e-ALC, 09:16:19
Narrated by: Lee Osorio & Mark Sanderlin
Release Date: September 30, 2025
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: December 11-12, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received this ALC free from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Animal Death, Bullying, Chronic Illness, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual Content, Cursing, Death
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ+ (Gay), Adult, Audio, Holidaze, Magical Realism, Own VoicesA Christmas romance for Barbie fans who wished Ken and Allan got their own love story.
Henry Aster swears he is unlucky when it comes to love. He thought he’d finally found The One, but a sudden break-up has left him hopeless right before the holiday season.
Facing another family Christmas alone, Henry makes a wish for “The Perfect Man.” The next morning, when he arrives at the Jersey Shore vintage shop he manages, he finds one of the male display mannequins has sprung to life and entirely wrecked the place.
The magicked man is gorgeous, of course, but he comes with a Cinderella-style If he doesn’t experience true, human love before the midnight chime on New Year’s Eve, he will turn back into a mannequin for good.
Now Henry doesn’t have to show up to family Christmas alone. The catch? This new man—self-named Aidan Smith—knows nothing about being a human. Henry has one month to teach Aidan how to be a functioning person in the modern world and the swoony boyfriend that will win over his family. It’s an arduous task that draws them close together… but can human love ever really be true?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was so cute! It reminded me of that movie with Tyra Banks and she’s a Barbie and comes to life! But this one has Christmas, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree lol But like with everything, there were some things I liked and some things I didn’t, but for the most part I really enjoyed this read.
Ok so what I did like…. The characters. I loved Aidan. He was so sweet and even though he knew next to nothing about the real world, he still tried his best to show love for the people he cared for. It was adorable. And the way he so quickly learned everything was so impressive too. Just so that he could get the recognition from Henry. I loved them so much. Now Henry, I didn’t care for him too much. I think it was mostly because I didn’t care for the way he treated Aidan because of his ex. I HATE when people do that. But Lordt he was not great in that regard. But then he also redeemed himself by doing other things like the scene with the popcorn garland and by listening to him talk about the Hallmark movies. Those times were adorable.
The ending was another thing I wasn’t a huge fan of. It didn’t exactly make sense. It seemed like he needed a third act break up, but it just didn’t work out so it did it this way. Because let me tell you, this was the most nonsensical thing. I actually don’t really understand it tbh. This was weird. And the fact that he actually went when he was a literal mannequin and he was able to land all of these deals and things, but no one ever suspected anything? He was eating butter in the beginning, and you expect me to believe that he made it on his own for that long? Idk, it just irked me.
I will say this tho, if you’re looking for a straight rom com, you won’t exactly find it here. Janovsky uses his signature writing style that made me laugh throughout it, but as things start to happen and fall into place more, he gets more serious. And by the ending things get a little more heavy. Definitely what I was expecting from him. But it was still very sweet. His romances always find a way to get me.
This one was a signature Janovsky, but this time with Christmas. I was expecting this to be outlandish and weird because of the synopsis, andddd it was, but not overly so. He always has the right balance for me. And because of that, I’m going to read whatever he writes and you should too lol
Overall I give this
