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bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
"To Haf Hughes, the best things about Christmas, in ascending order, are: all-you-can-eat mince pies, novelty jumpers, the fact you have a licence to be permanently too full and slightly pissed for the duration, and, most importantly, that there’s no need to be a functioning person."
➽ Make You Mine This Christmas was such a funny, cute festive Romance!! It follows Haf, who ends up accidentally fake-dating Christopher by kissing him in front of his ex-girlfriend. I loved the hilarious shenanigans from the very beginning, as Haf just got herself into the most ridiculous situations. Instead of backing out, she ends up accompanying Christopher to his parent's home for Christmas, because she has no plans of her own. There, she ends up falling for his sister, which would be okay ... only she doesn't know that Haf and Christopher aren't an actual couple. This starts off a lot of chaos and I loved the story because it was so funny!
➽ Haf is an absolute delight and I loved her! She's trapped in an unfulfilling job and barely has her life together (relatable), so she doesn't feel like a proper adult yet. Her last boyfriend ditched her and immediately moved on to someone more accomplished, so Haf's still struggling. She's currently living with her best friend but would have had to spend Christmas alone if it wasn't for Christopher. Haf's parents are taking a vacation over Christmas, so she decides that going along with the fake dating is much better!
➽ I loved Haf and Christopher's friendship! There's no love triangle, as Haf has purely platonic feelings for Christopher. It was nice to see them immediately hit it off at the party and continue their banter afterwards. Both of them become fast friends and that was just what they needed. Haf is already protective of Christopher, as his family, doesn't really understand how unhappy he is at his job and how he only goes along with it to make them happy. Haf's still determined to play the perfect girlfriend to help him out! The actual romance was a bit messy because Kit is Christopher's sister, but Haf and her were cute together! Kit deals with chronic pain and I liked how that was explored as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Chronic illness
Minor: Homophobia and Infidelity
greenmind's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I wanted to like this, I wanted to get butterflies and feel excited for the romance but this is sadly a miss for me. Not helped by the depiction of her flatmate who I really could not warm to - a nasty, bossy, self-absorbed “cool-person” vaguely named after a brand of custard.
I get that there’s some excitement about disability rep or body positive rep but it’s mostly skin-deep here. Nice, but not the focus - which is supposedly the romance… but it’s so sparse that it’s much more a Christmas vibe/trope-filled entertainment with the romance as an afterthought. If that’s what you want - that’s what this is and you’ll have a good time.
Some scenes are wickedly long - (baking a gingerbread house) and Haf feels passive in the prose and forceful in her dialogue, so she jars as a main witness to the action.
It’s nice to see some bisexual rep, but be aware the author uses the word “queer” as a neutral descriptor - if this word is a trigger for you personally then be aware.
I was hoping for more, but I did enjoy parts of this story and the Christmasy theme.
I get that there’s some excitement about disability rep or body positive rep but it’s mostly skin-deep here. Nice, but not the focus - which is supposedly the romance… but it’s so sparse that it’s much more a Christmas vibe/trope-filled entertainment with the romance as an afterthought. If that’s what you want - that’s what this is and you’ll have a good time.
Some scenes are wickedly long - (baking a gingerbread house) and Haf feels passive in the prose and forceful in her dialogue, so she jars as a main witness to the action.
It’s nice to see some bisexual rep, but be aware the author uses the word “queer” as a neutral descriptor - if this word is a trigger for you personally then be aware.
I was hoping for more, but I did enjoy parts of this story and the Christmasy theme.
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia
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