All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox
Rating: 3 stars
Seam: Closed door
Pub Date: 10/4

Miscommunication, keeping secrets, bad decisions
A small-town girl gets her big break when she appears on the singing show, Starmaker, and is paired up to sing with Nashville royalty, Max Brody. Sadie and Max have undeniable chemistry on and off stage, and when the audience goes crazy for the duo, their managers come up with the idea that they should fake date to increase their chances of winning.

There is a lot to love about this one. The fake dating trope is one of my favorites, and when you pair it with forced proximity and the celebrity element, I’m sold. I liked the unique premise where the MCs met on a singing show and then spent time in Nashville as country music superstars. Sadie’s character is passionate, strong-willed, and unafraid to chase her dreams, and I love how she stays humble and kind when she becomes a star.

Max, on the other hand, is difficult to like, and just when I thought he was growing on me, he did something else that either didn’t make sense or was just plain hurtful. The miscommunication trope is not for me, and unfortunately, that’s the only kind of communication happening between our MCs. It seemed like every time these two spent time together, they argued, jumped to insane conclusions, or one of them stormed off. I’m all for adding a little drama to a ‘will they won’t they’ storyline, but it happened too often here, and I got tired of it. They fought so often that it was hard to root for them as a couple. If this were my friend in real life, I would have told her to forget about this toxic relationship a long time ago.

This is the second book by this author duo I wasn’t a big fan of, so maybe their writing style isn’t for me. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the gifted arc to read and review.

Will they hit the right notes this holiday season?
All I want for Christmas by Maggie Knox is a fun and cozy holiday read! If you are a fan of music theme romances and enjoy all things Nashville, you will enjoy this festive read. There's plenty of drama and some will they / won't they vibes. Add this one to your TBR!

When Sadie and Max are selected as contestants on the famed reality singing show Starmaker, each thinks they’ve finally gotten their big Nashville break. But then they’re paired up for duet week and stun the world with their romantic onstage chemistry. With fans going wild for #Saxie the network demands that they remain a duo on and offstage, or exit the competition. Faking a relationship until their final performance in the Starmaker holiday special shouldn't be too hard, except for one small problem—Sadie and Max can’t stand each other.

But with their dreams just within reach, they agree to the ruse. Will their fake relationship be exposed before they can win? Or might their phony connection turn real by the Christmas finale?

This one was meh—between the constant misunderstandings between Max and Sadie, their cringeworthy name that was over-used, and the bits of “southern-isms” that were peppered in any time the author seemed to remember the setting, it was not good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Review of All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This what a cute Christmas read. It had the Christmas setting, reality show, fake dating and all the things. It’s the kind of book I might not enjoy year round but certainly do this time of year. I listened to it on audio and really enjoyed that version. My fave is that the dog is named Patsy Canine.

Quick synopsis: Sadie is an aspiring singer who lands a spot on a reality singing show competition. One of her competitors is a music legacy named Max. They have to team up for a duet and the world goes wild. The producers then insist that they compete together and fake date for the benefit of ratings. It’s a rollercoaster once that happens.

This is a really fun Christmas read sure to appeal to fans of country music! The Nashville setting is perfect. The story line is cute and cozy without being too saccharine. And the charterers are people you want to root for. The pile up of miscommunications definitely strain credulity, but if you can suspend your disbelief for a bit it's a fun ride.

All I Want for Christmas follows two country musicians who must work together in order to get their own contracts and record deals. Max comes from music royalty and Sadie hails from the Midwest. Their managers set them up as a fake couple to get more publicity. However, they both have so many problems and act childish with each other that the ending and HEA just seemed rushed to me.

I LOVED Maggie Knox's first novel, so I was thrilled to see they have a new holiday book out this year! For me, "All I Want for Christmas" was just okay. The premise of the two main characters, Sadie and Max, being forced to team up for a singing competition AND fake a relationship (despite not liking each other) sounded cute, especially with a Christmas themed background. I did enjoy both Max and Sadie individually as characters, as well as Gran - who couldn't love Gran!? However, "Saxie" as a couple drove me up a wall! The constant miscommunication and repeated issues (literally over and over) was too much for me. I did enjoy that Christmas wasn't too huge of a topic, and just something cute to add in the background. Overall, "All I Want for Christmas" was fine read, nothing special, and nothing that could top "The Holiday Swap". I do look forward to future works from Maggie Knox and can't wait for their next read!

Last year, I read The Holiday Swap, and it was a fun holiday read, so I was excited to hear that Maggie Knox was doing another book. I wanted to enjoy this book, but it didn't work for me in the end. The story's pacing was odd, which made it hard to connect with any of the characters. Sadie cannot catch a break and relies on Max to continue her singing career, while it seems like Max has way less stake in everything that's going on. That being said, it felt like we didn't learn much about the characters. We just got to see bits and pieces of who they were as individuals, which made it hard to connect or root for them. It felt like, as the reader, we were jumping from event to event. There was a time jump in the middle of the story, but I felt like the relationship between the two main characters wasn't developed enough for me to feel the impact of the aftermath. I was interested in the initial premise, but this fell short for me.

Thanks to Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie and Max are contestants on the reality singing show "Starmaker", both hoping to become America's next breakout star. while Sadie's raw talent has her moving to Nashville with the support of her loving Gram, Max is no stranger to the spotlight thanks to his father, an iconic country music singer.

when the contestants are asked to sing duets for one of the upcoming shows, Sadie begrudgingly accepts being paired with Max. though there is clear resentment between the two; Sadie, for Max's ease into stardom, and Max, for the stiff competition Sadie brings, the pair has undeniable chemistry when performing together, and America goes crazy for the newly dubbed #Saxie duo. seeing this as a guaranteed ratings boost, the show's production team gives the pair an ultimatum: either continue the show as a duo, or one of them will have to leave the competition.

faced with this harsh reality, Sadie and Max fake their relationship in the hopes of making it to the final episode. while the two singers risk their fake relationship being exposed, they also find themselves reluctant to open up and expose their real feelings.

i loooove a corny Christmas read, and this enemies-to-lovers story definitely puts the C in corny. i kinda struggle with High School Musicalesque love stories, where they sing themselves into romantic oblivion, so I was a bit apprehensive when I realized the direction in which this story was heading. it was interesting to get a little behind-the-scenes action regarding the actual reality of our favorite tv shows, and I also enjoy a fake dating trope (especially set during Christmastime!), so overall I thought this book had a lot of fun elements.

that being said, I unfortunately didn't find Sadie and Max's hate-love story to be super believable. Competitions are high-stake and can definitely bring out the worst in people, but I felt like some of their conflicts were a bit overreaching. For example, Sadie has a family issue and ignores Max for almost an entire year instead of being open about it, even though they're supposed to be "dating"? then there are like 2 or 3 more miscommunications between them throughout the book that lead to more conflict. they were so hot and cold with each other until the end, when they somehow come to the realization that they can't be apart. i don't know, their romance just didn't really do it for me. i like an enemies to lovers trope, but it needed to be just a little more believable for me. i still had fun reading this book, and extra bonus points for the super cozy, wintery scenes in Banff, Canada!

thank you to @netgalley for my advanced reader's copy of this book!

Sade Hunter and Max Holden are destined for the limelight, both competing on a singing competition based in Nashville. It's not until they are paired together, however, that the duo shines the brightest. When it is (strongly and contractually) suggested that they team up, they're unstoppable; but what happens off screen when they let down the façade and feelings start to become real?

This book involves one of my favorite troupes, a fake relationship turned real. It was definitely a feel good book, but I think that a lot of the conflict could have been resolved if Sadie and Max had better communication techniques. I just left wishing that there was just a little something more from their relationship and growth from the characters themselves. That being said, I do feel like we got a resolution to the story of Sadie and Max, and love that the book took place over Christmas past, this Christmas and next Christmas. This was not a terrible book, and it was definitely fun to read over the holidays, just not the best book I've read either.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. The opinions in this review are all my own.

I wanted to enjoy this one, but I couldn’t get into it.
Cute cover— the overall book just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed The Holiday Swap and I liked this book as well, but I'm not really into country so the setting was a little lackluster for me. I've been to Nashville and I didn't find anything magical about it; it was a cesspool. I didn't feel the characters were developed well enough before they became involved with eachother. I realize Christmas was part of the story, but I think this could have taken place anywhere at any time of year.

This was my first read by this author duo and sadly I opted to DNF at 27%. The story was discombobulated with weird time jumps and little to no character development. The writing was also lackluster and not enough to keep me wanting to continue on with the story.

There was so much potential with this story but the miscommunication was just too much for me. Sadie and Max both just jump to conclusions right away and don’t talk about things before storming off and resolving the issue. They were constantly apologizing to each other (and I’m glad they were) but if they would just not walk away and actually listen they would have saved themselves a lot of heartache and trouble.

Some things I really liked about the story was their time together in Bnaff and of course Gran. There was an easy readability to this story which worked favorably. I’m just not a huge fan of miscommunication when it’s the central trope/issue/conflict causer between couples in a romance book. I will say this book is perfect for anyone who’s a fan of singing competitions and in needs of a holiday themed book to read.


Thank you publishers and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Maggie Knox’s The Holiday Swap was my favorite Christmas read last year, so I picked up her new novel All I Want for Christmas on author recognition alone. This American Idol-esque fake relationship + enemies to lovers romance with Christmas on the side tells the story of Sadie and Max, two contestants on a Nashville-based country music reality competition, who are pushed into a fake relationship by the show’s producers in order to boost ratings for the series. Sadie and Max, who had a chance encounter years earlier that left a bad taste in their mouths, aren’t sure how they are supposed to make this work, but are willing to try for the sake of their careers. But what happens when they can’t admit that their fake relationship is starting to get very real?

Music steals the spotlight in Knox’s All I Want for Christmas with the aforementioned holiday playing a very light second fiddle throughout this book, so if you are hoping for all the cute and cozy feels that Knox’s previous novel The Holiday Swap gave off, you won’t find them here. What you will find is plenty of country music, a behind the scenes look at how reality shows are completely rigged for ratings, and way more miscommunication than any relationship should ever allow, fake or not.

All I Want for Christmas is a book that is good, but not great. There is nothing entirely captivating about it, nor are the leads - Sadie and Max - particularly convincing, likable, or endearing. They are even worse together than they are as individuals, and I am not sure how they got their legions of fans to believe that they were truly in love because I just wasn’t buying it. Even worse is the way that they make assumptions about what the other is feeling or thinking, and go off and pout like children instead of facing their issues head-on. Their relationship was frustrating to say the least.

Nonetheless, this novel is entertaining enough and I never became completely bored with it. I just wanted to shake the characters and make them see the light. Oh, and I could have done with A LOT more Christmas for a purported holiday novel.

I really wanted to like this… but it just was a huge miss for me. The concept and characters Max and Sadie were cute, don’t get me wrong. The whole Starmaker show and Christmas theme should have been a hit because I love the tv show The Voice and American Idol as well as the scripted series Nashville. It reminded me a lot of that but just fell flat. It moved way too quickly and was very insta love for me. We really didn’t get to become invested in Max and Sadie alone before they were thrust together. The country banter was cute but forced and lacked chemistry. It felt like more of a Nashville fanfiction then a novel for me personally. The name dropping of country singers was a bit much and adding the whole #MeToo thing into the story towards the end and not giving it the time and attention it deserves felt wrong. Too much hard stuff for a Christmas read… sadly this was a miss for me BUT it did have cute moments. I mean who doesn’t want to love a a guy who can sing country music and has a tiny dog he knits for? I mean come on? Adorable. If you like a fast paced fake dating trope similar to a hallmark movie you’ll like this. I was looking for something with more meaty characters.

I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion and feedback.

The voice but make it country with an enemies to lovers trope. This book was cute, somewhat frustrating at times but a pretty good Christmas read. You’re really rooting for saxie

I liked this but it didn’t resonate with me as much as I was expecting it to. I wish we got more of the setting and more from the side characters. Good christmas vibes, but I wish there was less miscommunication and more of the characters actually being together.

3 1/2

Max Brody is the son of a legendary country singer and Sadie is a nobody with a beautiful face and voice who remembers Max’ poor treatment of her a few years earlier. Now they’re competing against each other on a reality tv show until they sing a duet creating an instant sensation. Can they fake a relationship when it seems they already have sparks? Find out in Maggie Knox’ All I Want for Christmas.

All I Want for Christmas has a cute premise with Christmas on its side. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t love a Christmas romance? Of course, that begs the question of what happens after Christmas when all of that magic drifts away. What happens here is that an abundance of trust issues arise showing that theses two characters need to grow up further before entering coupledom with anyone. There’s a lot of running away and avoiding issues, lack of communication, and an episodic feel that seems like the novel is clinging to “events” rather than characters. The characters don’t seem to grow or change.

What I ultimately felt was missing from All I Want for Christmas was heart and, well, some laughs. There was one fun scene where Max, Sadie, and her grandmother go out on the town incognito. The story could have used more of that and a lot more of Sadie’s grandmother.

Ultimately an average escapist read.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet christmas romance story with a background I haven't read in a holiday story before! Our two MC's are country singers competing against each other on a reality tv show and the enemies to lovers vibes were just fabbbbb.

Thank you SO much to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the advanced copy. I definitely recommend for lovers of enemies to lovers trope and Christmas romance novel connoisseurs! ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS is OUT NOW!