*I was given a copy of The Perfect Christmas Village in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Aria and Bella Osborne*

Synopsis:

When Christmas-hating Sam moves to Holly Cross, he thinks he’s found the perfect home, until he discovers that, each year, Holly Cross transforms into the most Christmassy village in the whole country…

Blythe is just one sale away from being Real Estate Agent of the Month, so she twists the truth to sell a home to city boy Sam, who is looking for the perfect house in the perfect location. Little does he know he’s just bought a cottage in the middle of the most Christmassy village in the country. And if there’s one thing Sam loathes, it’s Christmas.

Sam’s arrival puts Holly Cross’s chance to win the title of Britain’s Most Perfect Christmas Village now in jeopardy, and the villagers are soon up in arms. Meanwhile, Sam is in his own personal hell surrounded by fairy lights and everyone is looking to Blythe to fix things.

But as the festive season looms, maybe there’s more than just Christmas in Holly Cross for Sam to fall in love with…

Review:

The Perfect Christmas Village was a pretty sweet read that had a heartwarming small town with a wonderfully tight-knit community. The ‘townies’ were definitely the best characters and are what made this read enjoyable for me. Sadly, that’s where my enjoyment ends.

Unfortunately, the festive feeling just wasn’t there for me. I think because this book began at the start of the year, meaning it covered more holidays than just Christmas, by time we got to Christmas I was underwhelmed. You spend over 70% of the book building up to December and that’s around the time I’d expect our main characters to get together and we’re creeping closer to Christmas. But no. Christmas happens in just one short chapter and it was very sweet though.

I understood the need for the book to begin earlier as there needed to be time for certain stories to play out, but I did find the beginning a little difficult to get through. I was confused as to why a book called The Perfect Christmas Village was spending so much time outside of the festive season. It makes sense now, but when you begin the book and it’s currently April (or whenever it started) you do have some questions. 

Even after finishing the book, I’m not sold on the romance between Blythe and Sam. Too much time was spent having little spats and not enough time was spent with them actually getting to know each other. After one event Sam invites her back for coffee and out of nowhere he’s asking her to sleep with him. It’s obvious this is where the book was going, but the change in mood was drastic. 

I was way more invested in Vicky and Owen, even if I didn’t like her character that much. This being the fact that she constantly objectifies Sam and Owen. There’s finding them attractive and then there’s constantly making crude comments. I felt like this brought the tone down and stopped this from being a clean romance. Which is fine, I’m not prudish but it was so out of place. 

I love that Vicky and Owen had their first kiss at 17 after a Captain America film – literally what happened with my boyfriend and me, we’ve been together for over 7 and a half years now. 

This wasn’t a bad read in the slightest, I had a pretty good time reading it, but the fact that it didn’t deliver on the festivities or romance is a big deal for me. 

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