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annaonthepage's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, and Chronic illness
Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, and Vomit
What might be perceived as infidelity is, in my view, not quite that - the main relationship is fake. So while there's a worry about hurting people's feelings through lies of omission, it's not the typical infedility of cheating on a real monogamous relationship.scarlettereads's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
⭐️⭐️ Two stars and a whole lot of disappointment
Perhaps I expected too much from Make You Mine This Christmas because it was an Illumicrate Afterlight pick and I usually like those, or maybe I just expected it would be amazing because I love a good sapphic romance, but this book didn't live up to even my lowest expectation—which is basically just that I enjoy it and don't feel like I wasted my money or time.
Truthfully, this book was kind of doomed from the offset because the audio narrator chose a voice for Haf that made me think of Kimberley Nixon as her character Josie Jones making her infamous munge in Fresh Meat and how aggravatingly annoying Josie is (whether or not she's cooking munge).
While that didn't help the situation, the vocal resemblance isn't fully to blame. Haf was super annoying and obnoxious, which felt like an unfair representation of ASD people, as an autistic person myself. It was sort of nice however that Christopher, who Haf had never met before, went along with her scheming when in real life it's hard to find people who will do that. In saying that, if Christopher hadn't joined in on Haf's mischief there would be no book and I wouldn't have wasted my time and money.
My biggest gripe with this book is that besides their meet cute at the bookstore, Haf and Kit didn't have a scrap of chemistry. There was so little spark between them that I got bored. I had to rewind the audiobook on multiple occasions to listen to chunks again because I completely checked out. There was just nothing there.
Haf had more chemistry with Cupid the baby reindeer than with Kit. Perhaps if Kit has gotten herself stranded in the middle of a lake and was about to be attacked by a goose until she was valiantly saved by Haf I might have felt a shred of something between the two women, but as it stands I didn't. Such a big set-up with the recommendation of one of the most famous sapphic works of all time, only to lead to Haf and Kit falling in love in five days? Really? This is the best you've got? I'm a massive lesbian and I cannot imagine a situation in which I could know a woman for five measly days and proclaim her to be "the love of my life" in front of not only my dearest friend, but also the woman's brother, his ex-girlfriend and a whole train station full of strangers. Bizarre! Is my lesbian membership revoked now?
I could get into the whole ~fake dating a man you just met so his ex thinks he's moved on and that somehow spiralling into spending the Christmas period with his family which includes his sister who you just flirted with in a bookstore but you didn't know who each other was until meeting a second time~ because it's not worth it at this point. I'm tired of it. No more fake dating of this type. I'm calling it. We've had enough.
Overall, Make You Mine This Christmas was just not it. Don't get me wrong, the hEDS representation was good and we need more of that in fiction across the board and I'd have liked Haf's experience autism to have at least a little mention instead of being subtext, but the story overall was so ehhhh that I'll probably forget it in a few days, which I'm looking forward to.
I stuck with it because it's pride month, but knowing how it ends I would tell my past self to DNF and move onto something better.
Perhaps I expected too much from Make You Mine This Christmas because it was an Illumicrate Afterlight pick and I usually like those, or maybe I just expected it would be amazing because I love a good sapphic romance, but this book didn't live up to even my lowest expectation—which is basically just that I enjoy it and don't feel like I wasted my money or time.
Truthfully, this book was kind of doomed from the offset because the audio narrator chose a voice for Haf that made me think of Kimberley Nixon as her character Josie Jones making her infamous munge in Fresh Meat and how aggravatingly annoying Josie is (whether or not she's cooking munge).
While that didn't help the situation, the vocal resemblance isn't fully to blame. Haf was super annoying and obnoxious, which felt like an unfair representation of ASD people, as an autistic person myself. It was sort of nice however that Christopher, who Haf had never met before, went along with her scheming when in real life it's hard to find people who will do that. In saying that, if Christopher hadn't joined in on Haf's mischief there would be no book and I wouldn't have wasted my time and money.
My biggest gripe with this book is that besides their meet cute at the bookstore, Haf and Kit didn't have a scrap of chemistry. There was so little spark between them that I got bored. I had to rewind the audiobook on multiple occasions to listen to chunks again because I completely checked out. There was just nothing there.
Haf had more chemistry with Cupid the baby reindeer than with Kit. Perhaps if Kit has gotten herself stranded in the middle of a lake and was about to be attacked by a goose until she was valiantly saved by Haf I might have felt a shred of something between the two women, but as it stands I didn't. Such a big set-up with the recommendation of one of the most famous sapphic works of all time, only to lead to Haf and Kit falling in love in five days? Really? This is the best you've got? I'm a massive lesbian and I cannot imagine a situation in which I could know a woman for five measly days and proclaim her to be "the love of my life" in front of not only my dearest friend, but also the woman's brother, his ex-girlfriend and a whole train station full of strangers. Bizarre! Is my lesbian membership revoked now?
I could get into the whole ~fake dating a man you just met so his ex thinks he's moved on and that somehow spiralling into spending the Christmas period with his family which includes his sister who you just flirted with in a bookstore but you didn't know who each other was until meeting a second time~ because it's not worth it at this point. I'm tired of it. No more fake dating of this type. I'm calling it. We've had enough.
Overall, Make You Mine This Christmas was just not it. Don't get me wrong, the hEDS representation was good and we need more of that in fiction across the board and I'd have liked Haf's experience autism to have at least a little mention instead of being subtext, but the story overall was so ehhhh that I'll probably forget it in a few days, which I'm looking forward to.
I stuck with it because it's pride month, but knowing how it ends I would tell my past self to DNF and move onto something better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
fuguballoon's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I read the German translation for language practice, and I highly recommend it (in whole or in part) for that purpose. The author's colloquial style and dialogue were perfect for a B2+ reader: I could always understand what was going on and didn't have to look up every other word, but still picked up plenty of vocabulary. The humor absolutely comes through in translation, which is a plus.
On the story side, this book was fine. It oscillates between being fun/entertaining versus contrived/drawn out. It could have been 1/4 shorter, and better for it. I'm all for cheesiness, but the wildreindeer chase, the ring , and the Esther nonsense were tedious and unnecessary. Toward the end, every time I thought we were about to fade to black, there was another scene. And another scene.
I probably wouldn't recommend this book to a friend because of the storytelling issues in the second half. Also, while most of the inclusivity rang true for me, Kit's EDS seemed to disappear at a few moments when it would have been inconvenient for the plot. It bugged me a little as a disabled reader because I was otherwise mostly happy with the representation (like Kit's very realistic feelings about her workplace).
On the story side, this book was fine. It oscillates between being fun/entertaining versus contrived/drawn out. It could have been 1/4 shorter, and better for it. I'm all for cheesiness, but the wild
I probably wouldn't recommend this book to a friend because of the storytelling issues in the second half. Also, while most of the inclusivity rang true for me, Kit's EDS seemed to disappear at a few moments when it would have been inconvenient for the plot. It bugged me a little as a disabled reader because I was otherwise mostly happy with the representation (like Kit's very realistic feelings about her workplace).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, and Alcohol
kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Autistic coded (according to author’s note) and fat FMC
FMC with chronic illness (hEDS)
bisexual and lesbian main characters
non-binary side character
FMC with chronic illness (hEDS)
bisexual and lesbian main characters
non-binary side character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content
lornar's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
One sexual scene which is quite expliciterisedstraeh's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
A diverse af book that is honest and genuine. It's not tokenism, it's representation. I LOVE IT!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
penandpages's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, and Sexual content
tranzkafka's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
i really enjoyed this! despite reading it in july, i got really into it - the characters were the real strength of this. i grew to love haf and was really rooting for her, and the side characters were equally strong. ambrose has my whole heart and i adored how there was casual disabled/nonbinary/fat rep that felt authentic and not tokenistic. also got quite emotional reading the author's note that mentioned how haf was intended to be written with undiagnosed autism/dyspraxia, and i really related to haf's confusion about her place in the world (this is not explicitly discussed on page, reflecting the author's experience of living as an undiagnosed adult). also loved how it was a very hallmark-y romance but set in the UK, so i was able to relate to the Christmas traditions more than i normally can in the hallmark christmas romances i love and actually feel seen as a queer person in the traditional family Christmas environment. also there were a lot of great references to contemporary pop culture that made the characters feel more relatable in their speech.
what detracts from this being a 5 star read for me is that the last quarter is quite chaotic - the writing style is very compelling and i couldn't put it down but this meant everything was happening very quickly and while i liked how the characters developed emotionally and how the story resolved by the end, i felt like this conclusion and development was a bit rushed.
i really enjoyed this! despite reading it in july, i got really into it - the characters were the real strength of this. i grew to love haf and was really rooting for her, and the side characters were equally strong. ambrose has my whole heart and i adored how there was casual disabled/nonbinary/fat rep that felt authentic and not tokenistic. also got quite emotional reading the author's note that mentioned how haf was intended to be written with undiagnosed autism/dyspraxia, and i really related to haf's confusion about her place in the world (this is not explicitly discussed on page, reflecting the author's experience of living as an undiagnosed adult). also loved how it was a very hallmark-y romance but set in the UK, so i was able to relate to the Christmas traditions more than i normally can in the hallmark christmas romances i love and actually feel seen as a queer person in the traditional family Christmas environment. also there were a lot of great references to contemporary pop culture that made the characters feel more relatable in their speech.
what detracts from this being a 5 star read for me is that the last quarter is quite chaotic - the writing style is very compelling and i couldn't put it down but this meant everything was happening very quickly and while i liked how the characters developed emotionally and how the story resolved by the end, i felt like this conclusion and development was a bit rushed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism
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