Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Make You Mine This Christmas

"To Haf Hughes, the best things about Christmas, in ascending order, are: all-you-can-eat mince pies, novelty jumpers, the fact you have a licence to be permanently too full and slightly pissed for the duration, and, most importantly, that there’s no need to be a functioning person."

➽ Make You Mine This Christmas was such a funny, cute festive Romance!! It follows Haf, who ends up accidentally fake-dating Christopher by kissing him in front of his ex-girlfriend. I loved the hilarious shenanigans from the very beginning, as Haf just got herself into the most ridiculous situations. Instead of backing out, she ends up accompanying Christopher to his parent's home for Christmas, because she has no plans of her own. There, she ends up falling for his sister, which would be okay ... only she doesn't know that Haf and Christopher aren't an actual couple. This starts off a lot of chaos and I loved the story because it was so funny!

➽ Haf is an absolute delight and I loved her! She's trapped in an unfulfilling job and barely has her life together (relatable), so she doesn't feel like a proper adult yet. Her last boyfriend ditched her and immediately moved on to someone more accomplished, so Haf's still struggling. She's currently living with her best friend but would have had to spend Christmas alone if it wasn't for Christopher. Haf's parents are taking a vacation over Christmas, so she decides that going along with the fake dating is much better!

➽ I loved Haf and Christopher's friendship! There's no love triangle, as Haf has purely platonic feelings for Christopher. It was nice to see them immediately hit it off at the party and continue their banter afterwards. Both of them become fast friends and that was just what they needed. Haf is already protective of Christopher, as his family, doesn't really understand how unhappy he is at his job and how he only goes along with it to make them happy. Haf's still determined to play the perfect girlfriend to help him out! The actual romance was a bit messy because Kit is Christopher's sister, but Haf and her were cute together! Kit deals with chronic pain and I liked how that was explored as well.

Content Warnings

lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow this was the perfect christmassy read! I really wanted to read something cute, funny and short - this book has it all!

Make You Mine This Christmas starts off with a cliquee Fake Dating Trope and meet cute. But it turns out Haf & Christopher just get along really well - as friends. The person our protagonist Haf actually falls in love with is Christopher's sister, Kit.
The only problem: Kit thinks Haf and Christopher are dating. Also his entire family thinks that, and is supposed to keep thinking that for at least the rest of Christmas!

I had so much fun reading this book. It's really funny and the characters are super relatable.

I don't know what else to say except, this book did everything right and you should read it!

Honestly this is the perfect book for me to complete my 2022 reading challenge of 100 books 🎉

Content Warnings

emily_mh's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The Christmassy vibes of this Christmas romance were excellent! You’re nearly guaranteed to get top marks with me here if you include a reindeer, and this book included a BABY reindeer. However, the ROMANCE side of things was lacking. I didn’t really see the compatibility or even the chemistry between Haf and Kit. It felt like there was a lot of telling and not showing, and it made no sense to me that they threw the world love around after 5 days of knowing each other.

Also, the reveal of the fake dating was handled so weirdly! Kit kisses Haf thinking she’s actually dating her brother which is such a dog move. But instead of giving up the whole game when they tell Kit, they keep it a secret from the parents? Meanwhile Kit half-commits to liking Haf. It was all very huh?? why?? and meh.

I think my dislike of the romance is also due to the fact that Haf and Kit felt like such static characters. However, while the romance sucked, I thought the author did a great job of showing platonic chemistry between Haf and Christopher. Also, I actually enjoyed my time reading the book! Hence my middle-of-the-road rating.

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