Reviews

First and foremost, the only thing that made this book Christmas-y is that it takes place in December & the cover. I was hoping for holly jolly vibes, but got nothing. Nothing! Once you get passed the lack of jingle bells, the fact that the MCs names are Beat and Melody, and the third person pov, this is a good book. Sure, the names roll off the tongue a little awkwardly, and the insta-love trope isn't for everyone, but this just worked for me. The reality show made the plot feel very fast paced, which I enjoyed, and I just overall was intrigued by the concept of this book.

~~Merry smutmas!~~

4/5

catsheridan's review against another edition

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2.0

1.5 stars rounded up...

Overall, I just found this book super unsatisfying. The cover markets it as a cute Christmas book, but really had nothing to do with the holidays other than the task to reunite Steel Birds culminating on Christmas Eve. I also found it incredibly cheesy and knew I wouldn't love it from the moment that Melody and Beat were revealed to be the main characters' names.

I didn't enjoy the star-crossed lovers trope, and the depiction of Melody felt almost silly. All we heard the entire book was that everyone immediately LOVED her even though I did honestly like her as a character. I really doubt that an Instagram livestream centering around them, two people only really famous for their parents' talents, would have resulted in them being immediately mobbed in this way, and it overall just felt a little ridiculous; I understand stretching reality for books but this one went a little too far for me.

I normally really enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing, but this definitely is down with my least favorites of her work. I don't have much to say other than that it is a 1.5 star read for me rather than 1 star because I really only give 1 star to things that I DNF. I also thought that the setup was actually interesting and had the potential to be a really fun story, but it fell flat for me.