A review by fuguballoon
Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones

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 wild
reindeer
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).
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