This holiday rom com was a quick and enjoyable read. It is full of witty dialogue, family dynamics, and a love story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.

I just reviewed Baggage Claim by Juliana Smith. #BaggageClaim #NetGalley

The story begins with Olive flying home to her family in Aspen for Christmas for the first time in years. She's nervous and doesn't really want to go. But then she meets Finn on the plane. He decides he will help her and give her a reason to love Christmas again.

Such a fun, quick read! I loved the banter between the characters and the Christmassy feelings I got. I raced through the book and gave it 4 stars because I was hooked!

I would advise readers to check trigger warnings.

This book has been added to the top of my list this year!!! Omg I loved everything about this book. I fell in love with Olive and Finn!!! I'm a huge grinch and it's a wonderful life fan so I loved all the references to them. This is book will make you feel like you are right there with them experiencing all the holiday traditional and dealing with some heartache. The book had me laugh alot loud alot!! I love when I find a good read like that. So if you want a feel good holiday book this one is for you!!!! Thanks for letting me read this in advanced! I can't wait to read more by this author.

Chefs kiss 💋💋

A big thank you to Juliana and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC!

I am a big fan of fake dating and this story was no disappointment. After a terrible dating experience, and avoiding her family for years, Olive agrees to go home for Christmas. Olive would give anything to make going home to Aspen a little bit easier and thanks to the red-eye it was.

I enjoyed the tension between Olive and Finn and that their relationship progressed rather quickly, always keeping my attention. It was the perfect read to get me in the holiday spirit.

Is there anything that makes it feel more like Christmas than a Christmas rom com!

This one started really strong and I flew through the first half. But as it went on there were a few niggles that I just didn't sit right with me.

What I liked:
🎄 The setting, can Aspen ever be a bad setting?!
🎄 Finn, a children's ski instructor. I mean come on
🎄 The holiday vibes
🎄 The meet cute was complete goals

What I didn't like:
🎄 The number of times Finn referred to Olive's 'blonde' hair. We get it, her hair is blonde now. Given the body image issues Olive had it was in bad taste how much emphasis he put on it
🎄 The third act conflict between Finn and Olive (why does every romance book need a third act breakup?!)
🎄 The main conflict. I appreciate a bit of family drama as much as the next person but the way it all went down and the other characters reactions made me feel sick to my stomach


Thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The perfect book to get you in the holiday mood.

“Baggage Claim” is everything I’d want in a holiday romance: fake dating, cozy scenery, feel-good moments between the main characters. Baggage Claim has all of that and more, with an extra side of grumpy sunshine and “he falls first and falls hard”.

Our two main characters are Finn and Olive. They meet on a plane while flying to Aspen for the holidays. Finn is a confident ladies man who is immediately drawn to Olive. Olive, however, is a reserved woman who has a secret past. Caught in a lie for the holidays, Finn enlists his help to be Olive’s fake boyfriend for the duration of her trip.

Overall this book is a delight! Olive is a major grump, borderline insufferable in the beginning, but her character development was incredible. She went from being completely against the idea of being in a fake relationship, to staying up all night cuddling with Finn — in HIS home! Finn was equally as charming, though his confidence occasionally came off as cockiness.

My biggest gripe is Olive’s family. While it’s not hard to piece together the Big Secret, I couldn’t get past the fact that everyone around Olive had moved on from what happened. For Olive’s mom to spend most of the book making comments to guilt Olive into accepting the past was so off putting to me. It’s 2022, let’s not normalize toxic family actions! Regardless, it’s a testament to how good of a writer Smith is to make me so viscerally upset at Olive’s family.

Would most definitely reread this. I hope Cooper gets his own book next!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5102531839

I really liked this book!

I usually find a lot of Christmas romance books to be quite cringe and over the top so I didn't have my expectations set too high going into this but I was very pleasantly surprised!

There's fake dating, grinchy/sunshine and it was written really well, I loved the characters (well most of them anyway) and the fact that the story had more angles than just a cutesy romance.

One thing that did get me though was how all the way through this book there was this huge relationship breakdown between our FMC and other side characters because he cheated on her with someone and none of them have spoken for years and she still doesn't want to speak to them yet at the end she's like "it was more like friends with benefits" like Hun if that was the case you wouldn't have not spoken to these people for all these years even still at the end of the book properly.

But other than that I did thoroughly enjoy the book so thankyou to netgalley, the author and the publishers for providing me with this excellent festive read.

A book full of Chrismassy vibes, set in Colorado, with a character called Finn (or sometimes Finland)? As a Christmas loving Finnish person who has lived in Colorado I found it all very promising and hoped the book would be good - and it was! So good! This book ticked all of my Christmas read loving boxes, it was swoony and fun, and the story flowed perfectly.

Olive had left her hometown of Aspen, Colorado in a rush three years ago after something very traumatic happened to her. She hasn't been back since but after promising her mother that she would be home for Christmas this year she has no choice but to go. After meeting another Aspen resident, Finn, on the plane she ends up having a great time on the way over and once in Aspen Finn keeps reappearing to cheer her up.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Juliana Smith for the ARC - I think I need to by a physical copy of this book, too, because I'll want to add it to my annual Christmas reading list!

Heavy trigger warning for cheating. If you guessed who cheated on who with who in the first couple chapters, yep you've guessed right. I went in expecting a light cheery book and I definitely did not anticipate such sadness (and utter cruelty imo, how tf can you do this to someone you love?).

The 2 stars I did give is because the main romance was nice. I liked how the MMC helped the FMC with her issues.

Also, I hated the third act breakup (why didn't he help her or talk with her lol, he grossly overreacted.. obviously she's going through something traumatic). I am so annoyed with the the trauma the FMC went through with anyone involved in hurting her, she deserves so much better.

i was so extremely excited for this and i ended up not enjoying it as much as i thought. when i received the arc for this i immediately started it because i had such high hopes of liking it and falling in love with both characters...and then finn talked.

i am not at all attracted to the very cocky, egotistical man that finn portrayed... sometimes it can be hot, but this man just did not do it for me. a lot of the time i just wanted him to shut up but there were for sure times that he was sweet towards olive and i mentally said "aw". i just think overall i was not swooning over him and that made me sad.

olive was just an average FMC. nothing wrong with her but nothing that im in love with either. i do hate the fact that she was considered "ugly" when she was curvier and had short brown hair...that really put me off since im a curvy girl with brown hair. i get that it was supposed to show that what happened to her 3 years ago really effed her up mentally, but i think there could have been a better way to portray that mental struggle.

i did like the fake dating aspect (im a sucker for fake dating no matter what) but i just did not feel the chemistry at all. there was definite physical chemistry between finn and olive but no other chemistry and it did not make me believe they actually fell in love with each other. there were also some story aspects that didn't quite make sense to me, but maybe im just overthinking it lol.

overall, i liked the idea of this book but i just did not vibe with it :(

thank you to julianna and netgalley for the arc of baggage claim! this book was a fun, grumpy-sunshine christmas story with dual-pov. i loved the banter the two main characters shared along with their cute nicknames and overall chemistry. a sweet story for the holidays!

4.5 🌟 1 🌶
"If you were mine, you'd never wonder how perfect you are." 🎄

This book warmed my heart! I was hooked from the start, it was PERFECT light-read to read as a winter/holiday book and now I want to go on the 12 dates of Christmas (specifically with Finn). It was the sweetest, swoon-worthy story, from their meet-cute, to the nicknames, to the very last line. I need more Olive and Finn!! Also, I'm so ready to book a trip to Aspen, CO now 👀 But this book kept a smile on my face the whole time that I was reading it and gave me just such cozy vibes. I really couldn't put this down, and I'm so excited for my physical copy to arrive 😍

Be on the look out for Star Wars and Avatar references, too ;)

Tropes:
- fake dating
- reverse grumpy/sunshine
- he falls first
- ALL the Christmas vibes ☃️🤍🎅🏻
- forced proximity
-family drama

*Thank you Juliana and NetGalley for the ARC 📚*

This book put me in ALL of my feels! Fake dating trope is my favorite trope and Juliana Smith did it just right! This book is a dual POV and Finn just falls HARD for Olive... fast. This book is cocky boy/ grumpy girl. If you enjoyed "It Happened One Summer" you will definitely enjoy the winter version. "Baggage Claim" had me wishing I was visiting Aspen for the holidays.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I was really excited about this one because the cover and description sounded very appealing to me, but sadly, this was a huge let-down.

First of all, I want to talk about the way body image issues and eating disorders are displayed in this book, because this was one of my main issues and I would hate for anyone to get triggered by reading this.

I find it a bit irresponsible to not include content warnings (unless they get added in the final version of the book, but the ARC didn't have any), especially in a holiday romance. Christmas season can be a challenging time for anyone who's struggling with their weight or who has an eating disorder.
Personally, I was disgusted by some of the statements made in the book. The FMC lost a lot of weight and developed an eating disorder after a major event in her life (that I will touch on later) because of a desire to be "pretty and hot" so that what happened to her would not be repeated. She also had thoughts like "being funny is not enough, you have to be skinny and hot" or "my hips were wider than hers, but at least I was always a good time."
While I do not deny that these are thoughts some of us have, I do find it problematic that there was zero acknowledgment that this is not a healthy thought pattern or that it is not actually true that you need to be skinny and hot to be worthy of love.
It was also disappointing that the resolution of the eating disorder was that she is happy in love and therefore able to get over it, because that is diminishing the gravity of eating disorders.

The way the eating disorder and body image issues were written made it seem very obvious to me that no sensitivity readers were hired in the writing process, which I think is irresponsible when writing about a topic like this that affects so many of us.

Apart from that, I also just did not enjoy the book in general.
So much of it was over the top, especially the main conflict. We learned from the beginning that there had been some sort of betrayal from the FMC's older sister, and it was pretty obvious what happened early on, yet the reveal only happened around 80 %. I only kept reading because I wanted to know how it happened, and I laughed out loud because it was so ridiculous.
But what was even worse was how the other characters reacted to this betrayal. The sister and the other person involved never really apologized. Instead, they were upset that she didn't let them explain. Uhm no, the FMC did not owe them to listen to their explanation, after what they did, they do not deserve anything.
But what's even worse is how the MMC reacted to finding out about what happened. He knew the MMC for roughly two weeks at this point, yet gets super angry at her for not telling him about the most traumatic event in her life that triggered her eating order and depression???

Maybe I just have a different preference, but I personally like my romance novels to feature third-act conflicts that don't make me hate the MMC for his reaction.

Speaking of the MMC, he was very handsome. And gorgeous. And charming. And handsome. And everyone loves him. Did I mention that he was handsome? Seriously, how stereotypical can one be? And even worse, the FMC is also gorgeous (well, now that she is skinny of course), but she doesn't know it, luckily the MMC makes her see it.
I thought we left those toxic stories in 2010, but obviously not.

And lastly, this is a minor thing but immediately made me question the book's quality: The book starts on a budget airline flight, there are multiple mentions of how this was a cheap flight and the airline isn't good. Yet they have in-flight entertainment, get free sleeping masks and liquor samples??? This is so contradictory and unrealistic and in the context of everything that followed, it just contributed to my impression that the author did not care too much about the contents in her book and whether or not they're in any way realistic.

Sorry for leaving such a bad review but I really did not like anything about this book. I hope the author takes more caution in whatever they write next.

DNF at 35%. I was looking forward to this one and really wanted to like it but too many things rubbed me the wrong way. First, Finn offers to fake date Olive and she says no. He shows up anyway and forces his way into her family dinner. She eventually agrees to it but he pushes her. Second, the guy has a huge ego and comes across as a jerk. He brags about all that women he's dated and how he doesn't stick around, and talks about how he knows how good looking he is. The third and final straw is the repeated emphasis on Olive's looks -- skinny, blonde, and tan.
This combination may work for other readers but it's a big miss for me.

This is a very rare occurrence with me, I’ve only done it twice before—I DNF’d this book. I could NOT handle the male protagonist, Finn. He is condescending. He is arrogant. He is, for lack of a better word, a dick. At first, I thought it was simply my personal preference as far as men goes. I don’t care for the “bro-dude” character at all. Never have. So I tired to push past my own expectations and preferences. Then we got to the resort scene when Finn brought Olive some ski gear. When she began changing, she told him to turn around. & made a snide comment along the lines of “awww do i have to?” Are you kidding me? No thank you. I made it 40% through this novel & it was a truly a struggle.

I adored this book! I fell for the cute cover and fun name and I'm SO glad I was given this ARC. If you love fake dating and the one bed trope, this is for you! It also had perfect holiday/cozy weather vibes!

Baggage Claim is the perfect book to start the holiday season!

In the story Olive has to go visit her family for Christmas, but she is not prepared to face her past. The reason why she left three years ago and never came back, until now. And also why she hates Christmas since then.

Finn, the type of guy that makes all eyes turn when he walks by and loves attention, can't believe how his charm doesn't work with her.

She needs a fake boyfriend for Christmas so her family would leave her alone & he accepts the challenge to make her cold heart grow.

I don't have enough words to describe how much I loved this book. I mean, my favorite trope –fake dating –and my favorite holiday –Christmas all together in a book? *chef kiss* Juliana Smith writing provides us different POV of this whole holiday chaos. The hints of comedy and the movie reference makes the experience of reading this book even more enjoyable.

The only thing I didn't like was how the conflict was held at the end, but since most of the book is just Olive and Finn, I just choose to ignore that small detail and gave it 4.5/5.

This book comes out on November 26, 2022 but preorders are available.

Huge thanks to both netgalley and the author for the ARC.

This book was a roller coaster of emotions. It stretched beyond your typical fake dating scenario, and Finn was able to help Olive break down some of walls and to reclaim some of her joy. They truly were the most compatible, and I loved watching them fall for one another little by little as the story progressed.

While I LOVED the 2 MCs and for the most part, their relationship, I did have a few issues with the book as well. First of all, I HATED how Olive “before” was basically described as the funny fat friend. Her appearance and “transformation” is mentioned several times, which honestly makes the whole story seem a little fatphobic. My second issue-and this is a major one-is the whole conflict between Olive and her sister. So your sister sleeps with your boyfriend WHILE YOU WERE ALL IN THE SAME HOUSE, and eventually marries the guy, but you’re supposed to just get over it because it was love at first sight and he never really loved you anyway???? I’m sorry NOPE. That is absolute betrayal in the HIGHEST form and I honestly hated that everyone else sort of brushed it under the rug and expected Olive to just kind of come to terms with it.

I wish I could’ve rated the book higher, because I did enjoy most of it, but it is ABSOLUTELY not okay that Olive was done dirty like that and just sort of expected to deal. Nope.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours. All opinions are my own.

In this book, Olive Moore travels back to Aspen to spend her first Christmas with her family there since a massive falling out with her sister, years before. On the plane, she meets a young man named Finn, and he picks up on her nerves. They bond a little, and he offers to be her fake boyfriend for the next two weeks (since she's lied and told her family she has one). Shenanigans ensue.

Disclaimer: This is not my personal cuppa.

You might like this if you enjoy:
-fluffy, light reads
-fake dating
-arrogant boy x grumpy girl dynamics
-Aspen Christmas vibes
-skiing
-meddling family or family drama plots
-instalove
-Hallmark channel holiday films
-snowy aesthetic settings

The plot is really straightforward, and it doesn’t get very complicated. If you want something simple that ticks those boxes above, you might like this.

It wasn’t quite my thing, though.

Personally, I’m not so much a fan of “oh, all women ever love me” style characters, so this wasn’t really for me. I don't mind a "himbo" type character, but Finn often veered into narcissism, especially earlier on in the book.

There were also some moments when Olive said no and Finn kept pushing his way into her life anyway (nothing physical, thankfully, but still socially uncomfortable and beyond what I find okay). Honestly, Olive’s rejection of Finn’s plan (to let him be her fake boyfriend for two weeks) in the beginning is believable, but Finn’s continued disregard of her wishes is less so. He literally approaches her family in a restaurant after being told to take a hike after their flight together and poses as the boyfriend she told them about. At that point, if I was Olive, I’d be worried that he was an ax murderer or something. However, I am not Olive. Olive is starring in a romance novel. Take from that what you will. All said, I think this problem could be addressed handily if Olive was a little more on board with Finn’s initial suggestion, even if reluctantly. About midway through the book, he became more likeable. Being in his head was less of a constant stream of "I'm so great, everyone loves me, why doesn't Olive fall at my feet when I show her attention?"

My second major issue with the book was the treatment of the "baggage" Olive has with a certain other member of her family. This traumatized her so badly, she developed an ED. The book doesn't identify it as that, but the symptoms are clear. This is not really resolved, apart from a few lines at the end that left me skeptical and a little uncomfortable. And the explanation we're given for that familial baggage is so incalculably poor that it feels insulting to Olive, for her family to frame things the way they do. Finn is the only one who calls it out for what it is (though parts of his reaction are a bit unhealthy as well, in different ways). There was definitely more room to explore that subject and the fallout--to really make it more three-dimensional, but it remained pretty flat.

So, it really just depends on what you're wanting out of your Christmassy romances. If those above-mentioned things don't bother you, and you just want to chill and read something light (not everything's gotta be freaking Kafka), you might like this? It depends on what you feel comfortable with, honestly. It's a pretty quick read, and it sticks to the plot pretty closely. I <i>did</i> like Olive. Her love for podcasts and her stubbornness were sweet. There were some cozy moments, too. Finn's toast, watching the snowy town through the windows, talking on the phone for hours, etc.

Note: There was one significant formatting error. Chapter 37 and 38 were the same, though repeated. But, that's something that's easily fixed before release.

Content Warnings: fat-phobia, ED, infidelity, toxic family relationships, objectification

ARC received from NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review.