I don’t usually like to post negative content this time of year, other than my scathing reviews of bad books, but I actually have a decent number of popular (rating of more than 3.5/5) festive books I really didn’t like or just straight up hated.
This Christmas in Paris by Sophie Claire
It’s so difficult to enjoy a book when you find the main characters insufferable with no redeeming qualities. Carys tried to completely take over the business she was ‘babysitting’ for a few months, she tried to fire people and she made massive changes to its appearance. Which is definitely a step too far. Imagine you hire someone to house sit while you go on holiday and you return to a completely different looking house. She gets rid of the café’s original furniture and paints the inside and outside of the building a different colour. Absolutely wild.
Don’t even get me started on how entitled Mat was. He does a few good deeds in this book, looking after elderly neighbour is the only one I can think of right now. But my god is he obnoxious.
This is an exact quote from my review of this book and I think it’s a huge negative for a book with ‘Christmas’ in the title. It took 269 pages (over halfway through) for the word Christmas to be said. I’m not entirely sure why this is called This Christmas in Paris, the majority of the book takes place in September and October. When you finally get to December, it’s over in less than 30 pages, which is a shame. Christmas had no real effect on what was happening in the story so I really don’t think this should have been categorised as a festive romance.
Synopsis: What could be more magical than Christmas in Paris?
When Carys is offered the chance to run a little French café, she leaps at the chance to discover an exciting city where she can dream big.
Meanwhile, struggling journalist Mat is living in the City of Love – but he’s never found romance himself.
Then, a chance encounter changes everything, and it feels like the start of something wonderful. But Carys and Mat are both keeping secrets . . .
Can they open their hearts to one another – and maybe even find love, just in time for Christmas?
Maybe This Christmas by Jill Steeples
I don’t even want to think about the contents of this book to write this post. It was truly awful. So bad that I need to include parts of my original review because I feel like I captured my grossed out and annoyed mood towards this book so well.
The relationship between Beth and Rocco is questionable from pretty much the very beginning. Around halfway through the book, Beth is ill and Rocco gives her a “chaste, well-intentioned get-well kiss from a boss to his employee.” This is not a real thing, when has this ever been a thing? It probably shouldn’t annoy me as much as it does, but Beth was off her face on medication and it seemed a bit predatory to me.
Also, the amount of toxicity in this book is completely baffling. Beth basically praises and idolises Rocco and Pandora’s clearly toxic relationship. She talks about how she never had huge fights with her partner and maybe these fights are what make a relationship passionate. Not exactly a good message to be sending to people.
There’s also a distinct lack of festive events in a book that has Christmas in the title. I’m noticing this happen more and more with these types of books and it’s obvious they’ve slapped Christmas in the title just to sell more copies. How disappointing.
Synopsis: When Beth Brown loses her job and her boyfriend in the space of twenty-four hours, she thinks life can’t get any worse. That’s until she finds herself in the depths of the English countryside working for chef, Rocco di Castri. Not only does she have to deal with his legendary moods, but she’s also expected to get his chaotic schedule and workload in check, all while she’s nursing a broken heart.
It’s not long before Rocco’s idyllic home starts to work its magic and soon she sees a softer side to her boss too. And as the festive season approaches, Beth dares to look forward to everything the perfect country Christmas has to offer – and perhaps some romance of her own. Until news of an unexpected proposal threatens to put pay to all Beth’s plans. Will Beth get her happily-ever-after? Maybe, this Christmas…
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