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A review by halenm
Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones
3.0
This book is a very low 3, teetering on a 2. It's cute, and for a little romance story I imagine that's what most people are looking for. Is the cuteness enough though to save a fairly bland tale? Yes and no in my opinion hence the very middle of the road 3.
Characters are the lynch pin for any good romance, and this book certainly has them. Now I wouldn’t say they are the worst thing ever, but just like the rest of the book, they are mostly fine baring the main character. I don't find her insufferable or anything like that, she is just the worst of the cast. I find the bumbling, everyone likes me, slightly overly quirky thing just a bit over the top, but again I don't dislike her at all. In there was a few moments where I did feel bad or chuckled a bit at what she had to say. Overall though, I think being stuck in her head and hearing her thoughts on everything may have just been a bit much for me. Personally I think my favorite characters were the parents. Otto had an instant image in my head, and Ester being this very in charge and loving presence I liked. As a whole though I'd say they are all fine, no insane stand outs or real frustration. Also as a final note for the characters, I did not expect them to be British. I'm a red blooded American damn it, what's a tinny? A jumper? I'll tell you one thing, none of that sounds like FREEDOM!! In serious though, took me a bit by surprise, but was not a issue for the story though.
The second part of a good romance is of course the romance, so how is it? Also fine. Personally I am not a bisexual woman so I can't speak to the authenticity of it all, but I didn't buy in to it much. I've seen other reviews say that she has more chemistry with Christopher instead of Kit, and to that I would give a very wishy washy yes and no. I think there's an argument for both sides. I liked Christopher better than Kit, the reassuring glances and small gestures being something that I find nice in a man, but also there is something to be said about just having a gut feeling about someone which can be the case. Maybe in a book universe where you are kinda supposed to show us the chemistry and all, it's a bit different, but as a human to a fictional human I'll cut her some slack. They do have nice moments that I think give them enough time to be cute, I don't know if I would go so far as to say "love of my life material," but cute none the less.
Story it's a meh, I thought it dragged a bit and the ending made me roll my eyes so far I was very close to calling this a 2. Truth be told, I like my action and adventure type of things so I don't think the story of this was ever going to be a massive seller for me. At I believe 8 hours-ish for the audiobook, it doesn't stick around too long. Probably could've been maybe a slight bit shorter even then, but overall very mid.
As you can see, This book was more or less just a book for me. Again romance is not really my genre when it comes to reading. I prefer my characters fight goblins rather than call themselves horny goblins. For people that enjoy this sort of thing though I imagine it'll be a cute story and a fast read. For me though, I'd like a book without a pantry scene and I'd like it so far in the future I don't have to hear about twitter.
TL;DR - The book was a shoulder shrug for me, if you like romance read it, if you don't don't. Very bog standard and very mid across the board. Side note I never want to hear texts written out in a book like how they did the little Ambrose spamming thing. If you do listen to it listen at 1.25 speed, the cadence of conversations is much funnier.
Characters are the lynch pin for any good romance, and this book certainly has them. Now I wouldn’t say they are the worst thing ever, but just like the rest of the book, they are mostly fine baring the main character. I don't find her insufferable or anything like that, she is just the worst of the cast. I find the bumbling, everyone likes me, slightly overly quirky thing just a bit over the top, but again I don't dislike her at all. In there was a few moments where I did feel bad or chuckled a bit at what she had to say. Overall though, I think being stuck in her head and hearing her thoughts on everything may have just been a bit much for me. Personally I think my favorite characters were the parents. Otto had an instant image in my head, and Ester being this very in charge and loving presence I liked. As a whole though I'd say they are all fine, no insane stand outs or real frustration. Also as a final note for the characters, I did not expect them to be British. I'm a red blooded American damn it, what's a tinny? A jumper? I'll tell you one thing, none of that sounds like FREEDOM!! In serious though, took me a bit by surprise, but was not a issue for the story though.
The second part of a good romance is of course the romance, so how is it? Also fine. Personally I am not a bisexual woman so I can't speak to the authenticity of it all, but I didn't buy in to it much. I've seen other reviews say that she has more chemistry with Christopher instead of Kit, and to that I would give a very wishy washy yes and no. I think there's an argument for both sides. I liked Christopher better than Kit, the reassuring glances and small gestures being something that I find nice in a man, but also there is something to be said about just having a gut feeling about someone which can be the case. Maybe in a book universe where you are kinda supposed to show us the chemistry and all, it's a bit different, but as a human to a fictional human I'll cut her some slack. They do have nice moments that I think give them enough time to be cute, I don't know if I would go so far as to say "love of my life material," but cute none the less.
Story it's a meh, I thought it dragged a bit and the ending made me roll my eyes so far I was very close to calling this a 2. Truth be told, I like my action and adventure type of things so I don't think the story of this was ever going to be a massive seller for me. At I believe 8 hours-ish for the audiobook, it doesn't stick around too long. Probably could've been maybe a slight bit shorter even then, but overall very mid.
As you can see, This book was more or less just a book for me. Again romance is not really my genre when it comes to reading. I prefer my characters fight goblins rather than call themselves horny goblins. For people that enjoy this sort of thing though I imagine it'll be a cute story and a fast read. For me though, I'd like a book without a pantry scene and I'd like it so far in the future I don't have to hear about twitter.
TL;DR - The book was a shoulder shrug for me, if you like romance read it, if you don't don't. Very bog standard and very mid across the board. Side note I never want to hear texts written out in a book like how they did the little Ambrose spamming thing. If you do listen to it listen at 1.25 speed, the cadence of conversations is much funnier.