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danaherrmann's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sophcart_'s review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Minor: Terminal illness
thingslucyreads's review against another edition
3.0
Eh. It was okay on balance I guess. More like a 2.7/5. Here’s some more thoughts, vaguely organised:
The characters don’t have any continuity when it comes to emotions or emotional reactions to other people or situations. Not in a real-people-are-messy kind of way, in a this-writing-is-messy kind of way. It’s constant whiplash because the characterisations aren’t steady. Like the book was written scene by scene without examining how those characters interacted previously. It also did the typical Lesfic™️ thing and totally erased bisexuality, which sucked; and everyone was extremely judgemental, often about looks, which also sucked; Holly and Victoria continually referred to one of their friends as being “crazy” which ALSO sucked; but there was a fairly well-sized collection of queer characters which was a nice change from a lot of ones I’ve read, where everyone is the Token Queer in their life and they associate mainly with non-queers.
The most annoying thing about this for me was a bunch of little clumsy mistakes: like the absolute statement about pre-teen kissing, froth on flat whites, mistaking the trachea for the oesophagus, a professor at Oxford dressing like a hippie fortune teller at a carnival and that this was something she “learned at professor school” — that one especially sounds fake. (Most of these were expanded upon in my reading updates.) In Once Upon A Princess it was chipped plates and mugs being constantly reused in a cafe like that was fine and not a major health code violation. The whole time I was reading I was like, where is the editor?? Why is no one checking the little things, there’s SO MANY small inaccuracies but they add up until it seems not only clumsy but lazy. There’s nothing wrong with the grammar but it needs, idk, life-picking, the way fanfics of British media by Americans often need Britpicking.
Also, it seems none of Clare Lydon’s main characters can look at any attractive women without getting aroused; that’s a whole thing. Twitching clits and rushing between the legs and descriptions of breasts on what feels like every second page, and that also doesn’t feel very realistic. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just roll my eyes every time it happens. And while we’re on the topic of unrealistic: the resolution of Victoria’s love life woes was all at once predictable, unbelievable, ridiculous and fitting. I can’t decide how I feel about it even though I called it halfway. Like there wasn’t enough lead up but any more would have been TOO obvious. It’s usually one of my favourite tropes but it just wasn’t executed very well because there was too much other shit going on at the same time.
It was good that Holly called Victoria out on the fact that she constantly made absolutely terrible decisions that only led to more drama, and it was a conversation that should have led to character development, but we didn’t really see any because of the turns the plot took afterwards.
Anyway. Contrary to appearances, I didn’t hate reading this one. It was a bit of a chore by the end when I could see how everything was going to turn out and I was just waiting to get there but it wasn’t hard to read. And for once an author actually wrote believable dialogue, and the banter was great. But I don’t think Clare Lydon is for me and I won’t be reading any of her other books because I don’t really actually enjoy them.
The characters don’t have any continuity when it comes to emotions or emotional reactions to other people or situations. Not in a real-people-are-messy kind of way, in a this-writing-is-messy kind of way. It’s constant whiplash because the characterisations aren’t steady. Like the book was written scene by scene without examining how those characters interacted previously. It also did the typical Lesfic™️ thing and totally erased bisexuality, which sucked; and everyone was extremely judgemental, often about looks, which also sucked; Holly and Victoria continually referred to one of their friends as being “crazy” which ALSO sucked; but there was a fairly well-sized collection of queer characters which was a nice change from a lot of ones I’ve read, where everyone is the Token Queer in their life and they associate mainly with non-queers.
The most annoying thing about this for me was a bunch of little clumsy mistakes: like the absolute statement about pre-teen kissing, froth on flat whites, mistaking the trachea for the oesophagus, a professor at Oxford dressing like a hippie fortune teller at a carnival and that this was something she “learned at professor school” — that one especially sounds fake. (Most of these were expanded upon in my reading updates.) In Once Upon A Princess it was chipped plates and mugs being constantly reused in a cafe like that was fine and not a major health code violation. The whole time I was reading I was like, where is the editor?? Why is no one checking the little things, there’s SO MANY small inaccuracies but they add up until it seems not only clumsy but lazy. There’s nothing wrong with the grammar but it needs, idk, life-picking, the way fanfics of British media by Americans often need Britpicking.
Also, it seems none of Clare Lydon’s main characters can look at any attractive women without getting aroused; that’s a whole thing. Twitching clits and rushing between the legs and descriptions of breasts on what feels like every second page, and that also doesn’t feel very realistic. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just roll my eyes every time it happens. And while we’re on the topic of unrealistic: the resolution of Victoria’s love life woes was all at once predictable, unbelievable, ridiculous and fitting. I can’t decide how I feel about it even though I called it halfway. Like there wasn’t enough lead up but any more would have been TOO obvious. It’s usually one of my favourite tropes but it just wasn’t executed very well because there was too much other shit going on at the same time.
It was good that Holly called Victoria out on the fact that she constantly made absolutely terrible decisions that only led to more drama, and it was a conversation that should have led to character development, but we didn’t really see any because of the turns the plot took afterwards.
Anyway. Contrary to appearances, I didn’t hate reading this one. It was a bit of a chore by the end when I could see how everything was going to turn out and I was just waiting to get there but it wasn’t hard to read. And for once an author actually wrote believable dialogue, and the banter was great. But I don’t think Clare Lydon is for me and I won’t be reading any of her other books because I don’t really actually enjoy them.
janlhill's review against another edition
3.0
Very likeable and full of those watch-between-your-fingers moments of horror when our narrator does the exact stupid thing we could see ourselves doing. Really looking forrward to the next in series/
theamandashelby's review against another edition
4.0
So I am not a fan of Christmas, but I do enjoy holiday books. It makes no sense because I do not get fired up about holidays in general. For me this book was a 3.5 rounded up. I thought it was funny in places, but not as funny as some of Lydon's other books. I thought the characters were okay, and I enjoyed it enough to continue the series. I typically love the friend to lover romance but this one isn't a favorite. Just kind of a light romance, something I would consider a quick read. If you want some easy entertainment, with a few laugh and chuckle moments this would be the perfect book. If you are a fan of Lydon this one will not disappoint. I can easily see why this could be a favorite of theirs.
andymariebrokaw's review against another edition
4.0
Rating: A mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top and a shot of peppermint schnapps
Highlight of note: One of our lead's dates goes so badly she falls asleep in the loo...
Will you read more by this author? Probably.
Other note: This is an adult romance and does have some explicit sex in it.
This sapphic romance is enjoyably cute with moments of hilarity. Tori decides in late November that she wants to have a girlfriend to spend Christmas with and figures that surely someone in London must be suitable. So she signs up on a dating app and launches into a series of comically bad dates. During the second disaster, right after she wakes up from a twenty minute nap in the bathroom during which her date bailed, she runs into a friend who has recently become engaged to a woman Tori hadn't met yet. Except when they meet, it turns out they did know each other. In fact, they were best friends in school, up until they shared a kiss and the other girl, Nicola, freaked so bad that not only did she stop talking to Tori altogether, she got pregnant! To say that this distracts Tori from her quest would be an understatement. Not only is her first love now openly interested in women and living in London, but she's a firefighter. Who wouldn't be distracted by that?
Tori's best friend and flatmate is named Holly due to being born on Christmas. (I really need to remember to thank my parents that I'm neither Holly nor Noelle.) I related a lot to Holly, being also tall and gorgeous. Wait. No. I'm short and, at best, cute. But when we find Holly sitting on the couch eating Picked Onion Monster Munch, watching soccer, and telling her friend she'd be happy to write a dating blurb for her but not until halftime, I went, "It's me! If I were younger, taller, and British!" Clearly, she was my favorite cast member.
Nicola was an interesting love interest, although clearly she has a lot of issues, not the least of which is that she's engaged to be married in a few weeks to someone who she's only known for a few months but is flirting and eventually making passes at "The Girl Who Got Away." Clearly, impulse control is something that Nicola struggles with.
And I'm not sure what to think of Tori's coworkers. Between her and her officemates, the same toaster sets of the fire alarm three times over the course of the month this book covers. Each time the buildinging is evacuated and the fire department shows up. If someone in my building did that and still hadn't replaced said toaster, I'm pretty sure I would gift them one for the holidays just so that I wouldn't keep getting forced out onto the sidewalk while I'm trying to work. Also, the fire department probably should have insisted on a new one by the time this had happened twice, shouldn't they?
At any rate... As I said before, parts of this book are riotously funny. And the romance is sweet with a resolution that made me smile. My only real complaint is that I felt like the book could have ended with the chapter that concluded at the 79% marker. The remaining twenty percent had some tie-up value, but nothing at all tense was left to resolve.
Overall, I really liked this book even if I thought it could have ended a smidge earlier. The author has a lot of other books out, including more in the "All I Want" series that covers what happens to Tori and her beloved later, and I will probably be checking those out.
To read the notes I took while reading, visit my blog at https://andyreadsthings.blogspot.com/2019/12/all-i-want-for-christmas-by-clare-lydon.html
Highlight of note: One of our lead's dates goes so badly she falls asleep in the loo...
Will you read more by this author? Probably.
Other note: This is an adult romance and does have some explicit sex in it.
This sapphic romance is enjoyably cute with moments of hilarity. Tori decides in late November that she wants to have a girlfriend to spend Christmas with and figures that surely someone in London must be suitable. So she signs up on a dating app and launches into a series of comically bad dates. During the second disaster, right after she wakes up from a twenty minute nap in the bathroom during which her date bailed, she runs into a friend who has recently become engaged to a woman Tori hadn't met yet. Except when they meet, it turns out they did know each other. In fact, they were best friends in school, up until they shared a kiss and the other girl, Nicola, freaked so bad that not only did she stop talking to Tori altogether, she got pregnant! To say that this distracts Tori from her quest would be an understatement. Not only is her first love now openly interested in women and living in London, but she's a firefighter. Who wouldn't be distracted by that?
Tori's best friend and flatmate is named Holly due to being born on Christmas. (I really need to remember to thank my parents that I'm neither Holly nor Noelle.) I related a lot to Holly, being also tall and gorgeous. Wait. No. I'm short and, at best, cute. But when we find Holly sitting on the couch eating Picked Onion Monster Munch, watching soccer, and telling her friend she'd be happy to write a dating blurb for her but not until halftime, I went, "It's me! If I were younger, taller, and British!" Clearly, she was my favorite cast member.
Nicola was an interesting love interest, although clearly she has a lot of issues, not the least of which is that she's engaged to be married in a few weeks to someone who she's only known for a few months but is flirting and eventually making passes at "The Girl Who Got Away." Clearly, impulse control is something that Nicola struggles with.
And I'm not sure what to think of Tori's coworkers. Between her and her officemates, the same toaster sets of the fire alarm three times over the course of the month this book covers. Each time the buildinging is evacuated and the fire department shows up. If someone in my building did that and still hadn't replaced said toaster, I'm pretty sure I would gift them one for the holidays just so that I wouldn't keep getting forced out onto the sidewalk while I'm trying to work. Also, the fire department probably should have insisted on a new one by the time this had happened twice, shouldn't they?
At any rate... As I said before, parts of this book are riotously funny. And the romance is sweet with a resolution that made me smile. My only real complaint is that I felt like the book could have ended with the chapter that concluded at the 79% marker. The remaining twenty percent had some tie-up value, but nothing at all tense was left to resolve.
Overall, I really liked this book even if I thought it could have ended a smidge earlier. The author has a lot of other books out, including more in the "All I Want" series that covers what happens to Tori and her beloved later, and I will probably be checking those out.
To read the notes I took while reading, visit my blog at https://andyreadsthings.blogspot.com/2019/12/all-i-want-for-christmas-by-clare-lydon.html