*I was given an ARC of Make the Season Bright in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group and Ashley Herring Blake for my copy of the book*
Synopsis:
It’s been five years since Charlotte Donovan was ditched at the altar by her ex-fiancée, and she’s doing more than okay. Sure, her single mother never checks in, but she has her strings ensemble, the Rosalind Quartet, and her life in New York is a dream come true. As the holidays draw near, her ensemble mate Sloane persuades Charlotte and the rest of the quartet to spend Christmas with her family in Colorado—it is much cozier and quieter than Manhattan, and it would guarantee more practice time for the quartet’s upcoming tour. But when Charlotte arrives, she discovers that Sloane’s sister Adele also brought a friend home—and that friend is none other than her ex, Brighton.
All Brighton Fairbrook wanted was to have the holliest, jolliest Christmas—and try to forget that her band kicked her out. But instead, she’s stuck pretending like she and her ex are strangers—which proves to be difficult when Sloane and Adele’s mom signs them all up for a series of Christmas dating events. Charlotte and Brighton are soon entrenched in horseback riding and cookie decorating, but Charlotte still won’t talk to her. Brighton can hardly blame her after what she did. After a few days, however, things start to slip through. Memories. Music. The way they used to play together—Brighton on guitar, Charlotte on her violin—and it all feels painfully familiar. But it’s all in the past and nothing can melt the ice in their hearts…right?
Review:
At the time of writing this review (November 16th) it’s been two days since I finished Make the Season Bright. I’m still not sure what I thought of it. The concept sounded right up my street but it wasn’t executed quite as well as I’d hoped.
Charlotte and Brighton had zero chemistry. It’s easier to make relationships believable in books because you’re writing the chemistry. You’re not relying on actors to make it believable. But for some reason I just couldn’t imagine them being together. Even the ‘spicier’ scenes felt forced and I feel like they were only in this book to try and make you think this relationship works. It was such a let down. I’m yet to find a sapphic festive romance with a couple I like.
I found it so hard to get into Make the Season Bright. The pace was so slow and the first half of the book really dragged. The second half wasn’t really much better. But by that point actual events were happening so it at least felt like you were getting somewhere.
One thing I did like were the flashback scenes as they gave some insight into Charlotte and Brighton’s relationship. However, as I didn’t like them together, I think these worked better from a friendship point of view. Which most of them were. The one set on their wedding day was probably the best as it gave you the most insight into their actual romantic relationship. Finally giving you a reason for why it didn’t work out.
I also thought the characters were pretty complex (even though I hated Charlotte) and the LGBTQIA+ representation was great. Pretty much every character in Make the Season Bright was queer in some way which was really nice. Especially the aromantic representation, that’s not one you see very often.
I’m going to leave my review here as anything else I’d have to say would be negative and there’s enough of that already. My last qualm with this book would be it lack of festivity. I didn’t get Christmas vibes at all. This could have been set at any time of the year and nothing would change.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: The 12 Books of Christmas: Under the Mistletoe with You by Lizzie Huxley-Jones