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

Make the Yuletide Gay by Ivy L. James

 

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this was 100% the fluffy queer festive story I was hoping for! Make the Yuletide Gay is the story of Grace Taylor and her boss Nicola who end up spending Christmas together when a literary conference is scheduled over the holiday season. The hitch? Both Grace and Nicola have secret crushes on each other. Things get more heated when they are forced to share a room (an oldie but a goodie) and you can pretty much guess where things go from here.

I really loved this book. It's very short and hits a lot of typical romance beats, but this is by no means a bad thing. I liked both Grace and Nicola and found them interesting and developed enough for the length of the story. The Christmas backdrop was great and led to a lot of cute conversations and lovely Christmas imagery.

There are some triggers warnings for abuse at the start of the book and this is related to Nicola's past, but it is discussed in minor detail and isn't too intense for the kind of feel-good read this is. Do be aware that it is brought up though. There are also graphic sex scenes, and a slight power imbalance/age difference (boss/assistant, 8 years) although both main characters are in their 30s and are consenting adults. It didn't bother me at all but it's worth mentioning in case you're not into that.

Overall, I wanted a cute holiday romance about lesbians and that is exactly what I got. There is real heart here though and it was the perfect queer read to get me in the mood for Christmas. If you want a nice cheerful romance then I definitely recommend giving this a try.

Overall Rating:

In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely on the cosier side of cosy mystery. In the Winter Woods is the story of Declan, a mystery writer who gets caught up in a real murder investigation when he goes to a wintery cabin in an attempt to write a new book. Soon he also starts to fall for the local commissioner but must clear his own name before they can date.

This book was a very easy and quick read, with some nice winter scenes and some good characters. I think its main flaw is that it commits to neither the mystery aspect nor the romance aspect. I would not mind at all if one ended up being neglected for the other, but unfortunately in this case neither is really developed and the book suffers for it. I never really had a sense of fear or tension, nor did I swoon over the characters getting to know each other. It's a shame because this has such potential and I loved the idea of it. But it was hard for me to see why the characters were actually falling for each other at all beyond initial attraction.

Having said that, if you're looking for some easy-going and queer to read over the holidays, this isn't a bad option. I would love to see more books like this and I did enjoy reading it, even if it might not stay in my mind for very long.

Overall Rating:

Christmas Evil by Mark L'Estrange

 

Pretty disappointed with this on the whole. It wasn't awful but there were three key things which stopped me enjoying it as much as I could:

1. Too many exclamation marks! Writers should use these very rarely and it felt like every story had at least five. They were unnecessary and became very annoying to me

2. The stories followed a pattern of 'x goes somewhere, encounters weird people, weird people or x end up being a secret monster'. This wasn't every story but it was a huge chunk of them and it became very repetitive

3. Finally, one of the stories had a weird scene where some lesbians pretend to be straight to make a guy buy them expensive champagne, then mock him and make out in front of him. This added nothing to the story and just alienated me as a reader because it was presented as such a typical thing to happen and like, people don't do that?? The sexual content wasn't huge in this horror collection and certainly not compared to some others I've read, but sometimes it cropped up in weird ways (like a young boy looking up the skirt of a young girl, again for no reason) and it was always distracting when it did. I have nothing against sexual content but it has to add something and not just be a confusing aside

Overall, there are far worse horror collections out there but I still feel this needed a good editor to clean it up.

Overall Rating:

Little Bones by N V Peacock

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Little Bones is a thriller with a lot of elements. At its core, it's the story of Cherry, a woman who is the daughter of a famous serial killer, Mr. Bones. When a child in her local area goes missing, a new podcast accuses her of being involved. Next her own son vanishes and she must deal with trying to find out what's happened to him whilst also being accused of murdering him herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. Ordinarily I don't like missing children books, and I wouldn't actually have requested this ARC if I'd known the main character's child also went missing (this happens very early on but is absent from the blurb). Having said that, this completely won me over by the end. Cherry was a fantastically complex protagonist and I loved it when the book focused on her childhood with her serial killer father and how it had affected her as an adult. These moments were infrequent but fantastic when they happened.

The main strength of this thriller is it manages to be interesting, which sounds like a low bar but honestly it does it so well. There are plenty of characters and what's more, they have a role in the narrative beyond 'potential suspect'. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller but it has a solid story and you feel like Cherry is a real person acting mostly reasonable (she still makes the odd thriller protagonist mistake but I can forgive her for that). I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I found the eventual ending satisfying. It does go on a bit after the ending but that might have been due to me being more used to written thrillers which I can read faster than listening.

Speaking of the audiobook, I was pretty pleased with the narrator. I liked the different voices and it made it really easy to follow what was going on, even whilst doing other tasks. I have two minor gripes: firstly, the voice for Mr. Bones was a little annoying just because it was so gruff and the use of 'mon cherie' was so repetitive. I also found it very annoying to listen to the phrase 'Little Bones' so many times, though this is a fault of the author and not the narrator. I couldn't help thinking it would make a fantastic drinking game.

Overall, this is a solid and entertaining thriller and definitely worth the listen/read if you're a fan of the genre. Just be aware that it is a missing child story primarily as I feel this aspect is hidden somewhat (at least, the fact the main character also loses her child is hidden) and the blurb does suggest more of a focus on the unreliable narrator angle which isn't a big part of it. But I thoroughly enjoyed Little Bones and would strongly suggest checking it out.

Overall Rating:

Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

 

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

I love a good themed horror book. The sound of a Christmas horror set in an 80s office was too good to resist. Alas, Secret Santa feels very mismarketed to me. This isn't really a horror book, at least not in the way it's implied to be. Secret Santa tells the story of Lussi, a woman who gets a job at a publishing office after the boss dies. Soon after, she receives a cursed object in the company's secret santa exchange. The blurb says that 'Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie,' but that simply doesn't happen. One coworker dies quite gruesomely but it's not really a slew of slasher kills. Instead we get a weird cult plot and a lot of scenes of Lussi going around, trying to get clues.

I will say, I did really like Lussi as a protagonist. She was smart, interesting and I cared about her life. She was probably my favourite part of the book and I wish she'd been put in a more interesting plot. I also liked the elements of the publishing world and I thought these created potential for a good story. Sadly the book also moves away from the office atmosphere a fair bit, and I never really felt like her coworkers mattered much in the grand scheme of things.

If this book had been marketed as a crime noir or something similar, I think it would have better luck reaching an audience who might appreciate it. As it is, I lost interest as soon as I realised this wasn't going to be the kind of book I thought I was going to get based off the cover and blurb. I don't tend to judge books based off my expectations but in this case, it does feel like I was deliberately misled. I will say the author has huge potential though and if you like how this book does sound from my description, then definitely check it out. Just make sure you know what kind of book you will be reading.

Overall Rating:

Silent Night by Nell Pattison

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins Audio UK in exchange for an honest review.

Had I realised this was a police procedural type book, I probably wouldn't have requested it. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by Silent Night. Paige is a deaf interpreter hired by the police to help out when a student and teacher go missing at a school for the deaf. When the teacher is found dead, the hunt for the student intensifies but with both students and staff keeping secrets, this is definitely not a clear cut case.

There was a lot going on in this book in a good way and having the main character being an interpreter did add a nice spin on the usual detective story. I liked the main character on the whole and I thought her past and life added to the plot greatly which isn't always the case with these thrillers. In particular, her relationships with her sister and her ex were some of my favourite parts of the book, and they really drove the emotional core of the story.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I would definitely recommend it this way. The main narrator was great and easy to listen to. There was an additional deaf narrator brought in to narrate some chapters from a student's point of view, something which is fantastic in concept but I feel isn't executed well. Those chapters are simply not very clear and I really struggled to make out what was happening in them. I don't think this is the fault of the narrator but more to do with the way it was recorded/produced as it mostly seems to be a volume issue, at least for me. It's a shame because it really added to the tone of the book and I think it's a fantastic decision representation-wise.

Overall, Silent Night is an engaging police procedural thriller with a unique and interesting setting. There is a lot of meat to the plot but it never feels confusing, and the strong relationship with the characters keeps you invested throughout. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and if you like police procedurals, I'm sure you will love this more than I do.

Overall Rating:

.5