*I was sent a copy of The Mistletoe Pact in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Bookouture and Jo Lovett*

Synopsis: 

Two single thirty-year-olds. One marriage pact. And a night in Vegas that’s about to change everything…

On Christmas Eve eight years ago Evie and Dan made a pact: if they weren’t married by thirty, they were going to marry each other. Of course, neither of them took it seriously, even if Dan has always been mesmerised by Evie’s beautiful smile, and Evie has always fancied Dan, her best-friend’s brother.

But then “it” happens. They wake up on Christmas Eve, the night before Evie’s thirtieth birthday in Vegas… married. In a honeymoon suite filled with hundreds of heart-shaped pillows, they realise too late what they’ve done – just like Ross and Rachel.

Surely if they just get a quickie divorce, they can go back to the way things used to be, right? If it wasn’t for the alcohol and Susan-with-the-huge-beehive-hairdo who just wouldn’t take no for an answer, none of this would have happened. They can just go back to being friends.

Except moving on is easier said than done when you’ve secretly loved each other forever… but if one of them doesn’t admit that, what happens to their friendship? If they don’t get together this time, what happens to the pact? Are they really ready to let it go for good?

Review:  

Oh how I really wanted to love this book. Sadly that was not the case. I didn’t hate it, but I was definitely disappointed. 

Firstly, the title was quite misleading. This book was not festive in the slightest. If anything the majority of the book took place outside of December. Considering the title of this book includes one of the most iconic symbols of Christmas I was so disappointed that it really had nothing to do with the story. 

This book could have been set at any time of year and nothing would have changed. As I mentioned before most of the story took place outside of December, other than a few festive events that had no impact whatsoever. The only festive event that had any impact was the scene where they made the pact and even then it didn’t feel very Christmassy. 

When I say the timeline was confusing I 100% mean it. I didn’t know what was happening a lot of the time. There was a constant shift between past and present, but no real indicators other than the date at the chapter start of where you were. I would find myself mid-chapter forgetting when and where the scene was set and what details about the story the characters knew at that point. Maybe this was just me being too dense to understand what was going on, but I’m not sure. 

Also, the points of view were too similar. There was no real difference between Evie and Dan and how they talked/acted. I felt like the entire book was written from one perspective. 

It was painfully obvious to absolutely everyone in this book that the main characters liked each other. Including both main characters. This obviousness was quite grating at times and I found myself thinking ‘just get on with it already’ but no this frustrating back and forth continued to happen for way too long. I really lost interest in their romance. 

This brings me to the biggest point of my review. These characters were not right for each other. For me, they lacked that certain spark of chemistry that you need for a romance novel. This was most likely the result of them growing up together and having more of a familial bond rather than one of a romantic couple. 

They definitely had chemistry and were very comfortable around each other, but it really did lack a spark. Even when they did get around to being together it was cute, but often felt stilted and forced. This is a shame because I usually enjoy a finally being with your life-long crush type of story, but it failed to hit the mark. 

I’m making it sound like this was the worst book I’ve ever read. Honestly, it wasn’t, but it isn’t one I will be recommending to anyone soon. It was a fairly quick read, despite the confusing chapters and it did have its moments of romance wonderfulness, but everything kept falling short of my expectations.

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