A review by bdingz
How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this! A nice holiday romance that incorporates Christmas but at the same time, isn’t too holiday-heavy. I think it could be read any time of year. I wasn’t blown away, but I liked it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Mild acephobia but no arophobia. An elderly person experiences a fall and a minor injury and there are a couple of relatively short scenes in hospital in the last quarter of the book.