Monica Adams Skips Christmas was a quick and cute little sapphic holiday novella that unpacked A LOT of story in such a short amount of time. It mostly worked for me, outside of the pacing, and I wish it had been a bit longer to flesh out the story a bit more, buuuutttt I did enjoy it!

I requested this because I saw that it was a sapphic engineering student. Imagine my dismay as an Iowa State engineering student when the MC goes to freaking Iowa. You don't go to Iowa for engineering, so no wonder she dropped out. I did enjoy the plot of her taking time off of college and figuring out what to do outside of her parent expectations.

The romance was unremarkable, though I did like their date and the bookstore elements. This book could've been a full novel, so it felt rushed and unresolved in the novella format. I did like the bisexual representation and the biphobia the MC faces, but the rest of the book was meh. It was a quick read at least.

Monica Grant Skips Christmas is a short, and I do mean short, novella about Monica, a bisexual who comes back to Chicago to be home for the holidays with her folks, expecting to meet up with her long distance boyfriend, only to discover that he has been cheating on her all year, and tells her this when she is waiting to be picked up from the train station.

Meanwhile, she runs into her childhood next door neighbor, Paige, who seems to be a good companion to hang out with, now that her boyfriend has dumped her, and Paige has dumped her girlfriend.

And seeing as this is a short book, you have to get them together and realize that they are made for each other. 🙂

And so, this novella does. It isn’t a total “bah humbug” in the end, as you can be sure since this is a romance.

Light, quick and queer. What else could you want for a good read, other than more of the same.

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

A fast-paced Novella. It packed a lot of subject matter into such a short timeframe but unfortunately that meant the emotional connection simply wasn't there.

These characters and their issues simply didn't get the attention or substance they deserved - so it left the story wanting.

A big thank you to Krista Harper, Southside Mountain Press, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Monic Adams Skips Christmas comes out November 29, 2023.

Monic Adams Skips Christmas is a cute very quick short story about a 18 year old college girl coming back home for Christmas. When getting home from Iowa Monic can't seem to catch a break: her boyfriend (now ex) not only breaks up with her over the phone he also doesn't pick her up from the train station, her parents are too busy to come see her, the house isn't decorated for Christmas and her room was giving to her grandfather. After this Monica decides she isn't going to celebrate Christmas, the only good thing that happened to her when getting home is running into her cute upstairs neighbor, Paige. Will Monica be able to get back her holiday spirit or is she destined to be this years scrooge.

This novella was absolutely adorable and heartwarming. I felt so bad for Monica at the beginning and just wanted to give her a hug. The author was able to stick so much feeling and heart into this story. Even sticking some tougher topics including parental pressures, a grandparent with dementia, bi-phobia and racism. Overall the story was a beautiful novella about getting on the track to finding yourself even when the universe keeps throwing punches.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas by Krista Harper was a quick, cute and enjoyable read.
I enjoyed this book. The author did a wonderful job with the Friends-to-Lovers trope.
I did feel like some of it was a bit slow for me. But still I enjoyed the the characters and setting.
I was pleasantly surprised at the storyline, and enjoyed the plot!
I will pick up this authors future books.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Southside Mountain Press,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

3.5✨

If you want to read a short Christmas book, this is highly recommended, it's beautiful, it reads fast and the plot is very simple, the characters are very cute and the main characters, Monica and Paige, are simply beautiful.🥰🤍

Thanks netgalley for this arc

Monica Adams Skips Christmas is, to me, a novella that's trying to fit too much in, in too short a space of time. It has promise! I can see myself wanting to read more of these characters and more of the romance. But 70 pages or so is just not enough time to cover as much as this book wanted to. In trying to wrap everything up in a neat little bow by the end, the various plotlines felt shallow and unsatisfactorily resolved. This is, obviously, a novella, so there might always be some element of that, sure, but it felt pretty major here. So, in the end, this was a book that I only ever really felt was okay. It showed brief moments of promise but was, ultimately, just alright.

This book was a short romantic christmas story! Really loved the characters but the story is so short that I really missed the depth in the characters and book. Loved the christmas vibe that the book give me :)

This was pretty cute, but it felt very rushed and due to that, I couldn't properly get into it. Although it was nice to see some Polish representation.

3 ⭐️ Gay YA Christmas novellas are so cute.

If you’re in a bit of a reading slump, I feel like this would be the perfect little treat that might just get you out of it.

Monica is coming home for Christmas after being away in college for three months. On her first day back, her boyfriend of three years breaks up with her over a phone call, and admits he’s been kind of cheating on her… right after telling her that he’s not going to pick her up from the train station where she’s already waiting. She makes her way home only to see that her parents have given her room to her grandpa, who’s had to move back home with them. So they’ve given Monica a little cot and heater and have send her to the basement - Or they would’ve, if her parents were home when she got there, but they’re so busy with their shop that they barely have time to eat or sleep, let alone see their daughter home. And thus, Monica gets home to an apartment that’s not decorated for Christmas, an abundance of memories and Christmas traditions with the guy who used to be one of her best friends but now's nothing more than an ex, and a cold basement. The only kind of ok thing is her cute upstairs neighbour, Paige, who’s been checking in on her grandpa during the days when he’s alone at the apartment. But, no. Monica decides she's officially skipping the holiday season this year.

My absolute favourite thing about this story is the bisexual representation, and the tackling of just how much biphobia is still rampant, even within the LGBTQ+ community. So many people who are attracted to just one gender have such a hard time understanding that someone could be different than themselves, that they invent stories in their head about how some who’s bi is “actually just confused” and they’re either really straight but they’re “going through a phase”, or they’re gay and afraid to admit it… Yeah… No. We left that mentality behind with the boomers, but apparently bisexuals aren’t granted the same understanding that gay and lesbian people do - and honestly, these days the world is a scary place for everyone, and we’re still pitting ourselves against each other. Seriously? But yeah, I'm rating now. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, and all that.

There was a lot of emphasis on family and on Monica's polish decent and traditions, which was also really fun to read. Overall, this novella’s nothing extraordinary - but it’s a fast, easy, not all that romantic, more just angsty YA experiences with a fun twist.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
0 / 5🌶️

ps: I want to read more about Sophie and the cute English guy!

PIEROGI IS ALREADY PLURAL. YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE IT AS "PIEROGIES". Also, everyone is too busy to talk for 5minutes, but apparently pierogi (which take HOURS to make) are lying around in the fridge??

regarding the book itself, it should have been a bit longer : the plot feels rushed, the characters too flat.

But what bothered me most was the badly done Polish representation. Some polish words were written correctly, some weren't. If you can write café, you can write Kraków. The way the MC's grandfather (who is Polish) speaks English doesn't sound like a Polish person speaking in broken English. When we speak a foreign language, a lot of the mistakes we make come from translating our mother tongue directly (for example, polish people would tend to forget "the" or "a" because we don't really have an equivalent in polish).
The MC's sister is born in Poland, yet her first name has a letter that isn't used in polish ? The MC's name is also written with the American spelling, not the polish one. It's said in the text that their family name has been americanized, but we don't have any explanation for their first names.

In conclusion, I liked the idea, not the execution.

I was excited for this book because the plot sounds like something I would really enjoy reading. It's sapphic + it has the christmas vibes I'm looking for atm AND the cover is so pretty. But even after reading just 2 pages I knew that this wouldn't be good. The sentences are way too long sometimes and everything just feels so forced. It feels like a rough draft that hasn't been edited at all. There is so much telling without showing and so many eyeroll worthy moments. From stereotypes to trying to be cool and knowledgeable and failing.. you can find it all in this books and all done badly.

She describes everything so blandly it doesn't feel real at all. I feel like I'm reading a preschool essay or what a kid thinks relationships / romances are like. There are no real emotions, no chemistry, no character development, no banter, nothing to be intruiged or entertained by. I really don't get why someone would read this.

Besides the obligatory 'I blow out the breath I didn't know I was holding' and other phrases that just say absolutely nothing, it genuinely just feels like bad fanfiction. Like if this was fanfiction I would stop reading and go find something better.

I am pretty sure I would have dnfed this book if it wasn't so short and I wanted to get it over with. Everything felt super rushed but I didn't mind that much because I just wanted it to be over.

Also this book made me really uncomfortable. I know it's queer and it doesn't say anything against lgbtq+ people, but because everything is so underdeveloped it sometimes feels homophobic nonetheless.
And when the polish grandpa says things like 'Elzbieta, I need hat for work. I no find mine.' (direct quote) I can't help but feel like this is just weird and stereotypical.

Because of how little the characters, their emotions, flaws, background etc. are explored everything feels like a cliche and that just makes it feel inappropriate and uncomfortable.

I did not like any of the characters. Well actually I pretty much actively hate most of the characters. The parents are basically non existent, but shitty nonetheless. They are an absolute cliche of the absent, unsupportive parents while still trying to be good? The main character and love interest are so incredibly bland and have no chemistry whatsoever. The ex boyfriend is bland aswell and also has no personality besides being a football douche. I disliked the sister in the beginning because her character is just weird and kind of irrelevant to the story. In the second half I started ti hate her though. She is a bad sister and just such an annoying character. Also she's bland like everyone else. I couldn't even hate her properly because there is just not enough character information to hate.

I very rarely give 1 star reviews, but this one does deserve it. I was looking forward to the story and it could have been good, but not by this author and not while being this short.

Also while reading this book I was convinced that it was a debut novel. It is not. Somehow that makes it even worse. I don't think I will every read anything by this author again. I feel bad about leaving such a bad review but I really disliked this book.
And it's such a shame as well because the cover is so beautiful!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Monica Adams Skips Christmas in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this! It’s a short, sapphic christmas novella and it got me in the Christmas spirit. I enjoyed it so much and fell in love with Paige.

As a bisexual woman, i really resonated with Monica’s character and this quote in particular stood out to me:

‘The frustrating thing about liking multiple genders is that oftentimes, you’re too queer for straight people and too straight for gays.’

I loved seeing her know herself as a person and find her happy ending, fighting for what she really wants and standing up to her parents.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas by Krista Harper is a sweet and cute holiday rom-com full of family dynamics.

This short novella took less than 2 hours to read and put me into the holiday spirit.

This was such a cute book. I devoured it and it left me wanting to read it all over again!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

This is a novella/short story. With a suggested reading time of 2 hours I expected it to be longer than 80 pages. Monica Adams (19) returns home to Chicago on her first break from college. She wants to tell her parents she wants to drop out but they are so busy working she hardly sees them. Her boyfriend dumps her and her grandfather has been moved into her room at home. Christmas isn’t turning out like she planned. And she is more than a little whiny about it.

Upstairs neighbor Paige Yoshida (18) is the one bright spot. They went to school together but weren’t in the same crowds. As they get reacquainted during the break Paige confesses she had a long time crush on Monica.

The author tries to put a lot into the story; first generation immigrants, caring for aging (grand) parents, family expectations and it is almost too much for a new adult romance. Especially when there is almost no romance in the pages. If this the set up for ongoing series then the set up is good. If this is the entire story for these characters then I was left with a lot of questions and am not satisfied. (2.5 to 3 stars)

I got ARC of this book from netgalley, so thank you

This so very cute christmas romance. It reminded me of those cheesy netflix romance movies, that i probably have watched all, but with sapphic twist to it.

I loved how it was light but also dealt with bit heavier themes and that i didnt take away the holiday vibes. As a lesbian i loved the romance very much and adored how it was portrayed, it was put there very naturally and felt very good.

Overall very cute, light, christmasy book to get in the vibe of holidays and just make you feel better. Very glad i got to read this

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎄 ❄️🐴🇵🇱

The only thing I didn't like about this book is how short it was! I want more, please!

Monica and Paige are life goals man. I mean who wouldn't want to end up with their high school crush?

I loved the representation in this book, with a bisexual Polish-American main female character, an Asian lesbian female main character, Polish characters, disabled side characters (wheel-chair), dementia and everything that comes with it.

It was a cute story about being brave about asking for what you want and feeling valid. It was about getting over a breakup and moving on to someone better. It was a beautiful Christmas romcom, and I so wish it was longer.

Thanks to Netgalley, Southside Mountain Press and Krista Harper for a copy of the ebook. This review is written voluntarily.

Sweet Christmas novella. Monica is home for Christmas but everything seems to be going wrong… Until she reconnects with Paige who lives in the apartment upstairs. Quick, cute read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for Monica Adams Skips Christmas to come out November 29, 2022!

(Unfortunately, NetGalley is not finding this book on Goodreads so will only do my review in NetGalley and on Instagram.)