Novellas are hard for me because I love the buildup, world creation, and in-depth discovery of character traits. However, I loved this novella! It packed so much into 80 short pages. I appreciated the character growth, self discovery, and rekindling of old crushes/friendships.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Southside Mountain Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

In my opinion, it is a nice novella for Christmas but it tries to talk about many different topics but, as it is so short, I feel no connection with the problems in the book. Furthermore, I think the rhythm of the story is too fast and yo can't really appreciate the development of the characters.

Super cute and diverse Christmas read, easy for a one-sitting feels good novella. Enjoyed the cast but felt it could have fared better as a full novel because a lot of things felt glossed over far too quickly. One of the queer focal discussions did feel uncomfortably forced and negative stereotyping. but that was my biggesr ptoblem.

But did she actually skip Christmas? No. I don't think so.

Thank goodness this was a quick read, I flew through it, and I liked all of the characters, but I want a bit MORE. And you know.....for Monica to actually attempt skipping Christmas, obviously.

I received a free copy through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas caught my eye when I saw it on Netgalley and I am glad I got approved for a copy. It's a fun and sweet Christmas novella with a well done romance, clear Christmas vibes and some other topics that got touched upon.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas is told from Monica's point of view. When she's returning home for Christmas she dreads having to tell her parents she's quitting college, then her boyfriend breaks up with her and leaves her stranded at the train station, when she finally gets home she realizes her grandfather has taken her old bedroom.

I was immediately impressed with how many topics the book addressed and the way it made Monica's life feel real with everything doing on. It felt well done, but with the shorter length of the book I felt like it was a bit to much. And I would've liked a slightly longer read so the topics could be delved in a bit more and everything had a bit more time to develop.

I thought Monica's struggles with what to study and do with the rest of her life felt realistic and I liked how this was part of the story, although I would've liked to see what she does decide to do/ study. Then there was her grandfather who is confused at times and wanders outside at times, but her parents don't seem to listen. It was sad to see her grandfather in that state, but I liked reading about the bond he and Monica shared. There is a bit of family expectations and struggles going on and touches upon the struggles of her family who immigrated from Poland and the pressure and expectations they put upon their daughters. Besides that Monica has to deal with her boyfriend who broke up and her feelings regarding the matter and her new budding romance with her neighbor Paige.

I liked the romance between Monica and Paige, especially those first few times they spend together and grow closer. I liked the way Monica wasn't afraid to apologize after being a bit stand-offish to Paige when she just arrives home. I liked how Monica confided in Paige about her boyfriend breaking up and her decision to quit school. It was fun to read about them spending time together. There was a clear connection there and I enjoyed reading about them. I thought the last part went a bit too quickly and I didn't really like how Monica didn't go and explain things when something happened to cause miscommunication between them. I liked their romance and wanted to see more of them.

The Christmas vibes were clearly present and I enjoyed reading this one so close to Christmas. Monica loves the season, but is struggling to find her Christmas spirit this year. I liked seeing how she eventually found some joy this Christmas season after all.

To summarize: I enjoyed Monica Adams Skips Christmas. It's an easy read with plenty of sweet and fun moments, a well done romance, plenty of Christmas spirit as well as touching upon some difficult topics like deciding what to study, family troubles and her grandfather being confused. While I liked and was impressed with the variety of topics the book tackles, I thought the book tried to address a bit too much in such a short read and felt the ending felt a bit off due to that as I wanted to delve a bit more into these topics and see how everything played out. The romance was well done and I liked seeing Monica and Paige spend time together, things do progress a bit fast in the second half and I wasn't a fan of the miscommunication issue, but appreciated how things got resolved. The Christmas vibes were well done and I liked seeing Monica find some joy this season after struggling to find her Christmas spirit.

There’s a reason most romance novels are 300-500 pages long. You just can’t do a love story justice in 80 pages. This was so rushed. Story beats happened on fast forward, characters were underdeveloped for the sake of brevity, and the romance, which had the potential to be a really cute, queer, friends to lovers moment, ended up falling so flat, with Monica and Paige displaying little to no chemistry. I felt nothing for the side characters and the main tension came and went so fast I almost didn’t realize it was happening.
As a longer, more involved romance, I think this could have a lot of potential. But unfortunately, as a short story, it just isn’t it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading holiday-themed books during the holidays, so I requested this on Netgalley, thinking it would be a cute, easy romance. It turned out to be a romance, sure (albeit a very, VERY tame one), and it was easy to read (barely took me an hour). But my main complaint was the writing, which was … bleh. Characters were flat. Potential conflicts which would’ve added to the plot were boring. And everything is supposed to wrap up nicely in a romance novel, but I absolutely refuse to believe all the various things that were messed up in Monica’s life resolved themselves in one day. So yeah, not the book for me. Maybe it will be for someone else!

I did not love this book. It went by way too fast and there wasn’t enough time to really get to know the characters or for them to develop.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas is very sweet but waayyy too short. I don't know if I'm not a novella person, or if I just haven't found the right one, but this had way too much going on. Monica is dealing with a recent breakup, a sick grandfather, a family who is too busy working to spend time with her, dropping out of college, and falling for someone new. At least one of these plotlines can be cut, and this story wouldn't lose anything. If anything, Monica, and Paige, her love interest could become more developed characters. Every time I thought I was finally getting to know Monica, some sort of drama happened and any growth was forgotten. I was not a fan of her family, and felt all her problems with them wrapped up way too quickly. I did like her relationship with her grandfather, the discussions of her Polish heritage and the romance was sweet if underdeveloped. I thought pretty much all conflict related to Monica's ex was not needed, but it add least allowed Monica to grow a little!

Overall, this was fine. I don't regret reading it at all, and if you're looking for a quick, cute Christmas read maybe try it out! There are definitely better sapphic holiday romances but this certainly a welcome addition to the stack. More Holigays, please!

This is a short and sweet novella. It was written very well. I enjoyed the author’s writing. The story was okay, it felt a bit rushed, even for a novella. I felt that if the author had written even a little bit more they would have been able to keep it novella length while adding a bit more to the story. The characters were nicely written. I loved Grandpa Jerzy. This novella was that fun, typically cheesy Christmas romance without being overkill, but I also felt it was missing something.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas by Krista Harper

Shout out to #southsidemountainpress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this #eARC !

Monica Adams is thrilled to be home for the holidays and away from the pressure of engineering classes for a few weeks. But once she arrives home her boyfriend promptly dumps her, her parents have relocated her to the basement in order to give her grandpa her bedroom, and her parents have no free time to spend with her. She quickly enters Grinch mode until she finds someone possibly worth coming back out of her shell for.

This was a super quick holiday read. It is all about what’s important in life; a good reminder for this time of year. It was quick paced, cute and quirky. I highly recommend for those looking for a quick holiday read.

🎄🎄🎄🎄 - 4/5

Really short little novella, and under developed, I wish it was longer so we could get more out of the characters and the story. The Polish stuff... some of it was okay... but a lot of it didnt really make sense and was kind of weird.

3/5 stars

This is a quick novella, 80 pages. I was left wishing I had more. We know very little about who Monica actually is. We know she is polish, a freshman and is oblivious to how much a conceited jerk her ex-boyfriend is. We know nothing about who she actually is as a person.

Yes the author tells us she is going to school to become an engineer and that she is Bi but how about showing us rather then telling us. She also never mentions that she isn’t happy with her major until the very end when it’s like oh really that’s a surprise to EVERYONE!

That was my biggest issue with this book is I wish she spent more time showing us details instead of telling us.

She also really isn’t skipping Christmas, she talks about not liking Christmas once in the book and then it only pops up again at the end. Some consistency would have been nice.

It was a cute quick read that I wish had been longer so Kristas Harper could have given us more time to learn about Monica.

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me a copy of Monica Adams Skips Christmas in return for my honest opinions.

This is a short sapphic romance novella.
It is very short, too short to unpack all that it's brought up and the writing wasn't strong enough to support it, it almost read very indie and it left me a bit disappointed.

It was a nice, fast paced book with a very pleasant writing style. I think the story line could have gone a little deeper like the Alzheimer's from the granddad, and also the feelings through the story.

But eventually a very comfy Christmas book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"Monica Adams Skips Christmas" by Krista Harper is a short and sweet story about a young woman named Monica returning home for her first Christmas after her first year of college. While waiting for her ride home at the train station, she learns that her boyfriend, Bryce, has been cheating on her and wants to break up. Monica's pretty sure that this is the start to a terrible Christmas break - until she runs into Paige, her cute neighbor

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm absolutely a sucker for sapphic holiday romances. And this definitely fit the bill! But on top of the Christmas cheer, Harper also tells a story of the Adams family: Monica's parents, Polish immigrants who moved to America in the hopes of a better life for their children. Monica's sister, an aspirational woman born in Poland but raised in America, who went on to study law. Monica's grandfather, who is sweet but who Monica worries may need more care than her parents realize in his old age. And Monica (of course) who went to college to become an engineer but who is currently wondering if that's what she wants to do for the rest of her life. Harper examines the inter-generational relationships of this family and how they've shaped Monica's life. I thought it was done well, and was still interesting to read.

And then there's Paige - the perfect love interest, she's fun and interesting and (naturally) an art student who works at an independent bookstore. We get lots of sweet trope-y romance moments and they were all so fun to read!

I don't want to say too much and accidentally spoil the book (it's a short, quick read, after all) but suffice to say this is an adorable Christmas read if you're looking for sappy sapphics with a bit of extra plot and character study thrown in the mix! I only wish there'd been more of it to read.

Here is my honest opinion: If an author is going to write a short novella at least let the characters have some sort of chemistry. There was no chemistry between them. It honestly felt like friends then boom “I like you”. I didn’t care too much about the lack of depth because it’s a short cute little novella, there isn’t supposed to be a huge amount of depth.

I love a good quick read like this, and when you add in a gay awakening storyline Im always interested. I think this would have worked better as a full length novel just so all the themes could have been explored in greater detail. I would have just liked to get to know the characters a bit more.

It was cute but since it was pretty short it felt rushed and could have been fleshed out more. I think this would have worked for me a little more if it was longer.

I really loved this one! I actually didn’t know it was a novella before starting it and honestly I would have loved to read a full novel about Monica and Paige, they deserve it!

I can relate to so much of Monica‘s life, especially the shitty sister. Yes halfway through she was kind of nice but it was shitty what she did before nonetheless and having a sister similar to her.. it‘s annoying and in my opinion Monica was okay with it way too quickly!
Anyways, I absolutely love Seth even tho he was there for like 2 seconds but I fell in love with him right away. Wish I could be his best friend!!
Paige is so bubbly and lovable, I loved her energy and she is so perfect for Monica.

Obviously, a lot of things were cut short because of the book being a novella and I feel like they could have been explored more, like literally everything that happened with her grandpa, her relationship with her parents and sister‘s family and of course more about Paige and all the stuff that happened before Monica flew home for Christmas.

Overall I absolutely adored this cute and quick Christmas read!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.