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A review by sikonat
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett
2.0
2.5 stars
What happens if one day you wake up hungover only to discover you're married to someone you've crushed on for over a decade?
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett follows the journey (with time jumps into the past), charting Evie and Dan's mutal crush, then back to present day as they try and fight their feelings post-nuptials.
Eight years previously Evie and her best friend's older brother Dan made a Christmas pact under the mistletoe tree to get married if they were both single when Evie was 30. Its not until they party in Las Vegas that they realise what they've done and vow to annul the marriage and go back to normal.
Told in a dual POV, the story jumps between the intervening eight years and present day, charting the course of Evie and Dan's growing, but unsaid crush on each other. I liked the use of going between Evie and Dan as something different.
However, while I really liked the premise of the book there are a few things that didn't work for me hence my rating.
At times I felt this story dragged. I think there were sometimes too many extra story lines in the way of what we know will be the inevitable conclusion.
But the bit that made me take off half a star (and round to 2 stars as the official rating vs my normal 3 stars but write 2.5 stars) - is the addition of an extra complication from Dan's recent past into the plotline. I absolutely detest this trope, and this was something used similarly in Zara Stoneley's The Hot Desk (please UK writers, strop using this trope thats more akin to the more poorly written American romance novels which love that sort of trope). It did nothing to serve the story and I always find it a lazy way to keep the would be lovers apart just a bit more.
Overall this is a lovely slow-burn Christmas rom com, but it could've been better if it removed the above extra plot point and tightened up just a bit better.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley.
What happens if one day you wake up hungover only to discover you're married to someone you've crushed on for over a decade?
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett follows the journey (with time jumps into the past), charting Evie and Dan's mutal crush, then back to present day as they try and fight their feelings post-nuptials.
Eight years previously Evie and her best friend's older brother Dan made a Christmas pact under the mistletoe tree to get married if they were both single when Evie was 30. Its not until they party in Las Vegas that they realise what they've done and vow to annul the marriage and go back to normal.
Told in a dual POV, the story jumps between the intervening eight years and present day, charting the course of Evie and Dan's growing, but unsaid crush on each other. I liked the use of going between Evie and Dan as something different.
However, while I really liked the premise of the book there are a few things that didn't work for me hence my rating.
At times I felt this story dragged. I think there were sometimes too many extra story lines in the way of what we know will be the inevitable conclusion.
But the bit that made me take off half a star (and round to 2 stars as the official rating vs my normal 3 stars but write 2.5 stars) - is the addition of an extra complication from Dan's recent past into the plotline. I absolutely detest this trope, and this was something used similarly in Zara Stoneley's The Hot Desk (please UK writers, strop using this trope thats more akin to the more poorly written American romance novels which love that sort of trope). It did nothing to serve the story and I always find it a lazy way to keep the would be lovers apart just a bit more.
Overall this is a lovely slow-burn Christmas rom com, but it could've been better if it removed the above extra plot point and tightened up just a bit better.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley.