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heroineinabook's review
1.0
Before I begin my review, I need to acknowledge that it is a lot of work to write a novel. Now, I haven’t written a fiction book, but I have written enough words that I turned into two books. Writing fiction has a lot of moving parts from writing the plot, character, and structure plus the creativity it takes.
Which means I always feel a bit guilty when I review a book and it’s terrible.
Half-baked Holidays is terrible. I would dare to go so far as to say awful. I read the first story and thought, “What the hell did I just read?”
A collection of romcom holiday themed short stories styled as being “multicultural” which piqued my interest. As I said in a previous review, I’ve been in the mood for holiday themed romcoms. Multicultural? Even better.
The first story, not so much. There is something off about the romance and the detail on the physical attributes or cultural background to denote that the book is “multicultural.”I kinda feel like the author is probably white trying to cash in on demand for multicultural books, especially romances.
The couple’s relationship, supposedly two old high school crushes, was severely lacking in chemistry. The premise is that the heroine is coming home to see her father and his new family (which turns out to be a menagerie of adopted kids from all over the world. I guess this multicultural?) and she is standing in front of their house at 6am when a crush from high school magically shows up and introduces her to his family who live across the street, of course, and there is hand holding and “this is the one” by the time lunch rolls around. I’m not opposed to fast romances but this one is a bit beyond.
I found very little on Kat Bastion online other than her website, Twitter, and her author’s FB page which was notably absent of any personal interaction with her fans and the only likes on her post were hers. Various places in her social sphere note she writes with her husband Stone. I did find her personal FB page with her full name so the name isn’t made up (I guess). Yet, there is very little about who she is as a person or an author on her website so I don’t get the gist of who she is to help feel the curiosity of a reader to an author. (I cannot be the only one who stalks authors while reading their books. But it is much easier now!) I couldn’t find much engagement with her/their fans which left me a bit surprised. Don’t you want to build an audience? Don’t you want to meet and greet with the people who read you? Several close friends of mine are indie authors and they cultivate their online life a much as they do their writing and it pays off.
tl;dr: Do not pay money for a book where the author clearly needs a writing class or ten.
Which means I always feel a bit guilty when I review a book and it’s terrible.
Half-baked Holidays is terrible. I would dare to go so far as to say awful. I read the first story and thought, “What the hell did I just read?”
A collection of romcom holiday themed short stories styled as being “multicultural” which piqued my interest. As I said in a previous review, I’ve been in the mood for holiday themed romcoms. Multicultural? Even better.
The first story, not so much. There is something off about the romance and the detail on the physical attributes or cultural background to denote that the book is “multicultural.”I kinda feel like the author is probably white trying to cash in on demand for multicultural books, especially romances.
The couple’s relationship, supposedly two old high school crushes, was severely lacking in chemistry. The premise is that the heroine is coming home to see her father and his new family (which turns out to be a menagerie of adopted kids from all over the world. I guess this multicultural?) and she is standing in front of their house at 6am when a crush from high school magically shows up and introduces her to his family who live across the street, of course, and there is hand holding and “this is the one” by the time lunch rolls around. I’m not opposed to fast romances but this one is a bit beyond.
I found very little on Kat Bastion online other than her website, Twitter, and her author’s FB page which was notably absent of any personal interaction with her fans and the only likes on her post were hers. Various places in her social sphere note she writes with her husband Stone. I did find her personal FB page with her full name so the name isn’t made up (I guess). Yet, there is very little about who she is as a person or an author on her website so I don’t get the gist of who she is to help feel the curiosity of a reader to an author. (I cannot be the only one who stalks authors while reading their books. But it is much easier now!) I couldn’t find much engagement with her/their fans which left me a bit surprised. Don’t you want to build an audience? Don’t you want to meet and greet with the people who read you? Several close friends of mine are indie authors and they cultivate their online life a much as they do their writing and it pays off.
tl;dr: Do not pay money for a book where the author clearly needs a writing class or ten.
hedonicbooks's review
2.0
This book consists of five short love stories, all taking place around Christmas. They were cute, but way too short for me to understand much. It felt like I was reading a chapter in the middle of a bigger book. Nothing really made sense, to be honest.
I was a bit confused by the first story, there wasn't enough background. I guess it's a second chance romance, but everything else was unclear to me. We barely get any details on the characters.
The second story has a meet cute moment and instalove. The same thing as before, there aren't enough details for these stories to work. They feel rushed and unfinished.
I enjoyed the third story, it had more background details and even if I absolutely loathe the instalove trope, it kinda worked in this particular setting. However, making a life changing decision after only a few hours spent with a person seems a bit ridiculous.
I skimmed through the other 2. It was the same thing, just different characters and a different setting.
Sorry, this wasn't my cup of tea.
I was a bit confused by the first story, there wasn't enough background. I guess it's a second chance romance, but everything else was unclear to me. We barely get any details on the characters.
The second story has a meet cute moment and instalove. The same thing as before, there aren't enough details for these stories to work. They feel rushed and unfinished.
I enjoyed the third story, it had more background details and even if I absolutely loathe the instalove trope, it kinda worked in this particular setting. However, making a life changing decision after only a few hours spent with a person seems a bit ridiculous.
I skimmed through the other 2. It was the same thing, just different characters and a different setting.
Sorry, this wasn't my cup of tea.
books_by_the_bottle's review
4.0
This was a fun collection of short holiday rom-com’s. I kept thinking as I was reading, that this would be the perfect book during the craziness of the holiday season when there’s not always as much time for a longer book. I loved how they were all so short and sweet, basically like little hallmark movies all on their own. A perfect read to get into the holiday spirit :)
Thank you to NetGalley and Kat Bastion for the ARC in exchange for my review. I will be sharing my review on my Instagram blog (Instagram.com/books_by_the_bottle) soon!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kat Bastion for the ARC in exchange for my review. I will be sharing my review on my Instagram blog (Instagram.com/books_by_the_bottle) soon!
bookishboujeeandbossbabe's review
funny
lighthearted
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
3.0
paula_90's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book, is the perfect holiday reads. Fast paced stories to put you into the mood for Christmas.
I need more!
I need more!
kskincheloe's review
5.0
I enjoyed this book of short stories that were holiday themed. They were quick easy reads. The characters and storylines were enjoyable. The author is great at painting a descriptive holiday feeling in each of the stories. Since they’re shorter, they character development isn’t as deep as longer reads but there’s enough to get you to root for them. Quite honestly, several of the shorts reminded me of Hallmark holiday movies! There were several times I could actually envision the writing coming to life in a Hallmark movie on my TV! This book was just what I needed to read in my downtime when trying to just find a moment of enjoyment.
carolsnotebook's review
4.0
Half-Baked Holidays is a collection of novellas full of romance and holiday fun. They’re short and pretty much rely on love at first meeting, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. All of the characters are charming or adorable or sexy. The stories are light, with attraction and flirting and learning about themselves and each other, but no major complications, no major tensions, just sweet stories. There’s no cheating on each other, no love triangles. There’s also no sex, just plenty of kissing and holding hands and cookies and hot chocolate. I don’t know that I had a favorite story – they all made me smile.
kjherv's review
3.0
If you're looking for short and sweet holiday romance stories, this is your book! Half-Baked Holidays does a great job of getting you hooked from the beginning of the story and wanting more when the story is over. Be careful though, once you start, you'll be finished with the collection of stories in no time because they go so fast. A perfect book to pick up for some feel good feelings!
emilyrainsford's review
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
The premise here is great - holiday themed meet cute short stories. But a short story is meant to be a snippet of life. It doesn't mean that you have to cram the entire falling in love and planning a future together into the first five minutes they meet! The insta love in these was way too much for me.
The good:
- light easy reads
- all very varied and creative settings
The less good:
- extreme insta love
- what the heck was with that rainbow family thing, and the couple getting married AND having a baby within ONE YEAR?? These people need to calm down.
- choppy, staccato writing style with nary a complete sentence to be found. Why was every sentence chopped into about 5 grammatically incomplete sentences?
It was definitely a low brain power kind of easy read, but the speed at which the relationships moved and the strange writing style mean I wouldn't recommend this one.
The good:
- light easy reads
- all very varied and creative settings
The less good:
- extreme insta love
- what the heck was with that rainbow family thing, and the couple getting married AND having a baby within ONE YEAR?? These people need to calm down.
- choppy, staccato writing style with nary a complete sentence to be found. Why was every sentence chopped into about 5 grammatically incomplete sentences?
It was definitely a low brain power kind of easy read, but the speed at which the relationships moved and the strange writing style mean I wouldn't recommend this one.