Monica Adams Skips Christmas was a decent novella. I know novella’s are short stories at most, but this one felt like it moved very fast and was a bit all over the place. I was cheering her on when she was arguing with her parents in the car about not being fair to her. I found her sister to be a lot like her parents and that bothered me a bit. But, overall it was a quick read and some parts were really cute.

Thanks to Netgalley and Southside Mountain Press for the early arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This is a very cute book. Sometimes the writing was a little bit clunky and didn't flow super well, but overall I enjoyed it. I didn't know this was a novella, and I started reading it, and I was like 5 minutes in and 10 percent, so I checked the page number. I ended up reading this all in one sitting. I like the fast paced nature of the book but I kind of wish it was longer because there were so many different storylines and aspects that the author could have gone into a lot more detail on if it were longer, like Monica's sister, Paige's ex, more about their high school years, the niece, Jerzy, etc. i think the book bit off a tiny bit more than it could chew, just because there were some heavy topics, but there were all only really touched on briefly.

If you are looking for a christmas novella that feels like a warm hug or a really good cup of hot chocolate: this is it.

Monica Adams is done with Christmas this year. It’s Christmas break, her boyfriend just dumped her, her grandpa moved into her room and she is struggling with telling her parents that she is quitting college. She is in a real grinch-y mood, until she meets her neighbor Paige, who seems to be defrosting her heart little by little.

I absolutely adored this novella and the characters. It left me with such a good and cozy feeling, I feel super ready for December now. Although the story is quite short, there is a lot to unpack.

For one, we have Monica‘s newly budding relationship to Paige. In my opinion their growing feelings for each other were extremely well done. Although the events unfolded in such a short amount of time, I did not feel rushed. I also really appreciated the conversation on bisexuality and bi-phobia.

Then we have Monica’s relationship to her family. Especially the relationship to her grandpa warmed my heart. As someone who experienced a loved one suffering from dementia, the way Monica and Paige cared for him warmed my heart. I also really felt Monica‘s struggle concerning her immigrant parents pressuring her to not drop out of university.

I really wish this story would have been longer. I felt so connected to the characters and the bookstore setting - I would love to read more about Monica, her family and Paige.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this arc, I feel all cristmas-sy now. 🎄

I really wanted to like this short story- the writing was easy to read, pages flew by, and the characters were cute. The story itself and plot was pretty lacking to be honest. It felt like this could have been book that could use some building out, but the author just stopped instead.

2 out of 5 stars because I read and finished it, and the writing isn’t bad. It just lacks interesting story lines unfortunately.

There is potential here and I would certainly read a full length novel by this author to see how she handles character and story development.

Monica Adams skips Christmas was a quick and easy read which I enjoyed. I loved the scenes with Monica and Paige more than anything else. Very cute ending!

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Nineteen-year-old engineering student Monica Adams is excited to be back home in the Windy City for Christmas, even if she’s planning to tell her parents she’s dropping out of college. But when her long-time boyfriend unexpectedly dumps her, her elderly grandfather moves in, and her parents are too busy working to notice she’s home, Monica decides she’s skipping the holidays this year. It isn’t until she begins spending time with her neighbour Paige that things take a turn towards Yuletide glee.
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This premise sounded so good and fun and chaotic and lovely and Christmas-y and promising.
I didn't really expect anything going into it, I just wanted a cosy Christmas read, but I was still disappointed.
This book should have been at least twice as long. At least. The whole story felt very, very rushed, the characters were inconsistent, and half the scenes put me in a bad mood or even made me feel furious. Not in a beneficial way.
And I'm so sorry to say that because I feel like the writing style of Krista Harper is terrific. For a shorter story there was too much packed into it, and for a regular novel/romance book it was too rushed and poorly constructed.
I did love the queer rep and the take on bisexuality, but that didn't make up for the rest.

When I was looking through NetGalley and saw this book I said to my husband "Please cross your fingers because I really want to read that book now!". I was in the mood for a cute and cheesy Holiday romance and it did not disappoint.
I found the characters lovely, even though they were stereotypical sometimes. I very much enjoyed the Polish/Japanese and queer rep. The story is with only 68 pages very short and the end was very very cheesy but it felt like a big, cozy christmas hug. I think I would have liked this one better as a full novel, because I think there is so much potential for the characters and I would love to read more about them. Overall I really enjoyed this one and it got me already in a cozy christmas mood.

Thank you for Krista Harper, Southside Mountain Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Monica is on her way back to Chicago after a semester away at college. Her love for Christmas gets soured from every going the complete opposite way she expects, but her neighbor and old classmate helps renew how hope and happiness for the season.
This book is a short one and is filled with a lot of ups and downs. I feel like the story would have been awesome to have a little more to it to really connect with what was happening, but it was also nice to read a short book!
The representation of Polish culture is also awesome to see! I grew up with some Polish traditions so it's was fun to read.

This was a cute Christmas read! I loved how it was short and sweet, but all of the characters were developed and so adorable.

I'm very disappointed that this novella didn't turn out the way I thought it would be. I loved the cover, the title seemed fun, and the description sounded great!

In my opinion, it was a great idea but bad execution. I didn't feel any connection with the main character. The conversations were short and rushed, and they felt unnatural. There were many plot lines, but all of them were intertwined and none of them were thoroughly worked out. I felt like the author tried to put a lot of plot in very few pages (only 68). I'm sad the story wasn't executed better.

Thanks to NetGalley and XPresso Book Tours for the eARC.

This novella is adorable and the perfect story to get me into the Christmas spirit. I loved the bisexual representation and all the Chicago scenery. I felt like there was A LOT going on and it would have made a very successful full-length novel, but in the end, I didn’t think its short length made me miss much. Definitely recommend.

As a fellow Polish girl, I wanted to see how a Polish immigrant family will be portrayed. Well, it didn’t meet my expectations.

Monica Adams Skips Christmas is a novella, which means it is a super fast read and is good for a stuffing between some books, but it felt really rushed and some of the situations had much more potential than they were given.

The plot felt really flat, the style gave me sometimes the feeling as it would be written on a knee and after finishing, never read over.

It was a story that I will forget in a day.

I loved this read!! I left off 1 star because it was a very short story and I was left wanting more (really excited that this will be a series). I think the characters were a little underdeveloped because of the length, but I loved Monica’s family and how they grew to better understand each other. This was a perfect quick & easy read to kick off the holiday season.

Very quick read, good for a Hallmark movie length Christmas escape. Everything is going wrong for Monica when she goes home for Christmas, but page by page it gets sets right.

Thank you Netgalley for offering me this amazing ARC!

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️/5

Monica Adams loves Christmas. As a Chicago native coming home for the holidays, Monica is excited to spend time with her boyfriend Bryce, family, and celebrate her favorite traditions. But when Bryce cheats on her, and Monica learns that life changes when you leave for school, she finds herself wanting to skip Christmas.

Monica is an amazing character. I love how she encounters her world. I think that having this character come from such a unique background makes this book so much more interesting for me! I love the Polish immigrant culture imbedded in this story.

I also loved how she learns about Paige. Paige is such a sweet and genuine character. I really love how Harper told their sweet story.

This is a perfect read for anyone getting into the Christmas spirit!!!

This book needed a lot more editing and a solid proofread. There are typos that distracted from my reading, such as calling a bird a “blue herring” instead of a blue heron, that took me out. I’m not blaming the author on that one. It’s an example of how helpful a detailed proofread is.

Also there is a lot happening in this book and not enough pages to cover it all. I never felt like I got to know the characters. With all the plot devices, the romance does not get a chance to shine,

I rounded up my stars because I really want to support queer holiday stories. I just wish I had enjoyed it more.

When Monica Adams arrives home in Chicago for Christmas break she has no intention of returning to university for her engineering degree, but she doesn't know how to broach the subject with her Polish immigrant parents. To make matters worse her boyfriend from high school dumps her on the phone instead of picking her up from the train station. And her parents have given her bedroom to her grandfather. So Monica has plans to skip Christmas this year.

And yet... there's Paige. Although they went to high school together, they've never really been friends. As the two are continuously thrown together, they both feel a spark. Maybe things will work out for the best, and Christmas isn't so bad after all?

I was glad I saw that this was a novella before I began reading because it helped me mentally prepare for how short it was and how quickly everything moved. I liked the fast-paced story but agree with other commenters who say it seemed like there was a lack of emotional connection between the two main characters due to the quicker nature of novellas. Overall, I thought this was a fun, quick, read!

Monica Adams Skips Christmas is a cutesy holiday book about a college student coming home for the holidays only to find that her life is quickly turned upside down immediately - her boyfriend of three years had dumped her, she’s been banished from her bedroom, and her parents aren’t even home much to say hi to her. She’s miserable. After deciding to skip Christmas, she runs into an old friend…or more than a friend?

This wasn’t my favorite book. It read like a fan fiction and didn’t feel like a complete book. It felt very sped through and like it was kind of rushed. I wished that the characters had more time to develop. I also felt like a lot of the actions/descriptions were the same throughout the book (I can’t even tell you how many times Paige looked down at the floor and put a piece of hair behind her ear).

Overall, this book was a very quick read. It was predictable like a Hallmark movie, but it was cute.

This was a cute Christmas-set novella. Because of how short it was I felt the romance was rushed and not very fleshed out. I would’ve enjoyed a full length novel with these characters. If you’re looking for a cute story to read in one sitting this is for you.