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atamano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, and War
kelseyfontaine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, and Infidelity
Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
vj_thompson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Grief
dani_reis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Minor: Death and Infidelity
Catfishingreadingwithmeredith's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Previous relationship of a character was infidelity that is retold with mild details, one character is really focused on her body and loosing weight for a guy, one fade to black scene with mild innuendo, if there was any language I didn’t really notice it enough to mark it as mildcameronestridge208's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Minor: Infidelity
theespressoedition's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
While the story itself was cute in concept, the execution fell a bit flat for me.
First of all, the romance was a heavy dose of insta-love and while the first 85% of the book kept it light and sweet, there was one scene at the end that confused me with its more provocative language. It felt inconsistent.
Next came the characters. While some of them were really cute (like the candy shop owner and the elderly gentleman the FMC befriends), the others were really bizarre. I especially disliked that one of the storylines involved a young woman who is openly trying to starve herself to lose weight because she lied about herself on the internet to her long-distance boyfriend who she's never met and wants to be engaged to by Christmas. UMMM??? Talk about a giant red flag moment here.
All-in-all, I wouldn't pick up this book again. There were some cute parts of the story, but I really didn't enjoy it very much at all.
Graphic: Eating disorder and Dysphoria
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
larareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Fatphobia
gem114's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was my first Mary Kay Andrews book, and I will definitely read her again.
Moderate: Death
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, and Death of parent
booksbytheglass's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
it was a quick read that I binged in about 3 hours (just around 200 pages) & I felt so warm and cozy inside when I was done!
ivy moves to a small town in north carolina where she buys an old christmas farm fixer upper and intends to spend the holidays by herself with home renovations. except, the town will not let her do just that. between finding an old santa suit that may or may not be magical, reading old letters from kids, meeting old and new neighbors, ivy soon discovers that this town is magical all on its own.
sure, there were some parts that I was internally cringing, but would it be a hallmark-y romance without that? as someone who works in marketing, those aspects were a little off the mark, especially when she build a website from scratch in a few hours. like honey, you’re not that good.
BUT I loved ezra and phoebe and lawrence and all of the characters in this town that made ivy feel like one of them. it was such a fun festive read & I would recommend it to anyone looking for just that!
rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: napa valley cabernet sauvignon
Minor: Infidelity