*I was given an ARC of We Three Kings in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Storm Publishing and Kristen Bailey for my copy of the book.*

Synopsis:

Maggie Field was looking forward to a solo Christmas in her cosy London flat – before her three workmates decided to liven things up for her.

Maggie loves her job as head of IT at a financial firm, and her three geeky but lovable work buddies. And when they invite her to stay with each of them for the holidays, she can’t resist the chance to get to know them better.

But then her boss tells her she has to make one of her beloved team redundant, and Maggie is distraught. Frank’s work is his world, Jasper’s sarcastic humour is everything, and Leo…well, he’s talented, professional, confusingly attractive, dependable, and funny… Maggie definitely doesn’t want to lose him.

With her career and her heart on the line, Maggie sets off on the Christmas adventure of a lifetime, from playing fake girlfriend at a lavish wedding, to rescuing baby foxes on a posh country estate, to chasing a very confused donkey on Christmas Day in the Lake District. She can’t ignore the sparks between her and Leo – but she also can’t avoid her dilemma.

Can she find a way to keep her work family together, and maybe even find true love under the mistletoe?

Review:

As of October, when I read this, We Three Kings has been my favourite festive read so far. The narrative style felt really fresh and the comedy elements were natural. Maggie was a genuinely funny character and that made her super likeable.

Speaking of Maggie being funny, I don’t usually include quotes in ARC reviews as they could be taken out as this isn’t the final version of the book, but Maggie says the funniest thing when she sees the house Jasper grew up in. “Their house has wings. Do you know what I own that has wings? Sanitary towels.” I literally laughed out loud at this, which is rare for me to do with a book. I loved that Maggie would talk directly to the reader as it made the story feel more personal and made the comedy so effortless.

There are so many hilarious moments in this book that I couldn’t talk about them all without this review being thousands of words long. Maggie is a stronger woman than I because I would have died of embarrassment more than once if I went through some of the antics she did. Her hiding behind the curtain when people came into her room, pretending to be a bird so they wouldn’t know she was there and then having to reveal herself gave me second hand embarrassment in the best possible way. I was cringing and laughing the whole time. 

I adored all four of the main characters. They had such a wonderful dynamic together and it gave me strong The IT Crowd vibes – which I love. If I had to pick, I’d say Frank was my favourite because he had the most development. He starts out very shy and clueless and while that doesn’t change too much, he becomes much more confident. Also, he has some very funny lines that I can’t mention for spoiler reasons.

Usually the romance is the part of these books I like the most, however, the friendships were way more special to me. You already know they’re good friends at the start of the book, but you see friendships develop into family. 

Reading this in October meant I wasn’t feeling too festive, however, there’s a lot of Christmassy events throughout We Three Kings. Christmas Day at Leo’s in particular was heartwarming as it reminded me of childhood Christmasses. I think if I’d read this in December I would have felt off the charts festive.

We Three Kings was my first book from Kristen Bailey and it won’t be my last. The effortless comedy and wild antics are something I need more of in my life.

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