The writing and premise of this book is such a cute idea for a holiday romance. I loved the Nashville and cabin in the small town winter wonderland settings. I found it hard to connect or root for Sadie and Max as a couple because there was just a few too many times that they were on-again, off-again. Miscommunication plays a huge part in this book so if that isn’t your thing then you will find yourself very irritated with these characters at some points. I don’t mind a little bit of miscommunication in a romance but this one even had me exasperated with the characters. I loved Gran’s character and all her life advice was so heart warming. I feel like I connected more with Gran than the main characters. The holiday premise of the book was fun and it was a quick and entertaining read despite the miscommunication of the main characters.

Thanks to @netgalley and @putnambooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book releases on October 4, 2022.

Read if you like:
▫️American Idol
▫️fake dating trope
▫️enemies to lovers

All I Want For Christmas
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 10/4/22
Author: Maggie Knox
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 352
GR: 3.38

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Penguin Group and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Sadie and Max are selected as contestants on the famed reality singing show Starmaker. 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 Sadie and Max can't stand each other. They agree to the ruse. Will their fake relationship be exposed before they can win? Or will an unexpected trip to Banff spark real feelings by the Christmas finale?

My Thoughts: The story is narrated in a dual POV, which I love because you got both sides of the relationship. This story follows some of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, fake relationship, and grumpy/sunshine. This story was a rollercoaster, lighthearted humor mixed with heartbreaking moments. Sadie and Max really evolved as a couple throughout this story. However, the miscommunication and anger was exhausting and at times, frustrating, as you just wanted these two to have a Happily Ever After in the end. Even if they were frustrating, the characters were developed well with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and emotional. The author’s writing style was complex, creative, deep, and engaging. While I was not a fan of the ending, this was still an enjoyable read. This book would be perfect for those who love Nashville County Music. This book comes out next week and I would recommend it.

A pitch-perfect holiday rom com about two oil-and-water reality-star country singers who must fake a relationship in order to win the opportunity of a lifetime.

I loved The Holiday Swap from these authors last Christmas and I equally loved All I Want For Christmas.  It was a fun, enemies to lovers, fake relationship and a grumpy/sunshine holiday romance.  It was lighthearted and while predictable, the journey getting to the happily ever after was enjoyable.

Sadie Hunter is on her last attempt to make it big in Nashville. She’s a contestant on a country music singing competition and ends up teaming up with country royalty Max Brody in an attempt to win. The show wants to boost ratings but capitalizing on the nation’s love of the duo, so they ask Sadie and Max to fake a relationship. But y’all just know they’re going to catch some real feels.

This is my third musical-ish book of the month but since the other ones I’ve read were pretty awesome (When In Rome & Daisy Jones), this one fell a little flat for me.

It also could have been due to the miscommunication trope which is one of my least favs. Especially because it featured about six miscommunications one after another. If you and your partner are that bad at communication…maybe it’s not meant to be 🤷🏼‍♀️

CW/TW: gaslighting, death of a loved one, sexual assault, intimidation, alcoholism, infidelity

Thank you so much to Net Galley, the authors, and publisher for providing this book for my honest review. Wow, I just love the authors who wrote this heartwarming uplifting Christmas rom-com. I loved their holiday romance last year and I love this one this year. I can’t wait to read their next holiday romance and anything else they write. This is an enemies to lovers, fake relationship, and grumpy/sunshine holiday romance with plenty of love, laughter, and lightheartedness. It’s a quick and easy read that will just make your day happier and bring a smile to your face. I highly recommend picking this one up if you love holiday rom-coms. Thank you again to Net Galley, the authors, and publisher for providing this book for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

It was a nice read. Not bad.

Thank you for the advanced copy of All I Want for Christmas in exchange for an honest review!
This is such a heart-warming, Hallmark-esque, holiday romance. This book has a reality TV show plot (in this case, a show very much like American Idol), and rivals fake dating. These are all tropes I love so this book was set up for success from the beginning for me. I love holiday themed books such as Maggie's The Holiday Swap but I liked that it was spicier than the Holiday Swap as well. 5/5 for me!

I enjoyed her first book. It was cute and hallmark like. This one didn’t do it for me unfortunately. I don’t love the miscommunication trope, even when it gets solved at the end. There are other better books out there but this one was fine. Will still read more by this author!


Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this book. It was the first one I had read by the author and it had me wanting read her others. All I want for Christmas gave me all the cozy, holiday vibes. The characters were well developed and there was plenty of humor along with the romance. I would recommend this to anyone interested in a quick holiday read!

I loved The Holiday Swap so I was very excited for another holiday read, unfortunately it didn’t work for me. It has the potential to be amazing, had the tropes I enjoy: fake dating, enemies to lovers but something was missing. I didn’t enjoy Sadie and Max as a couple, to be honest they were a bit frustrating. I felt they lacked chemistry. So disappointed that this one fell flat for me .

Sadie and Max are competing for their chance at fame on the reality show Starmaker. When they’re paired together for duet week, their chemistry takes the internet by storm. Soon Sadie and Max find themselves faking a relationship, in spite of disliking each other, in hopes of swaying fans in their favor.

All I Want For Christmas is a stand-alone holiday romance. If you love reality TV and/or country music this book may be a great fit for you.

I liked the characters and found many aspects of their personalities and backgrounds relatable. The book does struggle with pacing. The first part of the storyline moves quite slowly and the ending is almost too rushed. Although the book has a holiday setting it isn’t overly Christmasy.

While this book was not my favorite Christmas book this season, I did enjoy the author’s other book The Holiday Swap and look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam!

I was so excited to read this second novel by Maggie Knox as I read their first book, The Holiday Swap and loved it. This one did not disappoint either! I adore how this duo writes and the story that they created. I'm a lover of country music so having a story revolve around making it big in Nashville was right up my interests and marry that with Christmas you have a double whammy.
Max is the perfect, grumpy, golden boy because of his family name and Sadie is the perfect, sunshine, trying to make it big giving up everything. These two are forced together for publicity but what happens when they aren't faking it anymore or start to question their true intentions? Can the spotlight cause things too fizzle or will their feelings progress into true love. Toss in some great banter, an adorable rescue pup, a snowed in cabin vacation, and light spicy moments you have one of the perfect holiday reads!

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Things I liked - The characters themselves, Max and Sadie were pretty darn delightful. Even the extras were fun and at times, wonderfully cliché. The chemistry, and singing scenes between the main characters were lovely too.
Things I probably could've done without - The nearly year long break where Max and Sadie didn't speak or tell the truth to one another. Felt too long and slightly unrealistic.
Was an easy read and made me feel like listening to some early Taylor Swift.
3.5 stars

I was a huge fan on The Holiday Swap so I was very excited to get the opportunity to read and review All I Want for Christmas. In this second title from writing duo "Maggie Knox" they continue to take us on a journey through reality tv. All I Want for Christmas takes us to Nashville for a singing competition of mostly amateur singers competing for a shot in the music industry. Dual points of view hop between Sadie and Max. Sadie has lived in Nashville for years trying to make it big with the support of her grandmother. Her mother continually letting her know that she's welcome to come home anytime she admits that this journey is not an easy one. Max on the other hand, has grown up the son of one of the most famous country artists of his time. While Sadie has earned her spot on talent alone, Max is here purely to increase ratings due to name recognition. Naturally, these two are not going to hit it off and will be thrust together constantly.

Overall, I found this a cute story but I will say it featured a few tropes that I'm not a big fan of. More often than not, each time the two main characters start to get their feelings sorted out it gets disrupted due to miscommunication. I also wish it had felt a little more like Christmas - ultimately the story takes place around Christmas with a big Christmas performance taking place on the show, but after reading their last book I hoped for the similar Christmas feeling. However, I think this does make it a better read for fall/winter as we approach the holiday season.

If you don't mind the miscommunication trope, and enjoy a fun rom-com feeling read, I think you'll enjoy this one. Especially if you were a fan of The Holiday Swap, In A Holidaze, or One Day In December.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This is 3rd person, dual POV. Clean. Ends in a proposal. Writing is sweet and tells a good story.

This book has a trigger warning as it deals with sexual harassment/assault in the workplace.

Time jump. Last Christmas, This Christmas. I wished I’d known that going in because that’s not usually my kind of story. I read the first few chapters and then skipped ahead to find out why there was a time jump. I also wish I’d known this was two authors; those also usually aren’t for me. So I do apologize to this book, because it sounds like I’m not the target reader for it.

Max and Sadie are contestants on a singing competition and they get paired together. They begin fake dating. At the finale, they agree that Max will fake propose to Sadie. When he doesn’t, she gets upset, for reasons I wasn’t fully sure of other than she somehow thinks he let her down despite her winning the show, and runs off because her mom tells her her gran is dying—but doesn’t tell Max that’s why. Then Max, who didn’t want to fake propose for reasons he doesn’t share, takes off to Canada to clear his head for a year and doesn’t take Sadie’s calls or texts. They both like each other at that point, so I’m not sure why it isn’t obvious that Max didn’t fake propose because of feelings.

The romance was a little too much back and forth back and forth for my liking, with not enough legitimate reason for why they couldn’t be together. Too low stakes to be drug out, I guess.

This is a cute, unique concept Christmas book that would be worth it to curl up while the snow falls.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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?

Fell short for me I really tried to get into it. It gave me the hallmark feelings. Normally the fake dating and enemy books are my favorite. I didn’t full start liking it until 50% mark. Sadie and Max both had so much going on in their lives. There was definitely cute parts in it but fell short when trying to address the grief and finding love after loss.

The arc provides to me by Net-galley for my review

This was...not it for me. I did not understand the main character's relationship at all. They had like a few scenes together where they were "enemies" but also fake dating and then all of a sudden they wanted to be in a real relationship?? The will they/wont they was annoying and done at least one too many times. Oh and the miscommunications!!! my goodness.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a review.

I loved Maggie Knox's first book (The Holiday Swap), so I was really excited to read this book. Overall I enjoyed this book, however I was pulled out of the story a lot. I just didn't really believe the premise of a lot of the character interactions and plotlines. A lot of the moments seemed very abrupt and out of no where.

It was a very quick read, and enjoyable enough as light holiday reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you✨

*thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one - but it fell flat for me. I had a very hard time connecting with the two MCs, Sadie and Max. They start off as independent musicians participating in a singing show, but are later asked to perform together and fake date to keep the fans interested.

I loved the premise of this book, but some aspects of the plot were hard for me to get through. Miscommunication is a big aspect of this book, so if you are not a fan of that trope, I wouldn’t recommend reading this book. Also, the two MC’s, despite being in their late 20’s, were very childish and immature.

I think it’s a Christmas romance worth checking out, but it may not work for some.

Read if you like:
- enemies to lovers 🤺
- fake dating❣️
- country music vibes 🎶
- miscommunication trope 🫢
- Nashville setting👢
- grumpy male MC 😐
- themes of loss & grief 🖤
- Christmas romance🎄
- reality show competitions 🎤

Rating: ☀️☀️/5

Overall I really liked this book, with a little more character development I think I would have loved it.

The authors are wonderful at creating a sense of place and placing you in the scenes of their stories. They make it so easy to see yourself in Nashville and in the cabin in Banff and pictures the scenes at Christmas. The sense of place is something I enjoyed in their first novel and they did not disappoint on that note in All I Want for Christmas.

I liked the main characters, but I wish there had been a little more development of both MCs and of their relationship. I love a fake dating trope, but wish there had been more development from the point of fake relationship to love. The transition felt too instant. Sadie’s grief with losing her grandmother is believable as well as the cringe in her interactions with Cruz, the part that was harder to believe is her not telling Max about the loss of her grandmother, the person who she is supposedly in love with.

I can see this novel as a holiday movie on a certain TV channel.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and the writing team of Maggie Knox for the opportunity to read and review.