christmas book series – Book Coffee Happy

Blogmas 2023: Screw It…Moving On, My Beautiful Present, and a Holiday Book Review

Juuuuuuust in case it rains while we are at Disney…we’re prepared!

Oh man, I was really hoping to love The Twelve Dates of Christmas! I have been waiting for 2 years to read it!

I read 150 pages aaaaaand…I’m out.

K, whoever you are…thank you for the recommendation. I respectfully disagree 🙂

I just couldn’t connect to any of these characters! Like…at all. And if this book is going in the direction that I’m assuming it’s going to go, this is all waaaaay too predictable. The writing was ok, I just couldn’t get into it and never really wanted to pick it up. Eh.

For my birthday, my daughter bought me this STUNNING light up Christmas tree for my nightstand! At night, I’ve been turning it on while reading with my book light and it’s been DREAMY.

I WILL say that the fact that I couldn’t get into this book miiiiight have a bit to do with the fact that I am beyond distracted trying to get everything ready for our Disney trip! I also feel pretty strongly that part of this distraction is knowing that I have Joanne Demaio’s 2 most recent additions to the Winter Series just sitting on my shelf and waiting for me to read them! When I first learned of our Disney trip, I shifted my plans of reading the 2 Winter Series throughout the month of December and saving them for the plane. Yeah, I’m done waiting. I don’t want to bring The Twelve Dates of Christmas with me on vacay. Screw the plan…I’M GOING IN. The NEW plan is to start reading book #6 (Winter House) asap and bring it on the plane with me along with book #7 (Winter Road). I’ll throw a few other books in there as well 🙂

Happily moving ON!

Have you read The Twelve Dates of Christmas? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Blogmas 2023 Posts:

12/1 Blogmas 2023: Welcome to Blogmas {VIDEO}!

12/2 Blogmas 2023: Happy Birthday to ME {Sephora Gift Card Giveaway}!

12/3 Blogmas 2023: Book Review: All I Want for Christmas {Maggie Knox}

12/4 Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}

12/5 Blogmas 2023: The Winter Series {Joanne Demaio} Check In

12/6 Blogmas 2023: Non Holiday Audiobook Review: The Coworker {Freida McFadden}

12/7 Blogmas 2023: Random Bookish Things

12/8 Blogmas 2023: The Holiday Sign in the Form of a Post It

12/9 Blogmas 2023: READ THIS BOOK READ THIS BOOK READ THIS BOOK

12/10 Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: A Lake House Holiday {Megan Squires}

12/11 Blogmas 2023: Disney World Trumps Blogmas!

12/12 Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Book Club Hotel {Sarah Morgan}

12/13 Blogmas 2023: Book Coffee Happy’s 13 Most Viewed Posts of 2023

12/14 Blogmas 2023: A {Non Holiday} Middle School Book Series That I LOVE

12/15 Blogmas 2023: I LOVED This Gorgeous Holiday Book…About BOOKS!

12/16 The 9 Best Books I Read in 2023

12/17 Blogmas 2023: 2 Non Holiday Audiobooks {Same Author} I Started Listening To and Hated!

Xo,

Jenny

This book wasn’t for me…but maybe you’ll love it? Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

Click HERE to order The Twelve Dates of Christmas

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Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}

Today is the last day to enter the Sephora gift card giveaway! Click HERE to enter if you haven’t yet done so!

Today I have another holiday book review for you! Unfortunately the thing I liked best about this book was it’s ADORABLE cover (which I didn’t even get to appreciate in person because I listened to this one as an audiobook, lol).

Look how cute:

Goodreads Synopsis of The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}:

Rachel Meadows has her dream job, a new lease on life after beating cancer last year, and extensive plans to make this the most merry, bright, and wonderful time of the year for her six-year-old son since she missed so much of it last Christmas. But all her carefully crafted plans fly off faster than a reindeer-pulled sleigh when her coworkers challenge her to a bet—say yes to every holly jolly and not-so-holly jolly thing that comes her way. Except there’s one thing she never expected to say yes to—meeting Nick.

Nick Stewart just moved to the small town of Mountain Springs, Colorado, hoping for some stockings, snow, and faces all aglow—but mostly a fresh start for him and his six-year-old daughter after losing his wife the year before. His late wife didn’t want him to wait long before remarrying, but he loved her with all his heart and isn’t sure he’s ready to jingle all the way to the world of dating again.

When Rachel’s son begs for help with his school Christmas program and Nick’s daughter asks for the same, both parents say yes. Neither of the two little first-grade enemies ever guessed that their begging would lead to their parents meeting—or that their competitiveness would turn into cooperation for what has become Operation: Christmas Matchmaker. Six-year-old style, of course.

My Review of The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}:

Oh lord I read this not knowing it was book #2 in the series! THERE. IS. NOTHING. MORE. ANNOYING. THAN. THAT.

Ok so as a standalone, I thought it was…rushed. Like, this book should have been 200 pages longer (which is so opposite of more common thoughts of books being too long??). Every single thing about this book just felt so RUSHED and therefore just too unrealistic. Falling so deeply in love in what felt like no time at all ESPECIALLY considering all of the other life factors these 2 had going on…not buying it. The lack of character development coupled with a pretty basic (boring) story just made this one not my favorite holiday book.

Was some of this a result of me reading this book before the 1st in the series? I really don’t think so! From reading the synopsis of the first book, it’s mostly about other characters! These other characters do make crossover appearances in this book so for that reason, I would probably suggest reading them in order. Maybe this book will feel more “complete” and not so rushed with a more solid foundation from reading the books in order? I really don’t think so but someone…prove me wrong!

This was the shortest audiobook ever…5 hours! Totally easy background for you while doing other things. The story moved so quickly (too quickly…my biggest complaint with this one).

Book Coffee Happy Epilogue:

Eh. MUCH better holiday books out there.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!