e-Audio, 06:54:36
Narrated by: André Santana
Release Date: November 7, 2023
Published by: HarperTeen
Read from: November 14-15, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: cursing, single parent, past death of a parent, illness, money struggles, sabotage
For Readers Interested In: 2SLGBTQ+ (Gay), Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Cuban-American), Religion Diversity (Jewish), Family Diversity (Dad got a donated egg to have him and raised him by his self)Single All the Way meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this festive romcom about Cam, who’s trying to find the “the one” and also trying to find himself—while spending winter break working at a hectic Santa’s Village.
Escaping to NYU for college didn’t turn out the way Cameron planned—he’s flunking his theater classes, about to lose his scholarship, and he still hasn’t found anyone he can call his “people.” When he gets home for winter break, he’s so desperate to avoid a Conversation with his dad that he takes the first acting job he can get—as a mall elf. Despite how Scroogey he feels, the plus side is that there’s a cash prize for the most festive of Santa’s helpers.
But the competition is fierce—especially from fellow elf Marco. Christmas spirit oozes out of his veins. At first Cam is determined to see him as nothing but a rival, but as they spend more time together, Cam starts to second-guess himself. What if he’s finally found his people here—in the fakest consumerist nightmare place on Earth, where he least expected it?
*MY THOUGHTS*
As someone who LOVES holiday romances, I was so excited to get my hands on this one. There was 2SLGBTQ+ rep and they were rival elves in a mall competition?! Yes please! I just knew it was going to be hilarious and I was going to laugh the whole way through it. Unfortunately, I struggled with the main character. He was many things, but none of them likeable. At least to me anyway.
So, I guess I’ll start there. He just wasn’t nice. I get the whole enemies/rivals to lovers thing, but he was just down right mean. I turned the other way he got mad at him for “being too enthusiastic” or too happy. I thought it was just a joke, but he really meant it and it just felt mean spirited and petty and he seemed jealous. And this it got even more messy because WHY did he also have to fat shame him? BECAUSE HE HAD TWO FREAKING CORN DOGS?! BFFR. It was completely unnecessary and didn’t need to be said. Like he could have conveyed that he didn’t like him in another way, there was no need to bring up what he was eating. And yeah he even brought up the fact that it made the other person uncomfortable, but he just said a pitiful like apology adjacent thing and that was it. I was so annoyed by it I almost DNF’ed it, but I knew with the holiday coming up librarians were going to be putting this on displays and I wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting. I just think he should have known better as a freshman in college.
The rest of the book was ok. I thought the plot was unique and I really enjoyed that. I loved the way it challenged them to think outside of the box, and I loved the way that this can be used for librarians and programming. I would have paid to see my old library teens do something like this lol I laughed the whole time the competition was going on. My favorite???? The dark one. I won’t say their name for spoilers, but believe me you’ll know who I’m talking about when you read it.
I said in my initial thoughts on Goodreads that I didn’t really like any of the characters, but you don’t really get to know any of them. His ex is around because he just wanted to feel something but he was terrible. Then his dad was there and he was sweet as pie (well a cookie lol) but also so oblivious that I didn’t put too much emotion into him. His bestie was there only when he was most desperate and it made me not care about her opinion either. He was basically just pushing them all away, but it made me not like any of them. I just didn’t gel with any of them. I think if I had been watching this in real time and didn’t have to be in any of their heads I would have liked this more. But all of these characters were either boring or mean and I didn’t like it.
The romance tho????? I was not a fan. They had no chemistry. Like none. He talked so bad about him but then they ended up together? He didn’t like take any accountability to him about him being a jerk, he and other people just were like oh its so obvious that you like each other. And I was like “Uhhhh no it’s not.” lol It just seemed really weird that that’s where they went with that. Maybe besties, but Idk about romance. Going from talking about about how extra he is to the way he’s acting towards him at the end should have some kind of transition in character right? Yeah no, he just stayed the same and I didn’t like it.
Although the cover screams that it’s going to be fun, it was hardly that. I got a few laughs in from the competition and I loved the social media aspect of it, but overall, it was just not what I wanted out of this one. But if this is your jam, I say go for it. As for me, I like a little more “Nice” in my holiday romances.
Overall, I give this
