ADORABLE HOLIDAY READ! 🎄

Olive is headed home for the holidays, and dreading it. Not only has she not seen or spoken to her sister in years, but she’s also told her family she’s bringing her boyfriend - who doesn’t exist.
On the plane she meets Finn. They drink, they laugh, and he offers to be her “boyfriend” and give her the best 12 days of Christmas to change her grinchy mood.

Olive and Finn have so many adorable moments. Finn plans out the sweetest dates, and Olive can’t help but smile and get into the spirit.

I usually feel uncomfortable with a fake relationship because of the lying/deception, but it’s not a big deal in this story, so I didn’t mind it.
I had a few minor issues with the storyline (some things that just didn’t make sense to me, especially involving the main “conflict”), but overall I enjoyed the book!

This book is for you if you love:
⭐️ Fake relationships
⭐️ Grumpy/Sunshine
⭐️ He falls first 🥰
⭐️ Closed door romance (with sexual tension)
⭐️ Dual POV/written in first person (my fav)

“So, I would gladly claim all your baggage if it meant you would be mine.”

Three years of avoiding family, hating Christmas, and quite frankly hating yourself. Olive Moore could hold a grudge, and if it meant actively avoiding everything she loved for years then so be it. Enter Finn. Charming, hot, able to get a stranger drunk on the mini bar of a budget airplane. With a promise to be the best (fake) boyfriend Olive has, Finn does everything in his power to make her love Christmas again. One secret of Christmas past looms overhead. Will it be enough to ruin their fake love? Or are they too far in love to let that happen?

Nothing like a good fake dating & grump/sunshine to make a little grinch heart grow three times the size. But in all seriousness, this was such a cute read! All the Christmas vibes, the family drama, a tall and handsome ski instructor who also loves hockey. I could not get enough of this book. Especially little Alea, loved her so much. The characters were so lively and fun. Coop and Finn seem like the heartbreaking dream team. Olive’s mom felt like a warm hug. This seriously was so cute. The descriptions of the setting of Aspen were so detailed as well. I’ve never been there, but I felt like I knew exactly where I was standing. Definitely a cute holiday read!!

My thoughts:
Likes - Woow I don't know where to begin with this book, because I absolutely loved and adored it. It feels like it's been forever since a book was so addicting and I fell for this story from the first page. This is the perfect amount of holiday spirit you need this time of the year. Such a lovely light heartwarming romcom. And the chemistry between Olive and Finn, oh my... I sat and smiled like a fool to myself throughout the whole story. JUST READ IT.
🎿
Dislikes - Nothing. JUST READ IT.
🎿
Read if you like:
❄️ Strangers to lovers
⛸️ Fake dating
❄️ Christmas holiday spirit
⛸️ Aspen
❄️ Christmassy activities
⛸️ Reverse grumpy x sunshine

I read this book over the span of week in small bits and enjoyed the story. Although the writing is a bit basic,the story is likeable enough because it gave very christmas-y, winter holidays, cuddle up in front of the fireplace sort of vibes. It was a sweet and cozy read and probably one of the few reverse grumpy × sunshine tropes that I enjoyed.

There's a bit of a slow burn to the romance but it felt geniune and you know, not forced ?

Overall - solid 3 stars.

Read for : holiday vibes, reverse grumpy sunshine, cutesy romance, fake-dating.


×××××

Baggage Claim was a great book to start this Christmas season! It has fake dating, forced proximity, and great humor. When Olive finally agrees to go home for Christmas, she meets Finn on the flight. He suggests posing as her fake boyfriend to help ease the tension with her family. It was very fun, festive and captivating, I sure loved this book!

Baggage Claim was such a fun holiday book! It is based in snowy Aspen, Colorado , which is the perfect Christmas setting! It references some of the biggest and most loved Christmas movies! Finley had a terrible thing happen to her in the past that made her run from Aspen and never look back... until now. But what's the best way to get through something hard? Faking dating the hot guy that sat next to you on the plane! For those like me who love the fake dating trope, you will eat this book up. Grinchy (Finley) has to come to terms with what happened in her past and her family and that may lead to a different future than she saw for herself. Baggage Claim is such a fun Christmas read that includes 12 dates of Christmas, singing Christmas songs, watching Christmas movies and maybe finding a new relationship that Finley deserved!

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩/5

cozy, cute, holiday read alert!! I really loved this. Finn & Olive we’re so cute and I loved the little bit of grumpy x sunshine with them. I also loved that it was based in Aspen, CO since I live in Colorado. this is the perfect fake dating romance with some Christmas feels

Baggage Claim by Juliana Smith was a fun festive wintery read.

Olivia and Finn meet on her plane back to her home town Aspen. Finn is the ultimate sunshine; even though he couldn’t go pro as a skier he loves his job as a ski instructor and is a ball of positivity to the point where it annoys the crap out of Olivia.

Olivia on the other hand, is the grump. After a betrayal 3 years ago, she fled her small town and hasn’t once returned and has barely been in contact with her family.

As strangers having a drink together on the plane, Olivia explains why she is dreading going back and that’s because she told her mum she’d be coming with her boyfriend. But, she doesn’t have one. 👀

That’s where cocky AF Finn and his offer of being her fake boyfriend comes in.

“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝗢𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲? 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗻? 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.”

Overall, this was a cute quick read but I found the characters were a little annoying. Finn’s ego was just too much and if he said or did half the stuff that he did to me like he did with Olivia, I just shove my hand in his face to push him away lol

It was also bit of a ‘insta-love’ vibe which I’m not a fave of but I got over it by the end of the book because of how ‘true love’ is explained by certain characters.

Overall, the writting was good and it was a cute and fun read.

If you love:

🎄 Grumpy (her) / Sunshine (he)

🎄 Fake Dating

🎄 Forced Proximity

🎄 He Falls First

🎄 Christmas Romance

🎄 Super cute read

Add it to your TBR.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5 stars

✨

olive finally makes a trip back home to colorado for christmas after 3 years. she’s dreading the family reunion after going through a traumatic event. on her flight home, she meets finn, a hottie in the seat next to hers. finn offers to be her fake boyfriend for the holidays to help her face her family and to make her love christmas again.

i was really excited about this book after reading the blurb and seeing the cute cover, unfortunately, it was disappointing. i was bored in the beginning 30% of the book. the middle was all cute and fluffy, but the last part was frustrating. i thought olive and finn lacked chemistry because of the insta-love. their relationship was mainly focused on physical attraction and it simply wasn’t convincing. they seemed more like friends rather than lovers to me.

the conflict between olive and her sister was evident from the beginning, so it didn't shock me during the big reveal. i was infuriated and felt sick to my stomach that her family condones her sister’s actions and expects olive to mend the relationship. olive deserves so much better!! i also didn't like that olive was depicted as unattractive just because she was curvy and had brown hair. i just thought her body image issues could have been addressed in a better way. the third-act breakup at the 90% mark was frustrating and unnecessary. olive and finn never talked through the issue and decided to give up on what could have been. because of that, it made me realize how incompatible they are.

though there were some moments i enjoyed, such as the holiday setting and christmassy activities—they were fun and lighthearted. it was unique to have finn as a children’s ski instructor and i thought it was so sweet of him to create the 12 days of christmas for olive. i can see why other people loved this because it's like a hallmark movie as a book. overall, i definitely enjoyed the christmas vibes more than the romance, so this book wasn’t it for me :(

tropes: christmas, fake dating, he falls first, forced proximity, reverse grumpy-sunshine, small town

2 ⭐️

thank you juliana smith and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours and Julianna Smith.

At the beginning, I really did not like Finn, he was the typical arrogant egotistical womaniser type character. The guy could not take no for answer. Thankfully though the novel he became a lot less arrogant and became the sweetest guy.

The thing that bothered me was how Olive in the past was basically described as the fat fun friend. After the drama happened three years prior to the beginning of the novel, Olive developed an ED. It is not stated in the book that it was an ED, but the systems are clear. The messaging of the book seemed to me quite fat-phobic and I don’t think the ED was handled sensitively enough.

The reveal at the end of what kept Olive away from Aspen was quite meh as it was very predictable.
Spoiler

Over all I did find this book a really cute and cosy read. And if the things mentioned above won’t bother you then I would give it a chance.

You may like this book if you like:
Holiday Romances
Fluffy Light Reads
Winter in Aspen vibes
Reverse Grumpy/Sunshine
Dual POV
Fake Dating
He Falls First
Strangers to Lovers
Hallmark Holiday Films
Family Drama


⚠️ Content Warning: ED, Fat-Phobia, Infidelity, Objectification

"If you were mine, you'd never wonder how perfect you are." Juliana Smith | Baggage Claim

Olive is dreading traveling back to her childhood home to spend Christmas with her family. On the flight, she ends up sitting next to a stunningly handsome stranger, Finn. After several hours in the air and a couple cocktails. He takes it upon himself to become her fake boyfriend for the holidays.

The fake boyfriend isn't the only cat still in the bag. But I won't give anymore away, you'll have to check it out for yourself! Might be the perfect book for you if you're traveling home for the holidays!

Baggage claim is released November 26th, 2022.

This Christmas time novel is full of feel good moments that is sure to bring you into the Christmas spirit this season! In my opinion it would make a great new holiday hallmark movie!

Goodreads: 4.25 ⭐️
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🥂"To the red-eye." Juliana Smith | Baggage Claim

"I mean we thought for sure you would end up as a lonely cat mom with the road you were headed down... We figured you went into a deep depression and would start with one kitten and then lead to two and eventually an apartment full of hair balls and wet cat food" Juliana Smith | Baggage Claim

Thank you to the Author Juliana Smith and NetGalley for the ARC Ebook give away!

“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

I loved Finn and Olive’s story! Meet cute on an airplane, reverse grumpy/sunshine, flirtatious banter, and Christmas fun. Olive is not looking forward to going home for the holidays but Finn felt something for Olive and couldn’t leave her be. Finn was so sweet, he was always there for her and determined to help her find her love for Christmas again. He set up so many fun Christmas activities for them that were also meaningful for her. Finn helped Olive find herself in ways again where she was struggling due to drama with her family. Finn came into Olive’s life when she really needed him. The family drama was predictable to be honest but the journey was sweet and helped lead Olive to work through it with her sister and family. Loved the Christmas and winter vibes this book has for this holiday season!

I DNF at 25%. 2 stars for what I did read.
The concept could have been fun and flirty, but I found the fake dating poorly executed. And I LOVE fake dating. Finn was quite presumptuous and cocky. I don’t always hate that for a MMC, but in this case it felt problematic. It left a bad taste in my mouth that he didn’t really seem to care that Olive said no to going out with him several times, he continued to ignore her and did what he wanted. Maybe it was intended to come off as confident and self assured, but it read very arrogant in my opinion.
On a grammatical/editing note, I also stumbled across several tense changes that pulled me out of the story. I definitely don’t expect perfection, but tense change is a pretty glaring error, and it happened enough that it was hard for me to read.

The concept here was cute and the story was mostly fun. I say mostly because the poor main character has a sister who slept with her boyfriend the first night they met when the main character brought her boyfriend home for Christmas. What in the actual hell. They did this on the family kitchen island too, I would never have Christmas pancakes there again. And somehow the family is fine with this after the cheaters got married? Their excuse is oh we fell in love at first sight, it couldn’t be helped. People are nasty. I wouldn’t forgive her at all. Honestly that part of the story should have been edited out. Who does that?

The rest of the story, Olive and Finn parts, was adorable. I just can’t get over the sister bonking her sisters boyfriend the same night they meet.

can we talk about her writing? it was so light, funny and cute, I loved it. since english isn’t my 1st language I always appreciate when writers write like this.

and this story? a fake dating is always a classic, and Juliana wrote it so well. I was looking forward to them to kiss because the tension was AAAAA. the cutest thing ever is Finn planing 12 days of christmas w/ Finn for Olive, and I loved to see thei evolution for strangers (and the grumpiness of Olive toward Finn) to lovers.

it is such a great book to read in the holidays, I adored it!

Baggage Claim was a super sweet closed-door romance that was exactly what I wanted to read this close to the holiday season. I live for fake dating and sunshine/grumpy tropes!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

What an adorable read! Finn and Olivia made my heart melt <3. I loved their first meeting and how Finn showed up at the restaurant. He always stood up for her and took her side and it was just everything you want in a love interest.

This book was so adorable I literally stayed up until 1:30 am to finish it in one sitting!

Finn and Olive are both very intriguing characters to be in the minds of and see the world through their eyes. I enjoyed that the grumpy sunshine of it all was reversed with Olive being grumpy and Finn being so sunshine. The amount of holiday cheer and mutual pining in this book gave me like physical heart aches in the BEST way!!

I think that this book could have been a bit longer and the characters could have gone deeper into some of the conversations that were brought up (disordered eating being a large one that was kind of glossed over), but overall I felt the Christmas vibes big with this one and will be recommending it to friends!

Very much a Hallmark movie in book form. Very Christmassy, very quick romance - and I think that's where a lot of my issues lie. It was very much an insta-love romance and that is just one of my least favourite tropes so I really struggled to believe in this story. There was also a conflict that happened towards the end, that had been hinting very obviously throughout the whole book, so it wasn't a shock at all when it was revealed, and of course the resulting third-act breakup could have very easily been resolved with literally one conversation. - So, a classic Hallmark movie in book form.

This conflict was also incredibly frustrating in another way - it has to do with the main character's sister, and as I said, it was obvious from the very beginning what the conflict and secret was to do with. But the way it was handled was just ridiculous - somehow, the main character was seen to be in the wrong in some way because she didn't let her sister explain? I mean come on, just no.

I also had an immediate dislike to the love interest, Finn, and unfortunately I just couldn't shake it throughout the book. He was very obnoxious and full of himself, convinced that he could get any girl he wanted just by smiling, and I just didn't like him as a love interest - I thought Olive could do a lot better. There was also a pretty big issue of appearance mattering more than personality in this book - Olive was seen as the ugly sister until she got a tan, dyed her hair blonde and lost weight, and this is never really addressed as an issue at all. Olive lowkey has an eating disorder, and it is never addressed by anybody, and that was so frustrating.

I would say this is a classically cheesy Christmas romance, but please be aware that eating disorders and body image issues feature heavily and are not addressed by content warnings or by the characters themselves.

This is my favorite winter romance!
Olive travels back to Aspen to see her family for the first time in years after a bad situation happened. She told her family she was coming back with a boyfriend (which was a total lie) and she didn't know what to do. Once on her flight she meets a super handsome man who is just so determined to cheer her up. He learns about her situation and offers to be her fake boyfriend and Olive declines. Getting home she says he had to work and couldn't come...but Finn has other plans..
If you love fake dating, grumpy/sunshine personalities, and Christmas, then this one is for you!
Olive is grumpy and the Grinch of Christmas. Finn is the man you wish for for Christmas. The family is the support system everyone should have. And Aspen Colorado! What a perfect place to set the book in.
I read this book in one night because I just couldn't put it down. It makes you wanna snuggle up and binge it. You will be smiling and giggling as Finn breaks through Olive's shell.