𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆-𝒂𝒓𝒄.



𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭:

This was supposed to be a fun and a Christmas feel like story, however, I didn’t get that kind of vibe while reading this story.

I felt that the writing wasn’t for me and at the same time it was dragged on the story that really did felt boring for me. Another thing that set the nail for me was the narration that really felt dull.

I was thrilled with that twist actually but the rest wasn’t much fun of.


𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:

I ended up not liking Finley at all. I just think she’s really whiny and annoying at most times that really needed to be put in the place where she belongs to be honest.

I really didn’t felt her developed as the story goes because once again, she is really infuriating.

I am definitely much more more interested on Grandma, Arthur and Ayesha (wait I forgot the spelling sjsjsjsksk) much more than the Finley.


𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥:

This is quite a missed for me.

Yay!!! I was so excited about this! I thought it was suppose to go to Netflix as a movie so I really wanted to read it but I haven't seen anything about the movie but that's alright because this was really cute and funny! I would definitely recommend this to everyone especially around the holidays!

It took me a short while to get into this one, but once I did I fell in love! Finley's self-talk is one of my favorite things, she is awkward and very sarcastic. Arthur is charming and perfect in every way. The writer does a nice job of capturing the emotional roller coaster ride Finley is on, but also adds lots of humor. Throw in a tourist town named “Christmas” as the setting, with all the rituals, pageantry and homey ambience, and you have a great, heart warming holiday read. Plus, I am now completely convinced that I want to visit Christmas!

This is the story of teenager Finley as she returns from boarding school to her hometown of Christmas, Oklahoma. Finley is struggling with grades and making friends, so she oversells the glitz and glam of her Christmas themed hometown in order to impress her classmates. A cute boy from school believes the hype and decides to visit to get the American Christmas experience. But oops Finley might have over embellished. Sounds cute right?! Think Christmas parade, reindeer sleigh rides, and baking Christmas bookies! And a stunning cover I might add.

This story has:
💗 Small town tropes
💗 Cute British Boy
💗 LGBTQ+ Rep
💗 POC Characters
💗 Christmas Charm
💗 Teen romance
💗 Teen drama

Even though Finley’s mom is one of the most unlikeable characters in the story, one of my favorite quotes is from her. “I will never do anything better than be your mom.” As a 32 year old mom, I am not the target market for this so this was the most relatable part of the book for me. Overall I thought it was a solid cute book and gave it 3/5 ⭐️

At times Fineley’s internal monologue could be really cringey. Complaining about her privileged life is going to rub some readers the wrong way.

One of the POC characters is stereotyped as coming from a single mom household having to help raise her younger siblings. I can’t speak for the POC or LGBTQ+ community, but I’ve seen other critiques on Goodreads, and it seems like this book could use another round of sensitivity reading.

3 stars

This was fine! Middle of the road for me. I was super excited to read this because I love holiday books, I love YA books and I love boarding school stories. Unfortunately, I was a little bored for about 50% of the book and just didn't really care. It did pick up for me in the 2nd half but it was just okay. A cozy little book for the holidays but just not very captivating.

This took me forever to get through, which was partially because I was preoccupied, and partially because this book bored me. I'm not going as far to say that this was a bad book, it was just strange. The writing constantly transitioned from mediocre to overly complicated. It was hard to understand what was going on because there were continuous sentences that sounded like a cliche hallmark movie with 10 letter words weaved in to make it sound more complex. So yeah, the writing was not a strong point. However, the characters were. The characters carried this book fully and whole-heartedly. I loved Finley, Arthur, Jo, Esha, Ayisha, everyone. I have found out that the author has written multiple hallmark movies, which is evident in the writing and the plot. If I had a choice, I would not reread this book

I was just not a fan of this book. I had to DNF around 32%, there just wasn't much going on. I am definitely going to give it another try at some point.

SO, THIS IS CHRISTMAS had everything I love in a YA contemporary: a quaint, small-town setting, a cast of wonderful side characters, a prickly-but-secretly-mushy love interest, and a funny, relatable main character who grows and learns a lot throughout the book. If you’re looking for a fun and heartwarming story centered around the holidays, this is the book for you!

Finley Brown is from Christmas, Oklahoma, but despite the name, it isn’t very Christmas-y. The last person she expects to see is Arthur Chakrabarti Watercress, a less-than-friendly classmate, who demands that she give him and his aunt the true Christmas (town and holiday) experience. I should also mention that she’s painted the town as the best place to spend the holidays even though it’s far from a winter wonderland. Finley’s left with trying to entertain Arthur and his aunt Esha during their stay at her grandma’s inn. Though it isn’t the smoothest ride out the gate, Finley ends up having one the best Christmases she’s ever had.

I loved this story so much. Holiday festivities aside—though following along with Finley’s plans for Arthur and Aunt Esha was half the fun!—this was such a heartwarming story of a girl trying to navigate the uncertainty of her future and deciding a path for herself. It’s a story about family, love, and the sacrifices we make for family and love. And maybe most importantly, it’s a story about coming home, and realizing that home is a place, but it can also be people—the people who mean the most to us.

I laughed out loud, I shed a few tears, and I rooted for Finley and a bunch of other characters (you’ll know who when you read it!) as the story came to a close. I felt that the ending was just what Christmas, Oklahoma needed! I’m from California, where the sun shines almost every day, but this story made me wish for a white Christmas of my own, complete with a mug of hot tea and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. A huge thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with a finished copy of the book for review!

This was a sweet christmas book that was perfect for the season. A nice pickup to read and cozy by the fire

So, This is Christmas follows Finley who has come back from school for Christmas only to discover her parents have been living separated and her best friend and her ex have been dating.
An English guy named Arthur has shown up with his aunt for the fabulous festivities of Christmas, Finley then finds herself showing Arthur what a small town American Christmas is all about and learns a thing or two herself along the away.

This perfect Christmas read checked all the boxes for me and made me laugh out loud! An enemies to love trope in a perfect small town called Christmas, it’s the perfect place to fall in love!

Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the book for me. I wasn’t attached to the characters, and the story never grabbed my attention so I wasn’t invested in the story.

The absolute cutest holiday romance book, I could not stop smiling and afterwards my heart was full.

It was a true joy to read, I loved it so much. It was almost like a Hallmark movie but better. The charm of the town was so cute and I just wanted to live there myself!

I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook as well and that itself is just so fun and you can't go wrong with how you read this book!

Overall, it was a pleasant holiday delight and I know I'll be re-reading it for many holiday seasons to come!

Big thanks to the publisher for allowing me early access to this title. This is one of the cutest YA christmas novels out there. It truly is like reading/watching a hallmark movie and it's extremely wholesome!

This book follows Finley who may or may not have exaggerated what her hometown of Christmas, Oklahoma is like to her British classmate who just so happens to show up on her doorstep during break. Finley begins a quest to give him the American Christmas that he deserves! The relationship between Finley and Arthur is adorable and I loved them so much. This book focuses on friendships and family and it was so nice to see this explored in a non-toxic, mature way. The sapphic side story was one of my favorite surprises of this book! Definitely one of my favorite Christmas novels!! Who doesn't love festive mishaps?!!

This was really slow to start and in the middle but it ended with a bang. Can definitely tell the writer comes from Hallmark. It would make a great film. The romance was cute and so was the grandmother and aunt.

Having to DNF this because the writing style isn’t for me.

I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is, but I just wasn’t liking it.

YA contemporary is a genre I typically love, so this is a bit disappointing for me.

I had the pleasure of reading the book and listening to the audio book. This story is a a delight. It’s like a hallmark teen romance jumping off the pages . Just the perfect Christmas coming home type feeling.

DNF about 20% in. I wasn't enjoying the writing and I just found it to be another cheesy Christmas novel!

General Review:
This was actually pretty good although it did start out a bit boring/slow. It’s very hallmark which makes sense because I believe the author does write for hallmark. It was a bit boring at first and the ratio of inner monologue to dialogue wasn’t really balanced so it rambled on for a bit but eventually the balance was formed. You have to form just a bit of attachment to the characters to care at all about what’s happening. AND THEN OH MY GOD THE PLOT TWIST ABOUT GRANDMA JO AND AUNT ESHA WAS SO FREAKIN GOOD it’s honestly the main thing that saved this book for me (apart from Arthur). Overall this was pretty good, the story is so cute and I enjoyed it.

Characters:
Arthur - HE IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THIS WHOLE BOOK. He’s so sweet and kind, and funny (and British ) and I JUST LOVE HIM. Finley - she is honestly kind of infuriating and I only relate to her in the intense crush part at the moment lol Grandma Jo - her story is so realistic and heartbreaking I loved the representation of that and she’s always just a badass businesswoman and we love that Ayisha - I honestly want her to be my best friend she seems like the coolest person ever AND SHE BETTER GET HER HAPPY ENDING

Mais um livrinho de natal para a conta! Estou dedicada na minha lista de leituras temáticas de natal. Olha essa capa! Pensei: "romance fofo de natal!" e ganhei uma mocinha que não revida nada e que deixa as pessoas falarem o que quiserem com ela.



Finley deixou sua cidade natal para ingressar em um colégio interno daqueles chiques. Porém, ela não imaginava que as coisas não iriam sair como ela estava queria. Sem amigos, com as notas mais baixas do que esperava, Finley está falhando. E em um rompante ela resolve voltar para Christmas, sua cidade, para passar os feriados de fim de ano. O que ela não esperava era encontrar seus pais separados e seu ex-namorado beijando sua melhor amiga. Tudo parece mudado e Finley ainda terá de lidar com Arthur, um dos rapazes do colégio interno que chegou a Christmas para ter a experiência completa de uma cidade temática de natal, que não existe.



Essa foi minha primeira experiência com a escrita dessa autora e sinceramente eu não poderia estar mais insatisfeita com a forma que ela construiu essa mocinha. A escrita dela é fluida e a história de certa forma prende, mas a todo momento você fica aguardando a mocinha se levantar por ela mesma e isso não parece acontecer.



Eu não sei sinceramente qual o problema desses autores em achar que tá tudo bem as melhores amigas das mocinhas ficarem com os ex delas. Tanto homem no mundo, amada. E além disso a melhor amiga dessa mocinha é intragável, como é possível uma pessoa ser tão sem noção e ainda se achar certa? E o pior? A mocinha ouve tudo CALADA!



O romance entre Finley e Arthur vai se desenvolvendo em meio a essa cidade pequena e meio sem graça, eles vão se conhecendo melhor e começam a se sentir atraídos. Esse aspecto foi bem legal de acompanhar.



Outra coisa que me deixou bem chateada foram as relações familiares de Finley, os pais já estão separados há semanas e ninguém conta nada para ela? Além disso a avó também guarda um segredo de Finley, que parece que só ela não sabia.



Enfim, ainda aguardando um livro de natal que eu vou amar mesmo.

I LOVED SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS! This was what I needed in high school. Boarding school, love triangle, family drama, lgbtq+ representation, Christmas theme? Yes, please!