Not sure why I keep putting myself through this, but here we are again. The content wasn't good and the writing isn't good.

All I Want for Christmas is Utahraptor is absurd...and it is also absurd how much i enjoyed it! This is the second Lola Faust book that I have read. I am a pretty big dino nerd and even did some research projects on them in college- so i went into these infamous books looking to have a good laugh and do a "biologist reacts" series on them. The dinosaurs are anthropomorphic and integrated into human society in this universe, so there is truly not meant to be anything realistic about them. This book was basically like the classic hallmark movie formula ...but make the small town high school romance rekindled one between a girl and a dinosaur, lol.
Yes, there is dinosaur smut. Something i am still wildly unsure. Cringiest quote award goes to : "He traced his tongue from her upper thighs INTO HER LOVE SWAMP 🤮, moist and humid as the Cretaceous jungle the Utahraptors ancestors would have stalked through in their search for food.....
Yes...that is a published sentence.

The end did actually get pretty deep with a really good religious idea though! (No pun intended) by taking a turn to wrap the story up in a Christmas centered bow -
"The Church is a human institution. We built it to honor God- but himans built it, and humans are fallible. The bond between parent and child though...that is God's own work. And loving you, whatever choices you make, is loving God."

Never would have thought that insightful truth bomb would be dropped at the end of a dino smut book.

Overall this was an entertaining read. I don't rate these types of books because they just aren't on the same plane as other things i rate. But I did enjoy it!

I don't know what I expected and I was one hundred percent attracted by the cover, in my mind I kept seeing Taylor Swift with a dinosaur, but when I started reading it I couldn't stop and suddenly I had reached the end, so suddenly
.
It was very entertaining, it took me a little while to enter this reality of dinosaurs living in reserves but coexisting with humans and understand the dynamics between the secondary characters
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but I enjoyed it a lot, and I am very curious about other books in this serie and I want to continue reading more books by this author. I can see me enjoying every book
.
Thanks to Lola Faust and Books Go Social for give me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion

Well. I don’t know what I expected, but I was entertained.

There’s little plot, but plot is not the point. The point is sexy human-dinosaur times.

I didn’t particularly like or dislike this. It was weird, if it was two humans I would have hated it. It rubbed me the wrong way that she didn’t actually break up with her human douchebag of a boyfriend until the very end, and it was somehow mormon? after everything had happened. You know what your getting into if you read it and the trigger warnings are very thorough.

Sweet and ridiculous dino x human Hallmark romance, featuring a cornucopia of atrocious Thads.

Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds, and I was greatly entertained with this very common "girl heads home for Christmas and rekindles some high school feels with a utahraptor" - I know we've all heard this story before! 

Rocky and Holly deserve their HEA, and the Thads deserve to be pushed out of their helicopter. 

Less spicy than I expected compared to Faust's previous works, but very sweet, plus Rocky asks for consent (A+ for dino consent). There is a touch of religion at the end, but it fits with Holly's conservative Mormon family (who have very little page time anyways).

Look, these are just fun. So much fun. This one is my favorite so far from Lola Faust; it's the classic Hallmark Christmas special reimagined in an infinitely more entertaining way. It's satirical erotica, it's not taking itself seriously, and it's good un-clean Christmas fun. (And the dinosaur love interest is more sweet and respectful than 90% of fictional men)

I love Hallmark Christmas movies, I also love cursed romance novels. So of course I loved the cursed hallmark Christmas romance novel. <3
This one is quite..... different from Faust's other works. This time she focuses more on romance and character-building than just smut. I found myself kicking my feet about a dinosaur falling in love (and then immediately rethinking my life). Say what you want but I think Love Swamp is the FUNNIEST way to describe a vagina. Plus the wedding at the end was SO unexpectedly cute I almost forgot they were Mormons. I wish Rocky ate Thad McJerkface but he's just too much of a gentleman-dino to do that. (though he deserves it).
I also in general love how real the dinos in Faust's works. In this Rocky has feathers and mannerisms that dinosaurs might have had! The Naturalist that I am loves when monster (or dino) romance books are realistic!
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review I always love Lola Faust's works <3

Listen…I’ve read about sentient dots and sentient pillows and giant gingerbread men, but this is something else.

I’m all about weird smut but I miss who I was an hour ago before I read this book.

All I Want For Christmas is Utahraptor is not a book, it is an experience. This book was absolutely ridiculous, and I loved every minute of it. Lola Faust doesn't take herself too seriously and lets you laugh at yourself while reading her works. I always have so much fun with her writing. My main critique is that for a Christmas-themed iteration, this book has very little to do with Christmas. The oddly religious turn also seemed out of place - is the Utahraptor also Mormon? Also, there is a continuity error before/after /the scene/. Holly is wearing a dress and leggings before and afterward changed back into her jumpsuit. More generally, Holly and Rocky are described differently from the cover (Rocky, most notably, lacks feathers). Overall, I feel like you know what you're getting yourself into with a book like this, and Lola Faust never disappoints.

A car crash you can't look away from. I requested this book, so that's on me, but what in the WORLD did I just read. It's a conversation starter - I'll give it that.

As Christmas approaches, Holly realizes that her boyfriend is hideous and flees home. Once there, she reconnects with her school friend Rocky - who just happens to be a dinosaur.

This is as odd as it sounds. Try not to think about the mechanics too much.

There are certain books that change you. Books that make it so that you can never see the world the same way again. Books that, dare I say it, define an entire generation and will be read, remembered, and beloved for centuries to come. *Price & Prejudice. A Tale of Two Cities. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Catch-22. The Lord of the Rings*. And Lola Faust, author of *All I Want for Christmas is Utahraptor*, may well have read some of them.

Holly isn’t satisfied. Her big-city finance boyfriend Thad is, in theory, everything a girl could want. He’s rich, handsome, and happy to support “Hottie Holly” in her Etsy business selling upcycled antiques. But he’s also always focused on closing his next major deal, keeping his father’s venture capital empire growing. The love and affection he once showered her with is an ever-more-distant memory.

This comes to a head when Holly goes home to Utah for Christmas, and reconnects with her old high school boyfriend, the 12-foot tall Utahraptor Rocky. And she learns that maybe it’s OK for her to want more. And maybe she even deserves - dare I say it - true love?

Fun and smutty. 9.5/10, almost no notes (Rocky should have been a single dad). Looking forward to the Hallmark TV adaptation starring Lacey Chabert.

Okay, I can explain…I’ve never read anything like this before, and while my first instinct is to say that this follows the plot of a Hallmark Christmas movie — but with a hunky dinosaur love interest — I would have to then admit that I’ve never seen a Hallmark Christmas movie. But I’ve been really busy lately, and I was looking for something short and mindless, and honestly, All I Want for Christmas is Utahraptor is not the worst book I’ve ever read, by a long shot. Author Lola Faust (a pseudonym, apparently) doesn’t take the subject matter seriously, this is full on camp — with just the right amount of “follow your heart” and “love is love”, and aren’t those the themes explored in historical pulp fiction? Didn’t they used to write about sexy vampires as code for the queer love they weren't allowed to write about? I might not have gone into this thinking that I was the true target audience, but I was totally entertained…and maybe a tiny bit moved. I recommend this for what it is: short and mindless, some holiday fun.

Am I really giving dinosaur erotica 5 stars? Absolutely I am!

Look, we should know what we are getting into when selecting a title like All I Want for Christmas is Utahraptor and we shouldn’t expect Tudor Renaissance poetry but Lola Faust delivered it all the same.

What can I say? I’m here for it. I don’t even mind the usage of the term love-swamp. In this instance life… and love… finds a way.


Thank you to BooksGoSocial for providing the ARC for review

*Huge thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for having this set to ‘Read Now’ for me!*

Recently, while scrolling through Netgalley, looking to see if anything had been added that I’d hope to be approved for, a cover caught my attention in the Sci-fi and Fantasy category. It was the one for this book, featuring an attractive looking woman gently caressing the chin of a dinosaur. I was intrigued. She was wearing a skimpy little red number and the dinosaur looked amazing.

Now, two caveats here. The first is that I generally dislike Christmas fiction – no matter the genre. The second, is that I typically steer FAR away from the romance world. Nothing wrong with it, but I want my love story to involve survival, creatures, and a never ending blackness. All things not typically within the romance genre.

BUT – I thought, you know what? Maybe this will be a fun read. Maybe this will be the palette cleanser between two horror reads and I’ll have a good time.

And you know what?

I did.

What I liked: The story follows Holly, now living in Chicago, dating douchebag Thad, and wondering just where the happiness in her life went. She should have it all. Thad’s super rich, his family is even richer and she’s living a life many would dream of. But she suspects Thad’s stringing her along. That the reasons she isn’t invited to some functions and trips is because there’s someone else and with no proposal appearing to be imminent, she wonders what would happen if she was to end it.

As Christmas approaches, Thad leaves to go on a boys skiing trip, leaving Holly alone for the holidays, so she heads back to see her parents in Utah.

It’s here where Faust sprinkles the story with some background. As humans discovered dinosaurs still alive, they also found they were smart and some could communicate. Those who met the criteria where given the chance to join into human society – go to school, get jobs, develop a culture. Oddly, I never expected a topical and socioeconomic metaphor to play out in a story about a woman who loves a dinosaur, but there we were and even though Faust doesn’t linger on it, it sets the stage for things further down the line.

So, it’s here that Holly remembers the days where she fell in love with Rocky, the Utahraptor. He attended her school and they became fast friends, but neither was willing to take it to the next level. Not until they reconnect and Holly realizes that everything she’s been wanting and missing, she can have, with Rocky.

This novella was an easy one-sitting read and it felt completely like I was watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, just with a dinosaur. The ending is exactly what you’d expect to happen and as much as it pains me to type this out, was a very sweet ending.

What I didn’t like: Well, honestly, I had a lot of fun with this one, but saying that, everything was surface level for the depth of emotions and descriptions. I think if this had been lengthened, we could’ve had a deeper experience where we see how Holly’s father turns his views around to accept Rocky, or how Thad’s behavior really effected Holly and she took some time to process it. As a base story, though, this was fun.

I will mention though – and mild spoiler here – if you don’t want to read about a woman and a Utahraptor getting it on, you’ll probably want to skip that part.

Why you should buy this: If you’re looking for a quick, adorable story of a woman realizing she’s better off without her asshole boyfriend and wants to return to her true love, no matter what society says, look no further.

Faust makes you immediately root for Holly and when her and Rocky reconnect, sparks fly from the page. Overall, a really sweet, Holiday story, one that would be perfect to read after the kids have gone to bed and Santa’s delivered all the presents.

Though an incredibly short and fast read, Lola Faust proves to be a delight once more.

Lola is the queen of Dinosaur x Human Romance managing to turn deadly, fear inducing predators into sweet, kind hearted beings that you can’t help but love. All I Want For Christmas… brings us Holly, a woman in a failing relationship with an affinity for dinosaurs, specifically one who frequents her dreams and thoughts. A trip home alone brings her a chance encounter with that specific Utahraptor to rekindle the flame they once shared just in time for the holidays.

Lola’s books can be read as standalones, or part of a series. If you’re looking for that bite size, unique story full of Christmas magic, spice, and the right amount of unusual, I highly recommend this.

This was a short, light-hearted read that was much needed during the holidays. It's fun, not at all serious and a lot of fun to read. Sometimes it was downright absurd and campy, but it is what it is — a crazy Christmas romance that pokes fun at a lot of things.

3.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley, Lola Faust, and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review

This is a short and lighthearted romance between Holly, a young hottie who is trapped in a loveless relationship with her cold-hearted, millionaire, business man boyfriend, and Rocky, a 12 foot tall virgin dinosaur (a Utahraptor apparently) who's been in love with her since childhood.

Things that I liked about this book: It doesn't take itself seriously at all and it definitely made me laugh out loud several times at the sheer ridiculousness. Also, Lola Faust is a wordsmith when it comes to euphemisms for human anatomy.

Here is one example:

"He traced his tongue from her upper thighs into her love-swamp, moist and humid as the Cretaceous jungle the Utahraptor's ancestors would have stalked through in their search for food. He licked her as if she were the only source of dietary salt within a hundred kilometers."

I mean, this book is worth it just for that honestly.

What I didn't like: Although it was short, it dragged at times. There was zero build up to the (one) sex scene (yes, there is only one) and yet, there was like 10 pages of Holly having dinner with her (ex?)bf's family. Also, the "trigger warnings" which are not actual trigger warnings (things like "Christmas", and "jewelry" are listed) felt disrespectful-if not offensive.

This was definitely a rollercoaster ride 😂 I loved it. I actually wasn’t expecting much just because I don’t think I’ve ever read dinosaur romance in my life 😭😂 But it was hilarious and also highly relatable. I didn’t notice many grammatical errors and that’s a big plus because normally niche or quirky books have so many grammatical errors that it’s hard to continue reading. Great plot and loved the characters!