Holly Jolly Realist - Book 4 Review!
Title - Mistletoe Malarkey
Author - Stella Bixby
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spice 🌶 - .5 (mentioned, but I would still consider this a clean book)
scare 😱 - 0
plot 📖 - 3
characters 🧍- 3
stars ⭐ - 3
Mistletoe Malarkey is a solid three-star read. I will say I did not guess the ending correctly, so kudos to Bixby on that! I wasn't sure I would be able to get through this book after reading the first few chapters. I almost DNF'd it in the first 10%, but I kept with it and I'm glad I did. I'm not sure if it's the author herself or if this is a common aspect in books I haven't discovered yet, but weight is a big deal in this book, for no reason. Within the first 10% of the book Shayla complained about her weight at least five times and that's just not something I enjoy reading about. However, after the first ~20% of the book that aspect calms down a lot.
Bixby has another series based on Shayla's bestie Rylie that is mentioned in the book a lot. I think reading at least part of the Rylie Cooper mysteries would benefit you before you jump into this one. I feel like I missed some backstory in this book, even though it's the first in the series.
There are some great characters in this book and some pretty terrible ones. There is one character I think got done dirty as hell and that was Molly. I do not appreciate how she was portrayed by the author given some things that are revealed later in the story and it made me lose some respect for Seamus who is the "most perfect man".
The dialogue is pretty bad in some parts. I appreciate that actual Irish lingo is used in the book and the author sneaks the definition of most of the Irish words in a low-key manner that doesn't take away from the story. However, the lingo is WAY overdone in my opinion. I am far from an expert on anything Irish but it got so overdone it made the book almost less believable and accurate than if she hadn't done any at all.
It was a quick read and the scenery is very well portrayed. I want to go to Ballywick ASAP. I doubt I will be continuing this series, or anything written by Bixby as it's just not my cup of tea. It looks like it's a lot of people's though and that's great!
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