Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of All I Want For Christmas by Maggie Knox. Unfortunately this book was not for me. Did not care for the characters or storyline.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a free eARC in return for an honest review.

I had a very hard time getting through the book. I had a hard time connecting with the main characters and the story. All I want for Christmas started out in Nashville and once it starts out it jumps to different places and timelines. It got confusing and I felt like the flow of the book got disconnected. My favorite part of the book was when they were in Banff. It was Christmasy and felt like a contemporary love story. When Sadie and Max weren't in Banff they were fighting for the whole book and not being able to see the other's perspective. They had a hard time opening up about each other's trauma and when they did, nothing happened. Both characters didn't experience a lot of character growth and they were hard to relate to. I think this book has a lot of potential if it stayed in one time period and Sadie and Max were able to communicate without one of them running off or not having their phone off.

3/5 for this book. Trigger warning, there is some SA. I did enjoy the Holiday Swap so I am excited if Maggie comes out with something next year I would still read it!

Reading the description of this book, and having enjoyed their holiday book last year, I was so excited for this one. However, it fell a little short for me. Miscommunications are common in romances, but this one had too much miscommunication, almost to the point of giving the reader whiplash. I also was missing feeling the chemistry between the main characters beyond being told there was chemistry. The dialogue also felt a little disconnected. Sometimes the characters were brusquer and swore, other times they would use terms like “ding dong,” It felt disjointed, and I’m curious if the variations were because of having two co-authors. The southern/country phrases also felt overdone and honky. I liked the premise of this book, but the execution felt a little rushed in places and unfinished in others.

All I want for Christmas is a contemporary romance with a little bit of Christmas sprinkled throughout. The story follows Sadie + Max who are competing in the televised singing competition, Starmaker, in Nashville. When they start competing on their own, the higher ups decide that they will be better together, but what happens when your enemy becomes your singing partner (and maybe more)??

After loving The Holiday Swap last year, I was very excited to get an ARC of Knox’s next Christmas rom com! And boy, did it deliver! Guys, this book was so damn charming and full of heart. I devoured it in an afternoon. Sadie and Max were both so wonderful and well developed as characters. They had such amazing chemistry and so much growth together and as separate people. The fake dating and enemies to lovers combo was fantastic. I loved the alternating POVs and the time jumps between last Christmas, this Christmas and next Christmas (Next Christmas was perfection). This book also dealt with some heavy topics like grief and trauma and sexual assault and did them in a very respectful and real way. I thought the pacing was pretty steady throughout the book. My only complaint is that there was SO MUCH miscommunication. There were several times both characters just needed to listen to each other (or their friends/family) or take a beat before overreacting to certain situations and it got to be a little much towards the end. But honestly, overall, this was such a great read. If you love country music and singing competition TV shows, put this one on your list!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Highly recommend this one! This was my first book to read by this author but definitely won't be my last. The characters will stay with you long after you finish the book and you will find yourself wishing the story would never end.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the Publisher for my eARC of All I Want for Christmas. I really enjoyed Maggie's Knox's previous book so I was very excited to dive into this one. Unfortunately I didn't love it.

I found the premise to be fun and entertaining with the American Idol type show but I didn't think the details were well executed. The main characters saw each other, judged each other, and decided they hated each other. Then only a few pages later they are agreeing to fake date and realize that there is *sOmEtHiNg* between them. The transition between the two is was very sudden and didn't read well. They also had multiple fights and meltdowns throughout the book and I lost count of the number of times one or both of them refused to communicate like an adult and stormed off without speaking to the other. It came across like a Jr. High fight.

I enjoy a Christmas/holiday book but this one just really missed the mark for me. However, I understand that not every book is for every reader and I hope and think many will love this book especially for the fun concept of an American Idol type country show.

This one was so darn cute! The exact kind of book that makes you want to cuddle up by the fireplace with someone. Fuzzy blanks, hot coco, and lots of snacks are required of course.

Sadie and Max are both contestants in the singing reality show Starmakers, each trying to make their big break in Nashville. When they get paired up for duet week everyone goes crazy for #Saxie and the chemistry they have onstage. The network demands that they remain a duo for the remainder of the show. To make their chemistry even more believable Sadie and Max start fake dating. The only problem, they can't stand each other. Will their fake relationship be exposed or will it turn into something more?

All I Want For Christmas is a fake dating, enemies to lovers, slow burn romance set in Nashville, TN that's sure to win the hearts of country and non-country music lovers. This is the second book I've read by Maggie Knox and while I enjoyed this book, I liked The Holiday Swap more. All I Want For Christmas was a great read, don't get me wrong, it just didn't feel as festive as their first book. I really didn't get a strong holiday vibe from this book. I did love the country music vibes I got from this book. At times I got frustrated at Sadie and Max's characters and their lack of communication. But being able to read this story from both of their POVs helped me to see where each of them were coming from and the personal issues they were working through. If you're looking for a fast, cute, Christmas read with all things country music this is definitely a great one.

Starmaker the country music reality show where a lucky winner gets the dream of a record deal. Obviously every contestant wants it... but after dooing a swoony duet on the second show 2 contestants gets permanently linked as a duo... and then, since you have to give the audience what they want they embark on a fake publicity relationship stunt. Because....let's get them votes!😅
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This was a cutesy adorable country music christmas love romance. I could read the southern accents and they were filling my little ol' heart!
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Loved seeing the softer and caring side of Max. Seeing him free himself from his ghosts was sweet. Sadie really was going to make her dreams happen and she really was in it to give it her all, despite her infuriating new teammate. She really went through it to get where she wanted.
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Sadies Gran is forever in my heart! ❤️ 😥
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I overall enjoyed this holiday read. However, I thought that the miscomunication trope was very present here and very recurrent sometimes frustrating me a bit.
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Also, just to be clear this is a PG-13, clean romance with no open door spice scenes. (In case these aren't your thing!) Don'tsay I didn't warn ya!

It was cute! Another solid Christmas read! Knox writes adorable books that you just get wrapped up in. Get cozy and grab this one. I read it in one sitting!

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of All I Want For Christmas by Maggie Knox. I really did not enjoy this book. I felt that it is poorly written. The story for was not believable.

Did I enjoy this book? Yeah, sure, but it was pretty average. There really wasn’t anything that set it apart from any of the other romances set during Christmas. It’s also hard to love and support a romance that is barely there and that you don’t really see grow. I liked Max and Sadie and their backgrounds individually but their relationship wasn’t built out enough to know who they are together.

I probably wouldn’t recommend.

This was…not good. I won’t be able to review it properly because that’s all I can say honestly. Basic and boring in a way that might work for you but I just got annoyed by the lack of development and constant miscommunication. I only finished it because I felt like I could speed read it and get the same effect (and I did).

3 Stars All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox was not quite what I was expecting, but in the best way possible. Based on the description, I thought the whole novel would take place over the reality singing competition, not just the first third of the book. Their first “breakup” at that point in the novel very much felt like the typical third act breakup, so I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go after that. Max and Sadie were fun to read about; they definitely were like oil and water at times, and were both so damn stubborn. I appreciated that the ending showed them working together but also exploring their own solo careers. Very cute and a fun Christmasy read!

Prepare your self for a wonderful-cozy-feel good-country-christmas story!

This book is country American idol Christmas love story with a fake dating trope with Grumpy-Sunshine. The timeline expands for over a year which adds a little of slow burn.
You will want scream some sense into the characters obviously, but isn't it that part of the fun of reading a romcom? These 2 signing love birds are from 2 different backgrounds, each wanting what the other one had.
Max is country royalty, son of one of the most successful country singers on both sides. He has never wanted for anything except for the weight of his parents fame. Poor little rich guy right?
Then we have Sadie who is in her second shot of trying to make it in Nashville and won't let anything get on her way. Is a make it or break situation for her so she'll take whatever opportunity she can get.
They are stubborn AF in their own ways and think that are very wrong for each other but when they perform is like all the stars align. Their on stage chemistry is undeniable, they just have to make it work in real life. While getting to know each other, they find so many surprises behind the stereotypes.
There are so many aspects of the book that I enjoyed aside from the love story. One is how stigmas or appearances are not always true. Two is how it approached the generational programming that sometimes families can unwillingly pass on. Three is the approach to finally end a predatory behavior from a men in a position of power that a whole community enabled it by keeping silence and how speaking up is important.
This book was a treat for me while we are facing a heat wave, a rom com Christmas read is exactly what I needed. This is the second book I read from Maggie Knox and I already can tell they are a auto buy author :)
Thanks NetGalley, Maggie Knox and Penguin for the ARC in exchange for my honest review :)

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun read! I like books thst let us see behind the scenes sof things like TV productions. The characters were likeable as well.

Thank you NetGalley for my arc. This was a quick, light, and fun holiday read during the summer ! It has all the hallmark vibes!

⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* Slight spoilers. *

I have very mixed opinions about this book. I've never read anything by Maggie Knox, so I went into this unsure of what to expect. I loved the holiday theme and the overall plot of the book, and there was so many times where I was very into it and could not put the book down. However there was many other instances where I struggled to continue reading. One of my least favorite tropes is miscommunication, but I can let it slide when it happens once, HARDLY twice, in a book. This book just featured so much miscommunication I was annoyed. It felt like everytime the main characters were doing good a miscommunication bombshell fell onto them. Max and Sadie had a lot of potential as characters but I had a hard time loving them. There was also just weird storylines, (SPOILER) like Sadie's mom following her around? It was explained in the book, but it was just so weird and never made sense to me. I still enjoyed this book, and the Christmas theme to it, especially towards the end. Would I read it again? Probably not. Would I recommend this to a friend? Possibly, with fair warning of the overused concept of miscommunication!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!!

All I Want for Christmas follows Sadie and Max who are contestants on a singing competition show called Starmaker. They are paired up during duet week and the world falls for their chemistry. So the network demands they remain a duo on and off stage. There is just one problem: Sadie and Max do not like each other. But they both dream of making it big so they agree to it. And maybe just maybe they will learn to like each other. 

Trigger Warning: 
Has themes of loss of a loved one
Has themes of sexual harassment 

I freaked out when I saw that Maggie Knox had another novel coming out. I loved The Holiday Swap. Both books that Maggie Knox has written I have rated five stars. If you are looking for a cute holiday book to read I would suggest both of these. I loved the relationship between Sadie and Max. This book also gave me such cute and cozy vibes. This book did not disappoint me at all. I literally screamed when I got an ARC of this book. Thank you so much NetGalley, Maggie Knox, and Viking for the ARC of this book. This is one that I would highly suggest.