A review by kori_krc
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

3.0

So originally I figured maybe I was in a slump or something, but looking back on it as I’m writing this, it just bored me. The writing was fine and the story was ok, but it just felt slow and towards the end, a little preachy. It hit a lot of points in classism and sexism, which in essence is great, but at some point, the characters just became preachy and it felt out of place. The conflict also didn’t fully feel like a full conflict considering it all hinged in an out of context moment where one of the MCs wouldn’t let the other explain. The resolution also felt rushed. The couple didn’t fully talk about the issue or how it was handled in depth and it felt like it was so glossed over. And for all the preaching about being a good person, I felt like Nory, our FMC, completely took the blame for the misunderstanding without even holding Issac accountable for how he behaved in the aftermath. He completely cut her out and refused to hear her out while also making her relationship with her brother worse by not communicating the issue. There were definitely parts that were cute or interesting, just overall didn’t hit the way I’d like it to. I think it also shouldn’t be marketed as a Christmas book when the book has virtually nothing to do with Christmas other than the resolution happens at Christmas while the majority of the book happens a month prior and has really only to do with a wedding party.