and Sadie aren't well-matched, as they keep misunderstanding each other and withdrawing from each other. Even worse is Max's behavior when it comes to one of the producers of the show. He knows that he's sketchy, but keeps being jealous of his relationship with Sadie. It's so uncomfortable to read about when he's clearly harassing Sadie and taking advantage of her in vulnerable moments.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Death, and Grief
atamano's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, and Terminal illness
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Cursing
lauren_shilling's review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I am so disappointed that I didn't love this book! I absolutely adored this author duo's other book, The Holiday Swap, so I was so excited for this! Not only is it by an author duo I've loved before, but it was about a singing competition! Needless to say, I had high hopes for this book. Maybe that was why I was so let down by it, but I don't think so. I'm going to start with things that I did like, though. I really liked the relationship Sadie had with her grandmother. I thought it was super cute, and I really liked that part of the story. That being said, I saw exactly where that was going almost immediately, so there was no shock there at all. I also thought the book started off pretty good. At the beginning, I was very hopeful that this might be another five star from this author duo. However, it became clear that this would not be the case by the end of the first 70 pages, probably. I also enjoyed the dog, but that is mostly because I love dogs, and dogs that wear sweaters are some of my favorite things ever. I wish we saw more of the dog, honestly, but I also understand why we didn't. Those were my two biggest positives about the book. Other than those things, there wasn't much I liked. I found the characters to be very flat, or even downright unlikeable. Sadie was a fine character, and I really liked her at first, but as the story progressed, I just didn't feel like she was ever particularly fleshed out, and ended up falling flat for me. This made me really sad because, like I said, I really liked her and where her character appeared to be going at first. I really did not like Max, though. In the first part of the book, I thought he was cute and I didn't dislike him. He just wasn't my favorite love interest, which is fine. I usually don't mind not absolutely falling in love with characters in romance novels as long as I can see the chemistry between the characters. However, as the book progressed, I began to find that I actually just do not like him at all. He just continuously ran away from his problems and expected the pieces to just fall right into place for him later, with little regard to how it would impact and hurt others around him. He was really privileged, and while he would say he acknowledged that privilege and didn't want it to define him or to always rely on it, in my opinion, he never acted like any of that was true. If he had only done this once or twice and then showed some real character development, this would not be an issue for me and I would have liked him a lot more, but he acted this way constantly throughout the book. Sadie, or anyone else, did not deserve to be treated the way he treated her over and over again. Then there was also the issue that the ending felt rushed, and we were expected to believe that all of those pieces would just fall into place the way they did so quickly. It bothered me a lot. I also found none of the side characters to be particularly interesting either. I was also annoyed at how little the singing competition was actually in the book. The premise made it sound like the book was going to be entirely based around the competition, but the competition itself ends about 150 pages into the book. This really disappointed me, because it felt really rushed, and honestly, it felt unnecessary to the plot, or their developing relationship. I was hoping the stakes of the competition would feel higher and that it would be more prevalent in the story. I'm gonna get into some spoilers now to talk about something else I didn't like about the book. One of the things going on in this book is that a producer has taken interest in Sadie, and not really for her musical talent. He does a lot of creepy things, and harasses her quite a bit. I feel like this was not handled with much care, and it was treated as a plot device to create drama in the relationship. Not only am I disappointed that this topic was handled like that, but it made me dislike Max more for the way he reacted when faced with something he should have thought about more than he did. Instead, he made assumptions, and it came off as really insensitive./spoiler>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism
theespressoedition's review against another edition
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Cursing, and Alcoholism
mishale1's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Sadie and Max are both competing on a tv singing competition. They got paired up for a team challenge and their chemistry was so impressive that the powers that he decided to pretty much force them to compete as a duo. The audience is wild for Saxie and their odds of winning together are practically a guarantee.
The competition means different things to each of them.
Max has a father who is a legendary country singer and Max wants to earn his career without an strings pulled by his father. He wants to prove that he’s not the kind of guy his dad is.
Sadie is taking her last stab at accomplishing her dream. She moved to Nashville and put all her hopes on this competition. If it doesn’t work this time, she’ll probably go back home.
They each have a lot to lose and they agree to sing as a duo. They also agree to fake date. Pretending they are a couple will definitely bring in votes.
It’s hard at first but it becomes much easier when real feelings develop between them. But lines start to blur between what’s real and what fake. And because of this already fragile situation, Sadie and Max get into some huge fights very quickly.
They are contractually obligated to sing a Christmas song together a year from now. Neither one of them can predict where they’ll be a year from now. Will they be a fake couple? Will they be in love? Will they hate each other? Any of these options seem possible.
And as Sadie’s career success finally hits its stride, she faces a devastating loss in her personal life.
I liked Sadie and Max. I’ll admit to getting very frustrated with Max a couple of times in this book but I won’t elaborate so I can avoid spoilers. This book was sad at times due to Sadie’s loss and very happy at others. It really covered all the emotions.
I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thank you!
The competition means different things to each of them.
Max has a father who is a legendary country singer and Max wants to earn his career without an strings pulled by his father. He wants to prove that he’s not the kind of guy his dad is.
Sadie is taking her last stab at accomplishing her dream. She moved to Nashville and put all her hopes on this competition. If it doesn’t work this time, she’ll probably go back home.
They each have a lot to lose and they agree to sing as a duo. They also agree to fake date. Pretending they are a couple will definitely bring in votes.
It’s hard at first but it becomes much easier when real feelings develop between them. But lines start to blur between what’s real and what fake. And because of this already fragile situation, Sadie and Max get into some huge fights very quickly.
They are contractually obligated to sing a Christmas song together a year from now. Neither one of them can predict where they’ll be a year from now. Will they be a fake couple? Will they be in love? Will they hate each other? Any of these options seem possible.
And as Sadie’s career success finally hits its stride, she faces a devastating loss in her personal life.
I liked Sadie and Max. I’ll admit to getting very frustrated with Max a couple of times in this book but I won’t elaborate so I can avoid spoilers. This book was sad at times due to Sadie’s loss and very happy at others. It really covered all the emotions.
I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thank you!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Sexual harassment
kcbatts's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
kelly_e's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Title: All I Want for Christmas
Author: Maggie Know
Genre: Holiday Romance
Rating: 1.5
Pub Date: October 4, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Lackluster • Cheesy • Unrealistic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Sadie and Max are both contestants on the famed reality singing show STARMAKER. For Sadie, it's the big break she's been dreaming of. As for Max, he sees it as an opportunity to finally step out of the shadow of his father.
When they are paired up for duet week, fans of the show go wild for #Saxie. Their chemistry together is undeniable, and the show executives demand they remain a duo - on and offstage - or exit the competition. With their dreams on the line, each agrees to the preposition, the only probably being they don't enjoy each other company.
💭 T H O U G H T S
When I first read the synopsis, I was looking forward to reading this 2022 holiday release from the author duo known as Maggie Knox. The country music aspect, and the Nashville setting were what initially interested me, as did the holiday vibes. All I Want for Christmas started out solidly, but unfortunately ended up going off the rails rather quickly and being a complete miss for me.
I will start out with the good since the list is short - the concept, Max's dog Patsy, the fact that Max knit, and the backdrop of winter in Banff for a portion of the book. That's it.
And now for the bad. The plotline should have worked very well with dual POVs, yet the flow was significantly off and the pacing felt very odd. I never really got the enemies-to-lovers vibes, and the romance was extremely unbelievable. To make matters even worse, there's a real lack of character growth from start to finish, which left me rolling my eyes a few too many times.
Even with all of that said, my main issue was how the plot was based primarily on a lack of communication. It felt frustrating. Ultimately, there was so much potential for dialogue on the topic of death and grief, and the author duo failed to express that, instead choosing the route of grief as a taboo. No thank you!
To make matters worse, the audio version had several huge mispronunciations of 'Canadian' words, that it ended up feeling very amateurish. Given that the two authors are Canadian, I'd have expected those errors to have been caught.
In sum, I'd eaten way too much cheese by the time I got to the end, and it honestly felt like it wrapped up too nicely to be realistic. It also wasn't all that festive, which I'll admit was a let down. The idea had so much potential, but execution was poor. It may be time I give up on this duo, and focus on their individual works. And I'd highly suggest you do the same. In fact, Karma Karma Brown wrote one of my favourite reads of 2022.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the fake dating trope
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Life doesn't always play out the way you imagine it will but that doesn't mean that what you do instead isn't worth anything."
Author: Maggie Know
Genre: Holiday Romance
Rating: 1.5
Pub Date: October 4, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Lackluster • Cheesy • Unrealistic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Sadie and Max are both contestants on the famed reality singing show STARMAKER. For Sadie, it's the big break she's been dreaming of. As for Max, he sees it as an opportunity to finally step out of the shadow of his father.
When they are paired up for duet week, fans of the show go wild for #Saxie. Their chemistry together is undeniable, and the show executives demand they remain a duo - on and offstage - or exit the competition. With their dreams on the line, each agrees to the preposition, the only probably being they don't enjoy each other company.
💭 T H O U G H T S
When I first read the synopsis, I was looking forward to reading this 2022 holiday release from the author duo known as Maggie Knox. The country music aspect, and the Nashville setting were what initially interested me, as did the holiday vibes. All I Want for Christmas started out solidly, but unfortunately ended up going off the rails rather quickly and being a complete miss for me.
I will start out with the good since the list is short - the concept, Max's dog Patsy, the fact that Max knit, and the backdrop of winter in Banff for a portion of the book. That's it.
And now for the bad. The plotline should have worked very well with dual POVs, yet the flow was significantly off and the pacing felt very odd. I never really got the enemies-to-lovers vibes, and the romance was extremely unbelievable. To make matters even worse, there's a real lack of character growth from start to finish, which left me rolling my eyes a few too many times.
Even with all of that said, my main issue was how the plot was based primarily on a lack of communication. It felt frustrating. Ultimately, there was so much potential for dialogue on the topic of death and grief, and the author duo failed to express that, instead choosing the route of grief as a taboo. No thank you!
To make matters worse, the audio version had several huge mispronunciations of 'Canadian' words, that it ended up feeling very amateurish. Given that the two authors are Canadian, I'd have expected those errors to have been caught.
In sum, I'd eaten way too much cheese by the time I got to the end, and it honestly felt like it wrapped up too nicely to be realistic. It also wasn't all that festive, which I'll admit was a let down. The idea had so much potential, but execution was poor. It may be time I give up on this duo, and focus on their individual works. And I'd highly suggest you do the same. In fact, Karma Karma Brown wrote one of my favourite reads of 2022.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the fake dating trope
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Life doesn't always play out the way you imagine it will but that doesn't mean that what you do instead isn't worth anything."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Minor: Cancer
⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, grief, sexual harassment, toxic relationship, misogyny, gaslighting, alcohol, canceralexia445's review
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent