e-ARC, 224 pages
Release Date: October 31, 2017Published by: Swoon Reads
Read from: October 26- November 3, 2017Stand-aloneSource: NetgalleyFor fans of: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, YA, Romance, Holidaze
Charlotte Charlie Donovan knows exactly what she wants for Christmas: Teo Ortiz. He s the school s star athlete, in the National Honor Society, invited to every party, contributes to the school paper (where Charlie is co-editor), and is about to be featured as One to Watch in a teen magazine basically, he’s exactly the type of guy Charlie s meant to be with. The only problem he barely knows she exists.
But Charlie is determined to be Teo’s date to the Christmas ball. And she has a plan: To rig the paper s Secret Santa so that she can win his heart with five perfect gifts. But to do that she needs help. Enter J.D. Ortiz Teo s cousin, and possibly the most annoying person on the planet. He s easy going, laid back, unorganized, spontaneous, and makes a joke out of everything the exact opposite of Charlie (and Teo). But he s willing to provide insight into what Teo wants, so she s stuck with him.
Yet, the more time Charlie spends with J.D., the more she starts to wonder: Does she really know what, or rather who, she wants for Christmas?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Normally with Christmas books I would wait until Christmas time to read it, but for some reasson I just could not wait with this one. It was very cute and definitely put me in a more Christmasey mood.
Charlie is a perfectionist who wants things done her or no way. When she finally decides who she’s going to ask to a ball, she goes on a relentless “chase” to get him. But along the way she finds out that she’s not always as right as she thinks she is.
I really liked the writing style of this one. It was simple and easy to follow and that kept me glued to the pages. And all the second hand embarrassment and hilarious things that happen to the Charlie definitely make me want to read more by Petroff.
However, I did not like the main character. There were many times that I wanted to shake her. She made some terrible decisions that I think would have been an obvious bad decision in the real world. Such as, it was a plot device to keep it moving in the way the author wanted it to.
As for the romance, I was also upset that it took that long to discover what she did. I would have loved to see a bit more of them together. Seeing the two of them together was literally the last two pages. To me, it would have been better to see the two of them together and how they get along now. It just felt incomplete to me this way.
I did like the book, but there are just a couple things that I did not care for. But for the most part it was a fun, easy read. I don’t normally read books about Christmas so far from Christmas, but I loved the cover of this one and I couldn’t resist. I hope you all love it as much as I did!
Overall, I give this
