Hannah and Finn have spent every Christmas together since college. Their tradition of offbeat holiday adventures only grows more outrageous with time. When they move to NYC, they add Priya and Theo to the group. This Christmas may be their last - Finn is moving to LA, and Hannah is terrified of losing the family she’s built for herself, even as her boyfriend nudges her toward commitment.

I really enjoyed this! I listened to the audiobook, and I would recommend it. It’s not a true romance - it’s about friends who become family. This is a Christmas book with all the holiday spirit and none of the Hallmark movie cheesiness.

I snagged an early copy of this book thanks to the Bad on Paper Facebook group!
Initially I grabbed it because I was excited to support a first time author and have been loving an easy uplifting read. However, this book really surprised me! It has everything you could hope for — romance, friendship, self-discovery, and NYC holiday bliss. It is a sweet story and I see so much of my own friends in each of these characters. Totally an enjoyable read and made a wonderful Christmas in July.

This book was so fun! I loved seeing a glimpse into these friendships and how they evolved over the years. I also was delighted to read the inside gems from Becca sprinkled throughout the book. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

The Christmas Orphans Club is the perfect book to cozy up with around a warm fire and your Christmas tree. While it's not a tried and true romance, the romantic elements of the story bring our main characters, Hannah and Finn, to life. Having lost their respective families, Hannah and Finn create a family of their own.

The Christmas Orphans Club explores the nuances of found family, lost love, and Christmas cheer. Set in a wintery New York City, the four friends find that even in life's ups and downs, love of all shapes can flourish.

As a longtime fan of @badonpaperpodcast (as in a day 1, episode 1 fan!), I’ve been dying to get my hands on a copy of THE CHRISTMAS ORPHANS CLUB. I’ve loved listening to Becca talk about the writing process. Although an ARC landed on my Kindle back in July, I wanted to wait to savor all of the holiday goodness.

Once the clock struck December, I knew it was CHRISTMAS ORPHANS CLUB time. I devoured about 75% of this book in just one sitting on a rainy Sunday with the yule log going in the background and every single Christmas light in my apartment lit up because that’s the ambiance that my new favorite Christmas book deserves.

I know everyone (including myself) keeps calling this a Christmas book, but it’s honestly SO much more than that. It’s a book about friendship and found family and growing up and figuring out who you are, which are pretty much all literary buzzwords for me.

Hannah and Finn, Christmas orphans, have spent every holiday together since college. Hannah’s parents tragically died, while Finn’s disowned him when he came out. Now, as adults in New York City, they’ve expanded their Christmas orphans club to include Theo and Priya. Every year, the group spends Christmas Day getting into one legendary adventure after the next. When Finn gets a job in Los Angeles, Hannah is determined to make this final holiday the best yet.

When I tell y’all I adored this — I ADORED IT. It’s a Christmas book that feels seasonal but not cloying, sweet but with the perfect dose of sass. This book is littered with pop culture references that felt like they came out of my own brain, and is truly a love letter to New York City over the holidays, the greatest place on earth during the most magical time of the year.

Where this book truly shines is in the HEART. These characters are grappling with some heavy things and the balance of humor and thoughtful commentary on growing up and moving on was pitch-perfect. A Christmas miracle, honestly. This is a book that NEEDS to be made into a Christmas movie because I need some holiday viewing that doesn’t feel like a sugar plum fairy threw up all over it.

Obviously, I LOVED. Have you read this yet? If not, get on it!

This is one of the most wonderful, Christmas books I have read in awhile. It is about the people in our lives we love, about chosen family, losing family, and reconnecting with family. It was refreshing to read a novel about friendship and maintaining friendship while growing up and finding love. What happens when your best friend gets a job across the country? How do you keep up traditions, and adopt new ones?

This book felt so much like real life, I had so much empathy with the characters. Their worries, dreams, passions were so palpable and relatable. And like life, all of the conflicts, the concerns are resolved when everyone communicates.

If you are looking for a Christmas-y story that's not a romance, but still fairly light, I highly recommend The Christmas Orphans Club.

I already liked Becca Freeman, and her first book didn't disappoint. This book was a charming read exploring friendship and the shifting that occurs as we age and look at our priorities. I can't wait to read her next book!

Offers a heartwarming and unique premise and is a cozy holiday read.

On the positive side, the portrayal of the holiday spirit is vivid and engaging. The theme of community and belonging is strong.

However, the book fails is in its character development. Despite potential, many of the characters feel underdeveloped at the expense of cutesy references to time and place. While the novel attempts to tackle loss, grief, and redemption, it often does so as an afterthought, and fails to bring the reader closer to the characters.

The sweetest, most precious Christmas book there ever was! No notes. It was perfect. Five jingle bells. Not a bit of smut-bit I still loved it!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for an advanced copy of this book.

Overall, "The Christmas Orphans Club" fell flat for me- perhaps it was the hype I experienced around it and the corresponding high expectations I developed before I read it....I was frankly annoyed with the characters' dialogue and the lack of their development. I appreciated the fun tour of Christmas in New York, but it wasn't enough to keep me hooked- a key ingredient in an enjoyable holiday read. I rate this read a 2/5 for unlikeable characters and flat development.

This was such a cute Christmassy read, and I’m hoping we get to see more of these characters! The friendship felt real and the stakes really hit home.

Like a fuzzy Christmas sweater for your heart, a perfect seasonal read for those seeking a feel-good, heartfelt novel of friends and coming-of-age set against a holiday backdrop.

This was a fun, light read about relationships and finding family. Hannah is a pretty needy main character, but through a series of entertaining holiday outings, her friends help her work through some of her issues. I love the banter, honesty, and silliness of this friend group. Fun read!

This was a fantastic book of found family, queer friends and identity exploration and more! Four friends turned Family, Hannah, Finn, Theo, and Priya share their story over 5 Christmases, four growing together and one preparing for Finn to leave for LA and a new start. It is bitter sweet to read as someone not good with change to read how others react to it, fictional or not. Hannah is a character I felt I could relate to, finally finding friends and family just for a big change to swipe you off your feet. She did everything to try and make the perfect last Christmas even ignoring her own troubles.

Freeman used such great descriptive language it made me want to visit New York City for the holidays again, despite not loving the crowds there. She explained the setting and scenes beautifully. Freeman did a great job discussing hard feelings and taking Christmas as a time that can be really hard for some. It was refreshing to read after reading so many Christmas Romance books (that I still love don't get me wrong) to see friends and family.

I love a friendship book! The histories and dynamics among all the members of the friend group were so well-done, and Becca did an amazing job bringing New York City to life. I just loved the way the book explored the challenges of maintaining even our most important friendships while still giving each other room to grow.

Overall I really enjoyed this book about friendship and the intense love of found family. It sounded so truly like Becca’s voice throughout (which may have also been my only qualm- the jokes felt a bit too much like they were pulled from a Bad on Paper episode)

I found The Christmas Orphans Club to be such a delightful read, perfect for Christmas or any time of the year. It's a wonderful book about found family. Though the romance in this book is present and satisfying, friendship is at the novel's core, and I loved Becca Freeman's attention to the platonic bonds between these characters. I look forward to returning to this book next Christmas!

This book was such a delight! I love friendship stories and this really hit the spot, especially when you start to get older and your friendships evolve as people’s lives evolve. I think Becca really captured that feeling and the panic it can cause, especially for someone like Hannah who has built her life around her friends who became family. This was a perfect Christmas time read and also a beautiful love letter to NYC!

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book after following Becca Freeman on instagram and her podcast, Bad on Paper. It did not disappoint! Rarely do we get books focused on friendship so I appreciated the relationships focused on a friend group dynamic. The Christmas time setting was a plus!

I loved this book about friends who become family. College and the years that follow can be such a big part of someone's life in relation to growth and self-discovery, I loved how the stories of the characters over the years and how they grew and changed, but always kept the friendship a priority. Was a great story!