This was disappointing because the premise is so fun! Unfortunately, the writing wasn't very strong, and the plot was a bit flat. I think the order of events was a bit convoluted and the dramatic tension was erased pretty quickly because of that (

aka Ellie finding out about the fake dating about 1/3 through

). It felt like a lot of telling as well, especially with the therapy-speak type of language being used as these characters processed their emotions. It was almost too rational; even when they were being irrational, they knew it and intellectualized it, which made for a bit of a boring read. Overall, this was just a little bland and honestly not even particularly Christmasy.