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I definitely did not think I would enjoy this as much as I did, and I absolutely had no idea how steamy (and cozy) this would feel.
But this was such a super fun Christmas romance novel, and it has quite literally set the bar high for anything else I read for the rest of the year.
Our female lead, Abigail, has been in the worst relationship you can imagine. So, when she’s expecting a proposal—in classic Elle fashion—but instead gets dumped.
She then decides to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend by attending an end-of-the-year party at his company, a party she had begged him for ages to take her to. And she plans to arrive on the arm of his boss, Damien, the very man she knows he hates.
Her assumption right off the bat, based on what her lying, scheming boyfriend has told her, is that his boss must be a total piece of work. So she doesn’t question anything and simply decides to put her plan into motion.
It’s also important to mention that she has two friends who perfectly embody the spirit of what you’d expect in a book like this—one is the alter ego of good,”m and the other is the alter ego of bad. This dynamic comes up throughout the story in different ways, and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the friend portrayed as bad.
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This is very much a revenge book, but it’s also about Abigail coming into her own, figuring out what she loves about herself, and embracing the parts of her personality she had suppressed while in a relationship with her horrible ex-boyfriend.
If the premise hasn’t clued you in already, this book is very Legally Blonde-coded. Our female lead is obsessed with anything pink, and this is something she had to tone down when she was with her ex. But the male lead definitely brings that side back out in her.
I love a romance novel where the female lead’s character growth is front and center, and I definitely appreciated that here. We get to see her truly come out of her shell again and learn to love herself, just as she apparently did in the past.
She also manages the tricky dynamics with her friends while figuring out what to do with her unexpected, newfound attraction for her ex-boyfriend’s boss.
And of course, a romance like this wouldn’t be complete without a male lead who brings absolutely nothing to the table in terms of character development. That’s not a complaint—I actually love an older, totally rich, and super romantic placeholder of a male lead, and this one definitely takes the cake. Still, I would have liked to see a bit more depth to Damien’s character.
While he’s much older, he comes across as much younger—perhaps even within her age range—which is a gripe I usually have with many age-gap romances. It’s not that there needs to be a huge difference in their dialogue, but they are from two different generations, and I would have liked to see more of that reflected in their behavior.
Instead, it often just felt like she was dating another guy her own age, which lessened the age-gap dynamic for me.
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The entire book takes place in the weeks leading up to that Christmas party I mentioned earlier, so I could smell the third-act breakup from a mile away. But that didn’t put me off in the least.
These two had such amazing chemistry, and, as I said earlier, the spicy scenes have definitely raised the bar for romance books like this. I’ll be checking out more from this author.
The third-act breakup doesn’t last long, but it adds drama. While I usually prefer romance books without that obligatory breakup, I’ve explained in past reviews that it’s often the main source of tension in most romance novels.
There’s no need to flip the script so much that the book feels flat. Still, in this one, I wanted the breakup to be a little more drawn out. It’s resolved in just a couple of minutes, which feels almost too quick, especially after we’ve watched her wrestle with her feelings for him for such a long time.
Abigail spends much of the book realizing how different Damien is from her ex-boyfriend and the false image her ex painted of him. So when the showdown finally happens, it’s one of the most dramatic things I’ve ever read (and I watch Asian dramas for fun). Then, to have it resolved in mere minutes made the impact negligible.
Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is that both leads aren’t keen on having children. They each have past issues that shaped this decision, and I think it was a bold move by the author.
Instead of making their choice about fear or unresolved trauma—and then framing having children as the ultimate character growth—they exercise their agency and simply decide they may not be good parents. They have other things they want to do and are happy to live in each other’s company forever. I thought that was beautiful.
Lately, I’ve been gravitating toward older historical romance novels because I love when an author takes risks with their characters—making them genuinely unlikeable at times, letting them say the most outrageous things, or do the most questionable stuff.
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I don’t advocate for this in real life, of course, but in fiction, I want drama that feels big and messy. When every character across different books feels like the same perfect cardboard cutout, and every bit of drama is neatly wrapped up, it loses its spark.
I started this review telling myself I wouldn’t ramble for too long, but if you’ve made it this far—congratulations. I love a word salad, and that’s just how I do my book reviews. Whenever someone actually reads them, I’m always so happy.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t believe you need to wait for Christmas to read a Christmas romance novel—I read whatever I want all year long.
But if you’re thinking about picking up more beautiful Christmas romance books, you should check out my other posts.
I’ve written about my favorite historical Christmas romances, as well as super spicy holiday reads like this one.
And if you’ve read this book and loved it—or have another book like it that everyone needs to know about—leave it in the comments.
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