Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret by this point that I like my romance setups as ridiculous and as needlessly convoluted as possible. I adored the idea of someone going on 12 dates over the festive period having been matched up with people on an app, and on that front this book didn't really disappoint. I also quite liked the protagonist and thought she was both relatable and likeable. It was refreshing to see her having quite open and relaxed romantic attitudes towards dating several people (well, for a romance book anyway) and I like that she didn't get punished by the narrative for these views.

Sadly, that's most of the praise I can give this book. From the start, it is painfully obvious what direction this book is going to go. Even with the attempts at misdirection, I knew almost instantly who the protagonist would end up with and I was right. This takes away a lot of the fun and potential suspense from the dates and the story as a result. There is a lot of good Christmas imagery and events which happen here, but the dates themselves take a backseat to the other things going on in the main character's life and that was a shame.

My other main criticism was the writing. It did settle down but initially every character is described in semi-flowery detail and it really bothered me. Love interests should absolutely be described in an attractive or interesting way, but it was extended to every person she met pretty much, at least in the initial quarter or so. It did decrease which helped but it almost made me put the book down which is not a good sign.

Overall, there isn't anything major wrong with this book but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I'd hoped to. The predictable plot and subsequent lack of tension just made me switch off whilst reading it. Romance books don't need suspense to keep me interested but then I want time devoted to the actual romance, rather than a last-minute obvious hookup. If you want a light Christmas read then this won't do any harm but there are also better ones out there.

Overall Rating:

.5