Holly Jolly Readlist Wrap Up!

Well... that was rough. I don't think I can confidently say that any of these books are winners. I want to make it clear I did not hate these books. These books just were not my cup of tea. I'm not sure if I am just not a Christmas book person in general or if all these books just missed the mark. I had not read many novellas before and there were several on this readlist. Man, those are nice when you just want to get through a book in a few days. All but one of the books were novellas, or a collection of novellas, which made getting through this readlist a breeze. It actually went much quicker than I thought it would and I am currently reading an additional book that would easily top the list except it is set after New Year's, not Christmas. To stay true to the "Holly Jolly Readlist" I shouldn't add it to the running. Follow along from worst to best as I rank the Holly Jolly Readlist. 

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#5 - Mistletoe Malarkey, Stella Bixby ⭐⭐⭐

I am very happy that even the lowest-ranking book on the list did not reach one or two-star territory. Mistletoe Malarkey just really missed a lot of marks for me. 

1. The FMC's weird obsession with the correlation between weight and beauty put me off of this book almost immediately. Even though it is not mentioned much after the first quarter of the book it has already ruined the book as a whole for me. 

2. The overuse of Irish lingo in this book made it cheesy to me. Some of it I understand but the constant Irish slang made the characters VERY unbelievable. I think this was Bixby's attempt to make the book more authentic but it had the opposite effect. 

3. How badly Molly was portrayed in this book. Bixby did her DIRTY! If I was in her shoes after what happened I would have been way worse than she was to Seamus. 

There were a couple of things Mistletoe Malarkey did right though. The descriptiveness of Ireland was fantastic. I was tempted to book a flight and go there immediately after finishing the book. I also did not guess whodunit. It was an interesting ending that grabbed my attention more than the rest of the book combined. 

To say the least, the negatives far outweighed the positives for me. Someone always has to be last and Mistletoe Malarkey is that winner this time around. 

#4 - Christmas Honeymoon (For One), Hope August ⭐⭐⭐

First off, can you call a book an "enemy to lovers" storyline when they are enemies for only like 30 pages? Secondly, I want you to think of the most PREDCTIABLE storyline and that's the book. There was not a point in Christmas Honeymoon that threw me for a loop, not even a slow quarter turn. 

The book itself was not bad, but rode the bare minimum line HARD. Also, after the inevitable conflict between the FMC and MMC the FMC just gets really negative, not only to herself, but to other women and I'm not here for that behavior. 

Kate studied the girl a little closer. What was so great about her that she was able to find her perfect match? Sure, she was pretty, but not exceptionally so. Maybe she had a bubbly personality. Or maybe she was really smart. 

The last thing that really grinds my gears is the MMC is made to be the perfect knight in shining armor. Like any MMC ever. The problem is, the MMC is actually a douche. I didn't really pick up on it until the end, but oh man a douche he is. Christmas Honeymoon is a decent novella but I wouldn't recommend it to a soul. 

#3 - Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead, Jenny Hollander ⭐⭐⭐

I had so much hope for this book. The synopsis sounded ultra intriguing, the cover art was beautiful, and the thought of a Christmas thriller was something I thought couldn't go wrong. Oh, baby, it went wrong. 

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was MESSY but not in the way I had hoped. The plot was messy which made it confusing and hard to get immersed into. There are a lot of characters involved before, during, and after the tragedy of "Scarlet Christmas". All characters had minimal descriptors and felt passed over ninety percent of the time. This made for some very easy mix-ups throughout the story which made the messy plot event messier. 

Charlie, the FMC, is trying to process what happened that Christmas nine years ago. That aspect could have been a fascinating insight for readers, but instead, Hollander chose to keep us on the outside of Charlie's grief, confusion, and fear. We are told that Charlie feels like she's out of her body, that she's scared, and that she is confused - but we don't FEEL it. 

Reading Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was just that - reading. My eyes were going left to right on page after page till it was over. I never had to stop (minus the genuine confusion of who was who or how in the hell we were back in this portion of the plot) due to genuine emotion. There were no "oh shit" moments or anything close to it. I honestly wish this book could be rewritten because it has so much promise. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was a flop for me, but not as bad as the two previous earning it the middle spot on the list. 

#2 - The Season of Second Chances, Kristina McMorris & T. Greenwood⭐⭐⭐

The Season of Second Chances is a collection of two Christmas novellas by two heavy-hitter authors. The overall ranking of this collection is what I am going off of for this overview. If I were judging these books separately, The Giver (by Kirstina McMorris) would be the number one book. Unfortunately, the novella written by T. Greenwood really dragged the collection down as a whole. 

My full review of The Season of Second Chances is located farther down on this blog. I urge you to read it as I go into each story individually. 

#1 - Sugar & Sliced, C.A. Phipps⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just like on #5 when I said I am happy that none of the books from the readlist fell in the 2 or 1-star ratings I am also sad that there was not a five-star read in this group of books. I rated Sugar & Sliced four-stars, but it is a light four-stars. 

The part of the book that really won me over was the baking element. It was a refreshing element that I greatly enjoyed. The mystery aspect of the book is what fell flat for me. The murder and events after it by itself are fine, it is Maddie's involvement that did not jive with me. She is very immature and naive. I know that the FMC has to be involved, but her actions and dialogue drove me nuts. 

 

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All of the books on this readlist frustrated me. I did not truly enjoy any of them, which was the opposite of my intention (obviously). All of the books on this list were lesser-known or debut books. Next year I plan on playing it safe with some books by well-known authors that have loads of reviews. I always think "Just because they don't have tons of good reviews doesn't mean they aren't good, give them a chance!". However, reading three-star book after three-star book is not enjoyable and reading should always be enjoyable. I feel like this post was negative to the up-teenth degree and I hope my reading experience is up from here. 

Merry Christmas!

❤ Les

PS
I am currently reading Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand and loving it! I'm soooo happy my reading journey is looking up at the tail end of the year. 

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