*I was given an ARC of Any Girl But You in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Storm Publishing and Dana Hawkins for my copy of the book*

Synopsis:

Quinn Lee is a walking disaster with perfect hair, zero filter, and an alarming caffeine addiction who’s just ploughed her life savings into rescuing her family’s failing Christmas tree farm. She’s got one shot to pull off a Christmas miracle, so when an important promotional cookie order goes wrong, it understandably leads to a spectacular meltdown in front of cute-as-a-button bakery owner, Zoey.

Zoey bakes like an angel, thinks “drat” is a swear word, and is wholly unprepared for the opinionated, red-headed hurricane who storms into her shop competing for “world’s worst customer”. But she’s equally unprepared to discover that you don’t have to like someone to find them irresistible.

When both their businesses are threatened, a reluctant partnership becomes their only solution. But somewhere between Zoey’s killer dance moves and Quinn’s Chuck Norris puns, incompatible starts looking a lot like inevitable. As Christmas approaches, can these polar opposites navigate unexpected feelings, and the terrifying possibility that sometimes the person you clash with most is exactly the one you need?

Review:

Any Girl But You was my most anticipated festive romance of 2025. You don’t come across queer festive romances very often so I was excited for this one. It was what I would call ‘an OK read’. It’s not my favourite festive romance of all time but it also isn’t my least favourite. I am only giving it 2/5 stars though. It was quite a slog to get through and I didn’t really like any of the characters.

My biggest issue with this book was the lack of festive feeling. The cover, which is gorgeous, is super Christmassy. I thought that because Quinn owns a Christmas tree farm, this would be really festive, but that wasn’t the case. There were some moments that were festive: creating decorations, Christmas day itself. But the Christmas vibes left me wanting.

The most important question that needs to be asked about Any Girl But You is, is this book sponsored by Amazon or something? The amount of times they mention using an Alexa is ridiculous. Secondly, the author really personifies it: “As the chatter sounds below, and Alexa booms holiday music, Zoey and I are on ladders…”. It’s actually a little weird. I’ve never referred to an Alexa as just Alexa (like it’s a person), probably because I don’t have one, but still. Weird. 

Something else that’s weird is seeing “mate” used in a contemporary romance was extremely startling. What a weird choice for this type of book. You literally could have just said “potential partner” or “potential girlfriend” but no, mate is what you went with. It’s used a few times throughout the whole book and I found it extremely weird every time. There’s something creepy about it.

So many questionable things are said in Any Girl But You but I think Frankie, Quinn’s sister, takes the prize for worst thing said. “I’ll be DD so you can all get sh*t-faced and I can take advantage of my girlfriend.” Even if this is a joke, it’s disgusting.

I wanted to like Zoey and Quinn together but their first meeting ruined that completely. Quinn was so rude to Zoey and I really hate rude people, especially in a retail/hospitality setting. However, saying that, if they hated each other for just a little longer, it would have made the passion in their relationship make more sense. The book itself makes a joke about lesbians moving quickly in relationships.

Although was their relationship quick? I’m not sure. There are a lot of time jumps and I couldn’t keep up with them. The book starts during the summer and you don’t get to winter until the end (hence why this book isn’t Christmassy). I don’t remember if these jumps are stated in the chapter heads or not, but I’m guessing not.

I want to say something positive about Any Girl But You, but I’m struggling to think of anything. I guess I really liked the bakery and Christmas tree farm settings but I don’t think they were used to their full potential.

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Like this post? Why not read this one too: The Best Of: Festive Reads #5