The 12 Books of Christmas: Single All the Way by Portia MacIntosh

*I was given a copy of Single All The Way in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Boldwood Books and Portia MacIntosh*

Synopsis:

Will Dani find love this Christmas? Or will she be Single All The Way…?

When Dani’s boyfriend (and boss!) dumps her for a younger model, the only silver lining she can see is to be able to spend Christmas at home with her family after years away.

Determined to surprise them, Dani turns up unannounced in her hometown, excited to see that the festive season in Marram Bay is in full swing with Christmas lights twinkling on every corner. But disaster strikes when she finds her parents’ house is empty and they appear to have gone away on holiday!

Christmas alone and single is not ideal, and when Dani starts bumping into old friends, neighbours and potential love interests, she can’t face telling them the truth. So in a panic she claims to be home to throw a Christmas party for the whole town – easier said than done with 12 days to go before Christmas…

As the fake party approaches, little does Dani know that there may be someone there under the mistletoe for her, if she can just let her guard down and see them…

Review:

Single All The Way was my first festive read of 2022 and it was a great one to start with. This was also my first Portia MacIntosh book and it for sure won’t be my last. The whole way through the story was easy going and I liked how laid back everything was, which sounds bad but trust me it’s not. I got through the book pretty quickly considering I read it way out of the festive season.

Dani, our main character, was secretly quite funny. I love that she would sometimes make her ex(who she unfortunately still works for) a coffee with a random used spoon from the communal sink. That’s a level of petty I am completely on board with. Unfortunately outside of this, she was a complete pushover, but don’t worry she won’t remain this way forever.

Her main flaw was that she was quite a hypocrite at times. She started out hating Rex and his serial dating ways but suddenly changed her tune when he started taking notice of her. This didn’t make me dislike her character but it’s that classic trope of hating the popular boy until he notices you, the invisible shy girl.

Sadly, this made the story very predictable, but often I don’t mind that with romances. I like knowing there will be a happy ending.

The chemistry between the two of them, when they were ‘fake dating’, was so good. They had a lot of banter and you could slowly see them opening up to each other.

Watching Dani scramble to try and organise this fake party was both hilarious but cringeworthy. Having her repeatedly lie to everyone got a bit boring after a while and I was secretly hoping she would let someone in on the secret so they could work together. Potentially Rex as that would have been a way to bring them together.

There was a sprinkling of Home Aloneness in this story which I loved. There were quite a few references throughout and as that is one of my favourite Christmas films it made certain areas of the story have a nostalgic feel to them. Obviously, it’s not exactly the same as this isn’t a child left alone for days, but the essence of it is there.

If you’re looking for a fun festive romance then you should definitely check out Single All The Way.