If you are a fan of Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies this is a book for you. Cute easy read that puts you in the Holiday spirit. Not realistic at all but good read.

Christmas is usually Zoey's favorite holiday, but this year, her boyfriend dumps her two days before after a huge fight, she's had a terrible haircut...and then she dies in a tragic holiday parade accident. However, she's given a second chance at life, sent back to the beginning of December. Her life will continue -if- she manages to match up 6 couples before Christmas.

This book was a complete and utter delight!! I was afraid it was going to be overly cheesy but it was so well done. I enjoyed every minute and was sad when it was over. I will definitely purchase and reread once it comes out!

I loved the cover and the blurb and needed to read this book. I love all things Christmas!

The story was festive and laugh out loud funny at times. I loved the descriptions of the department store and Santa's Village. Zoe was a likeable and not. She was fun, endearing and clueless. Scott is just a crap boyfriend and I wish she had called him on it and dumped him so much sooner. I loved the matchmaking, and the lengths Zoe went to get couples together. I wish there had been more time spent on her and finding her love match, it felt a bit rushed at the end.

While the story was predictable it is a fun Christmas read and I'd give it 3.5 stars.

As you know, I adore a good Christmas romance, be it a book or a movie, and I was pulled in by the fun-sounding blurb of this novel.

The blurb reads:
Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She’s just been dumped, she’s had an extremely dodgy haircut that even the biggest woolly hat can’t hide, and then a tragic accident – involving an elf outfit, stilts, and a red double-decker bus labelled ‘The Santa Express’ – leaves her dead.
But then Zoey is given a second chance at life. Sent back to the start of December, if she can match six couples by Christmas Eve her life will be saved. Which gives her the perfect opportunity to win her boyfriend back too…
Can Zoey find love in time for Christmas?

See, super fun sounding, right?

I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed the Christmas theme. The descriptions of the workplace were reminiscent of Elf (the movie), and I could picture the toy shop and other locations in my head. I enjoyed seeing her use her do-over to spend more time with her family, and I really appreciated that all of the characters were normal people. No secret royals or millionaires.

What I didn’t enjoy reading about, was the way that Zoey spent so much time trying to be the ‘perfect’ girlfriend in order to keep her skunk of a boyfriend. There was so much time spent with Zoey being a doormat to her boyfriend and holding in her feelings and wants and needs. There was also some regional slang used (apparently calling someone a banana means that you are calling them silly) that detracted from the story for me.

Overall a cute story.

I was given an ARC through Net Galley to give an honest review of the book.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Christmas books are always a great read! And this book turned out to be that.
I loved the idea of Zoey's second chance at life and a way to do things right for her and for others.

A very unique & festive read that I'd definitely recommend this season.

Ps how gorgeous is the cover?

This is the first time I have read anything by Jennifer Joyce and it was such a delight! When I I initially read the premise, I scrunched up my nose at the idea but figured “Hey, it’s a holiday romance - why not”.

The story was nothing like I expected!

The way Joyce approached Zoey’s mission to find six true love matches allowed her to deep dive into the true essence of every type of relationships - flings, lost loves, new loves (old and young, queer and straight), unrequited love, second chances, unhealthy relationships, marriages, etc.

What I love about the book: Two things come to mind when I think about this book. The first is the parallel perspective Joyce gives you as you read the story. We get a glimpse into Eloise’s relationship with Annie. How Annie treats her, how unhealthy it is, and no matter what, how Eloise is stuck in a cycle of lost hope, being strung along, and eventually heartbroken. Zoey sees this and worries about Eloise and can’t understand why she would subject herself to Annie, while at the same time, we see Zoey doing exactly that with Scott. Each time she utters sage advice, you find yourself screaming “Do you hear yourself right now?!” The other thing I really liked was that you don’t realize you are slowly falling in Friend-love with Zoey. She’s kind, she’s sweet, she’s is selfless and she truly cares about the people in her life. I didn’t know how much I cared about her character until she repeats what Scott said to her in the “Terrible Row” and I found myself saying (out loud) “Oh f*@& that guy!”

What I didn’t like about the book: The transition between Chapter 40 and Chapter 41 caught me off guard as it felt a little rough and incomplete. One minute she wants to say goodbye to her friend (Milo) who means the world to her. The next chapter she wants to wants to intertwine her fingers and kiss him. While I understand she was slowly starting to see him for the wonderful person he was, I felt like there was a “skip in the record", one transition sentence/paragraph that would have helped us as the reader understand what made it finally click for her. We get more as we read further into Chapter 41 but with that initially jump for Chapter 40 and 41, I went back and read the last page because I just couldn’t figure out how she went from one train of thought to the other.

What I’m indifferent about (but feel I should mention): While the story is engaging and enjoyable, it is predictable. I knew within the first dozen chapters that Scott was messing around with Kelsey, Milo liked Zoey, and Milo and Zoey were going to be couple number six after he saved her life. Even though those easy assumptions came into fruition, it didn’t take away from the story at all as you saw Zoey’s story the same way she saw everyone else’s. It was supposed to be obvious to us, the readers - that (I assume) was Joyce’s intent. Like watching a horror flick and telling them “Don’t go in there”, we could only be spectators to the disaster that was her relationship, holding onto hope that she would finally see what we saw and do what we knew we wanted her to do, dump Scott and be happy with Milo.

The best thing about the Christmas Cupid is that it isn’t some cheesy holiday romance that resembles a Hallmark Movie. It isn't filled with overly exciting, edge of your seat moments. The most concise way I can describe it is using the frog in the frying pain analogy. The story warms you up slowly and you don’t realize how captivated you are by it until you find that you can’t put it down and the moments you do, you are still thinking about it! The friendships, the relationships, the possibilities are what makes this book a must read!

Zoey is not having the most festive December. After a big fight, her boyfriend left and no matter how much she misses him, he is not coming back. Then at a Christmas Parade, when she had to be on stilts, she was hit by a bus, just a moment after seeing her BF, happy with someone else.

But she gets something special, a second chance. If she manages to help 6 couple find their true love until Christmas, she can live, if not she will die, this time for real.

Fancy sports watch that her horrible BF got her because she supposedly eats too much cake ( he is a real jerk), now tracks the love matches she makes.

She is excited to help people find love, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Especially because she spends a lot of time trying to be the perfect girlfriend to a man-child.

During this challenge, she finds her self-esteem and gets much-needed perspective, as well as finds love in an unexpected way.

It's a lovely, magical story full of Christmas spirit and love. Reading it made me so excited for the holidays. Zoey is a very interesting character. I had trouble liking her at first, she went through so much trouble just to be someone who is not good to her and to please a guy who couldn't care less, but she grows so much during the story, and find her true self. It's one hell of a character ARC.

Highly recommend it!

received from NetGalley, all thoughts and opinions are my own

Once again Jennifer Joyce has written an amusing Christmas book, that so long as you suspend your belief in reality at one rather key point, it completely and utterly believable.

Zoey is given a second chance at December, and has been told she has to create 6 new couples in order to survive the accident that that kills her first time around. But that is easier said than done, especially as she is determined to save her relationship with Scott, which very early on was frustrating me.

I just wanted her to see the obvious, but she seems rather oblivious, and instead is trying to match make all sorts of people, and as a result there are a lot of festive group activities. Oh and she works in the Santa's grotto department of a toy store, so there is Christmas all around in this book.

And I loved it, so festive, and fun, and has a wonderful cast of characters to get to know. I really enjoyed getting to know Zoey's colleagues, as well as all the festive activities they get up to, from the quizzes, to the karaoke. And the Christmas market was lovely too.

And then there is the Bake Shop which does the most delicious sounding cupcakes, and plays are rather key part to the story, not that I'm saying what that is! But the sweet treats certainly had my stomach rumbling.

A really enjoyable and entertaining Christmas story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Just hope I don't have to wait as long as I did for this book, for the authors next book.


Thank you to HQ Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I was hoping to like this more than I did. The concept was good, and the writing was fine, but the obnoxious toxic boyfriend really wore me down. Do not see what she liked about him besides familiarity. Tended to start to skim through scenes with him, as she spends a lot of the time trying to find a way to be the perfect girlfriend so he doesn't leave her. Please! Kick him to the curb already, and throw his stuff out the window.

This was a feel good Christmas book. Zoey had such joy and embraced the holiday season it was like seeing it through a child's eyes. I especially liked her and Milo trying each other's favorite hot chocolates.

The Scott storyline made me cringe. I couldnt figure out why Zoey would want to try and save a relationship with someone who clearly just wanted a live in maid and not an actual relationship. Talk about a toxic relationship, but it does make one see that we sometimes don't realize the problems in our lives that are very obvious to all friends and neighbors.

I'm glad it all worked out in the end and love how much she is cared for by her friends and neighbors. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a feel good holiday story.

An absolutely glorious feel good Christmas story. With everything you need for that perfect Christmas tale, elves, santa, candy canes and naff Christmas jumpers to name but a few. I would recommend curling up on the sofa over the festive period to read this.

“Its time to forget about the past and move on.”

The Christmas Cupid // REVIEW
Pub Date: October 14th, 2022

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶

What I loved:

🎄The festive atmosphere of this book was so much fun! In addition to her job as a Santa’s Village Elf, I really enjoyed Zoey’s trips to the hot chocolate stand, as well as Franziska’s holiday baking! Jennifer Joyce has such a knack for describing Christmas-time, so I guarantee this book will put you in a festive spirit!

💞 The match-making aspect of this book was so fun. While most of Zoey’s attempts at matching couples were fails, the matches she did make were absolutely adorable, wholesome, and heartwarming — just all the feels!

🧣Zoey was such a fun MC to hang out with. She embodies the Christmas spirit, which I found myself connecting to a lot. She has such a kind heart, she is confident in who she is, and she cares so deeply for her close circle.

What I did not love:

👔 Scott. His whole storyline. I would have liked to seen him kicked to the curb around the half-way point so we could have had more time with Zoey and her true-love match. That change would have made this book a four star or even a five star for me — no questions asked.

If you are a Hallmark movie kind-of girl or you really enjoy Christmas-time books, I highly recommend you give this a read!

Thank you NetGalley for this Advanced Copy!

Quirky Zoey Beake finds herself in a peculiar situation and ends up travelling back in time with the job of setting up 6 new love matches. While this should be the priority, as it could give her a second chance at life, she consumes herself with the idea of saving her relationship with man child Scott.

This story was good, but i endured a mixture of emotions while reading that i can only explain in a bullet point pros and cons list.

PROS:
- The christmas vibes. Zoey’s job as an elf in a toy shop gave me all the “ELF” feels while reading. I think the way Jennifer Joyce described the main characters workplace gave me great imagery. I could literally picture the toy shop in my head! I enjoyed the other christmassy places like the market, and the christmas karaoke, and the famous hot chocolate stand!
- The christmas cupid match-making Zoey was doing. Although most of her attempts were duds, it was cute to see her finding a match for her best friend who was in a toxic relationship, as well as the couple on the bus. Small actions of kindness like giving up your seat can have great results!!
- Her relationships with the people she cares about and the lengths she would go to sacrifice their happiness for her own. ie, giving eloise good advice instead of steering her towards annie, while knowing it could result in a heart and save her life.

CONS:
- The entire Scott storyline. It was so painful to read how Zoey was trying to save such a toxic relationship. It was so clear as a reader he was cheating on her the entire time. He was a man child. He clearly only went on the dates to steer the bake shop girl away from milo and didn’t care to spend the extra time with his GIRLFRIEND. I wanted to shake zoey and tell her what i could see. I guess this storyline could be relatable to readers but to me, i was just frustrated at how poorly the sweet protagonist was being treated by 30 year old man who can’t use a dishwasher.

Anyways, this was a cute christmas novel and I did enjoy it aside from the scott storyline. I genuinely think i would have enjoyed this more if she was a single gal matching up people and then stumbling upon love with one of her coworkers in the end but im sure others would feel a connection with the part that i didn’t enjoy. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys a hallmark christmas vibe!

Sadly, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I though.
I liked the premise of the book: Spreading a bit of Christmas joy and love instead of having someone "surprisingly" fall in love just beore Christmas.
However, it was all too obvious from the beginning. I didn't enjoy the writing and while the characters were sweet, you could see what was happening from the start. Scott's (bad) character was too obvious from the start, no one could honestly believe she never noticed it before.
Overall I read it and it got me a little bit into the Christmas spirit, but I didn't enjoy the storyline.

Thank you HQ and Jennifer Joyce (an absolute sweetheart) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Five stars for DNF as I cannot comment on the overall quality of the book.

Please do not be discouraged by this review. Although cliche, the line "it's not your, it's me" truly applies here. I am not a regular romance reader but I'm looking for a cosy Christmas read and this one appealed to me straight away. However, I found it a bit too saccharine sweet for my child heart. The female lead seemed like a big hearted, old soul... A little too old soul for my tastes lol. If you love knitting, befriending lonely seniors, and going ham with decorations, this is the book for you. I would also recommend to someone going through a break up, as the female leads grief is quite raw and may be relatable for others. Solidarity and all that.

Again, this is not poorly written or weird or offensive in any manner. It is just too sweet for me. Regular romance readers will certainly enjoy.

This is indeed a sweet and funny book. There are no prizes for guessing the match that completes the required set- it is clear from the offset, but that does not detract from the pleasure of reading to the conclusion!
grab some special hot chocolate and settle in for a wintery love story.

This was overall a fun story to read. It did take me a little while to get into the story. I was a little frustrated with how long the main character stayed in the bad relationship but I guess that is realistic. Overall I liked seeing 6 different couples come together instead of the focus just being on the one main relationship.

This story follows Zoey repeating December in a groundhog day month of holiday festivities to nudge along 6 love matches in order to reverse her inevitable demise on Christmas eve.

While this was a quick one sitting read, unfortunately it wasn't for me. Time travel is a plot twist that I don't enjoy. I had hope for the magical English countryside holiday setting and it kind of felt like the annoying protagonist that as much as you wanted to root for you just couldn't. I wanted more resolution for Zoey on how S/K got together, there was tons of speculation on her part about the love matches when her watch notified but the reader was left possibly speculating as well. I rooted for the friendship between Zoey and the hero and while we knew the romance was coming, that Zoey herself was one of the 6 love matches, it didn't feel like the sparks were flying until the end of the epilogue.

The holiday whimsical setting was cute, but the real page turner for me here was the pastries. I want to great british bake off all of the treats that were mentioned!


Thank you Netgalley and HQ for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Publisher description: ‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She’s just been dumped, she’s had an extremely dodgy haircut that even the biggest woolly hat can’t hide, and then a tragic accident – involving an elf outfit, stilts, and a red double-decker bus labelled ‘The Santa Express’ – leaves her dead.
But then Zoey is given a second chance at life. Sent back to the start of December, if she can match six couples by Christmas Eve her life will be saved. Which gives her the perfect opportunity to win her boyfriend back too…
Can Zoey find love in time for Christmas?

I love a good Christmas Romance in books and movies (thank you Hallmark) especially one that is funny and involves second chances. Unfortunately this one left me feeling disappointed. When Zoey gets a second chance to pair up six couples and live after a run in with a double decker bus she is determined to fix her failed relationship with Scott.
What I liked:
Christmas theme and all the enjoyment and romance of Christmas we see in novels and movies.
Zoey setting up people for romance. She really needed to focus on other people to bring them together.
Zoey and another male character and there friendship growth.
Zoey taking advantage of this do over to spend time with friends and family.
All of the characters were average people living average lives. No unsuspecting millionaire or famous person.
What I didn’t like:
Zoey spending so much time trying to be the perfect girlfriend to keep her boyfriend. He had dumped her before Christmas and was seen with a new girl a few days later.
Fat shaming by boyfriend. Eat the cake Zoey with no guilt. Life’s short
There was so much time spent with Zoey being a doormat to her boyfriend and holding in her feelings and wants and needs. I wish that hadn’t taken so long to resolve.

I will most likely try another book by the author as I like the premise and the characters, when not being a doormat, as this was the first book I read by this author.
I was given an ARC through Net Galley to give an honest review of the book

I know there has to be character growth, because that is the whole point of a novel, after all, but I was so annoyed at how long it took for the main character in this romance to figure out what was going on with her "perfect boyfriend" that I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her hard.

Otherwise, this was a pleasant enough romance, though I had no idea that calling someone a banana was the same as saying they were silly. Perhaps it is regional to the UK, or it is the author's own device. But each time one was called a banana, I took me out of the story a bit.

Other than that, it was a pleasant enough romance, as the main character had to find six couples to get together before Christmas or she would die.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>