Reviews

Faking Under the Mistletoe by Ashley Shepherd

milica's review against another edition

4.0

i need ashley shepherd to write at least 10 of these. asherolivia had me kicking my feet and twirling my hair for the third time

harper_hopkins's review against another edition

4.0

4.5

savanaschubert's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

Cute and had some important topics but nothing i haven’t read before????

balyeska's review

5.0

i don't think i'll ever love any other heroine as much as i loved Olivia. she's very much like me and i love reading characters that i can relate easily
i want to give both Asher and Olivia big hugs ❤️

vianadear's review

5.0

and the award for best holiday romcom goes to....
i cannot begin to describe how much i loved this. barby never stop recommending books to me pls and thank u

romcommer's review

3.0

Very cute Christmassy read i was sooo confused with willa and Anna at first I didn’t get the mother - daughter relationship.
I also think that the Levi situation was weird and confusing
What happens to his father and brothers
I was very taken with wmc at first and almost made me cry sometimes ... I’m glad she gets her happy ending

jazmin's review

4.0

I think he caught The Feelings too. They’re very contagious.

I will never shy away from a fake-dating to oops-I-fell-in-love book, especially not one that’s holiday-themed. I am glad to say that that choice was the right one, because wow. I adored this book’s writing style, and there’s a long list of positives to follow.

As usual, let’s start off with my favourite topic: characters. Olivia, the protagonist, was fun and honestly, a huge breath of fresh air. I loved how she somehow managed to embody both the highs and lows of the holidays, and I think I could read an infinite number of novels from her perspective and never get bored. I mean, I think that almost every word that came out of her mouth had me laughing immediately.

Men have been disappointing women for centuries. And if I’m going to throw myself in front of a train, it’s not going to be because of a man. It’ll be because the government found my blog about the extraterrestrials.

Before I go into the deeper stuff, let me say that the Christmas and holidays parts of this book were so good! The many events planned by Olivia fit so well into the storyline, and I started looking forward to reading her frequent emails to the staff. I was honestly surprised by how well it worked!

This book surprised me on so many other levels as well, one of them being the serious topics it dealt with. Until now, the Christmas themed books that I’ve read have been pure fluff, and I don’t think I’ll be able to ever go back because what’s a better holiday gift than reading about characters simultaneously wearing ugly Christmas sweaters and taking down the patriarchy? Nothing, that’s what.

Keeping on topic with the feminist themes in this book (which is something that will consistently boost a book’s rating from me), this book passed the Bechdel test with flying colours. The test is basically a way to analyze the representation of women in fiction, by asking two questions. One, does the media in question name two different women (as in actually mention their names), and two, does it feature a conversation between two women about something other than a man?

I was constantly thinking about the test while reading this book because it went against so many normalized stereotypes that exist solely to bring down the way society sees women. You know how if there’s ever an ex-girlfriend in a movie or book they’re almost certainly “evil” or planning to ruin something? And almost definitely going to end up being shamed and villainized? Well, guess what? In this book, the ex was actually friends with the main character! I know! I kept expecting her to turn into the wicked witch at the worst given moment, but it never happened! And wow, I really loved that. It might seem trivial, but believe me, it matters. The way women are portrayed will always matter, right up until the day sexism no longer exists, because it directly impacts the way we think.

I feel it bubbling deep inside of me, brewing long before I was old enough to realize what it was. Always passive. Always polite. An uncomfortable giggle and a quick glance around the room. It was an unwanted kiss on the playground at eight years old. It was a bra snap in seventh grade. A boob graze in eighth. It was a tongue shoved down my throat during a dare. A cat call at fourteen. A frat house of guys calling me a slut. A boss who asks me to show a little more skin. It’s Levi Booker pushing me into a couch. It’s fifteen years of silence. I’m done being passive and polite. I’m tired of being quiet.

So all that to say, I loved the way certain issues were tackled by this book.

Now let’s talk about the actual romance, because despite the fact that my whole rant might have delayed this part of the review, this was, after all, a romance novel.

While I enjoyed it, I do think some elements could have been better written. Particularly, the way the fake-dating and sort of rivals-to-lovers tropes were used. I just didn’t really get why this was described as a book including those tropes when they were barely utilized? They felt more like a way to add conflict to stop the characters from getting together than something that actually affected the real plot. And it just got ridiculous when they considered themselves to be “fake-dating” even when no one was there to see? I mean… doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose? Maybe this is just me projecting my continuity-error type issues onto this book but it still bothered me.

Anyway, I have to end on a positive note because I did really love this book, so let me say that as much as the reasoning behind the romance confused me, it was actually very wholesome and fun to read about! Olivia and Asher were a great couple.

*4.5

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aleehfdz's review

5.0

Buscaba un chick flick se navidad y me encontré con un gran libro, que resultó ser feminista y que trata de manera excelente el tema del abuso sexual, las víctimas y sobre todo quienes lo cubren. Me encantó

darlingqod's review

4.0

12/27/21 reread: i'm glad i picked this up again. provided great comfort during a fairly rocky time

•~•~•

1st read:

i've been wanting to read this for a month and i was not disappointed.

she has a good 2 inches on me, but i would like to keep olivia in my pocket, thank you very much.

this is such a cute read! i miss christmas now because of this. if i could lie down on the floor and roll around screaming of smite, i would have.

anyway, one thing i liked in particular about this novel is how gradually the plot progressed. i think it was done well and the characters fleshed themselves out well through the circumstances of the plot.

it's not often you encounter topics like sexual harassment in romances like this and i thought it was tackled well.

have i mentioned olivia's a precious little character? (asher too. i think he developed well.)

on for a romance frenzy again.

callowayswift's review

5.0

I started and finished this book on the same day and I absolutely loved everything about it. The constant banter at the beginning was awesome but the Asher's soft side towards the end was the best. Olivia's character is so great, she's confident, funny, kind, thoughtful, strong and lovely. It was an amazing book to end this decade with.