I loved the idea of a advent calendar book! Unfortunately, I’m impatient and read it all in a couple of days!! It was a great thriller set on christmas, two things I love! It’s well written, not too stereotypical, which is usually my issue with a lot of thrillers. Also, that santa claus was HILARIOUS! And I also loved the commentary of the main character who was like « let’s try not to be the dumb main character in a thriller shall we ».

I enjoyed this book! Definitely liked the happy ending. My heart was beating fast and I was very scared at parts, like when Isla was alone in the house with Greg. I’m a big fan of Christmas thrillers and horror and this hit the spot.

It was nice and short, I like the idea of 24 chapters, so that you can read one from December 1st till December 24th counting down to Christmas :)
The idea was gripping, and it was an overall pleasurable read

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of Xmas Break:A Christmas Thriller.

I devoured this book in one sitting. There are 25 chapters, one for each day of advent, only if you are able to put the book down after each chapter!!
Nice quick Christmas read with great thriller storyline.

Fun with the advent calender thing but I read it in one sitting. It's enjoyable but nothing that I will remember for long.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this free e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

When Isla reluctantly accepts her estranged sister Clara's invitation to spend Christmas at a luxury mountain retreat, she expects awkward family tension – not a fight for survival. As a brutal snowstorm cuts them off from civilization, dark secrets begin to surface. With time running out and nowhere to run, two sisters must put aside years of mistrust to survive the night. But in a house full of lies, how do you know who to trust?

The novella XMAS BREAK is a thrilling and fast-paced read that will leave you pondering your next holiday invitation. Clara and her husband appear to be a well-balanced couple. Clara experiences anxiety about reuniting with her estranged sister after many years. Her husband serves as a calming influence, helping her maintain her composure. They resolve to make the time spent with her sister enjoyable regardless of the circumstances. However, they find themselves in an anxiety-provoking dinner that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the suspenseful atmosphere, I must respectfully express my disappointment with the revelation behind the bizarre occurrences. I found the reasoning behind the twist to be somewhat simplistic and unconvincing. Nonetheless, I acknowledge that this novella offers a thrilling read for the winter season, even though I personally found the conclusion to be overly pleasant for my taste.

I was excited about reading a Christmas novella that is to be read as an advent calendar. One chapter a day lasted about 3 days for me. I enjoyed the fast pace of the book, but the plot and characters fell flat. I unfortunately wanted to read it quickly so I could be done and move on to my next read. I am sure there are people that will love this book and the story, but it was not for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

a great Christmas thriller with a plot you can't see coming! I really enjoyed the setting of the book and the characters! Even though this isn't a long book you got to know the characters and got invested into the story.

What a nail-biter! A must-read mystery to read in your coziest Christmas pj's by the fireplace. I devoured this short in one sitting, and you should, too.

I thought this book had great premise and the idea was there. However, the execution to me was too poor. It’s highly predictable highly cheesy the first nine days. If you’re reading at the advent calendar style is so boring. I feel like if you wanna have a book that’s an advent book. It needs to at least be thrilling from the start.

I hope I will be forgiven for not reviewing this book as soon as it was downloaded and I am only 1/2 way through BUT I am reading it chapter by chapter as it was suggested through Christmas day. The story of two estranged sisters with one receiving an offer a Christmas get away to a secluded luxury mountain home. What could go wrong. The story begins with simmering tension and barbed remarks against a Christmas decorated home that seems to good to be true. As storm hits followed by a power outage, the sisters veneer of civility begins to crack. I wake up each morning looking forward to my next installment and I know I will not be disappointed in the outcome.

📚: XMas Break by JE Rowney
⭐️: 2/5 (rounding up on #goodreads)

Isla and Clara. Estranged sisters who haven't spoken in years, when suddenly Clara invites Isla and her husband, James, for a Christmas break getaway at her home in the mountains. Secluded with an impending blizzard, Isla and James get there to find that nothing quite what it seems to be.

The upside to this read was that it was fast paced and a quick novella to read in two sittings. (One if it wasn't for needing to go to sleep last night.) Its pain point is the writing - there's so much telling vs. showing, with my biggest pet peeve when chapters end being like, "...and somehow the night was about to get so much worse." This book states the obvious, making it predictable and repetitive.

Thanks to BooksGoSocial via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. XMas Break is out now.

This one just didn't do it for me. The writing was very repetitive, and I'm not sure any character ever finished a... sentence/thought. There were just so many ellipsis... in... this... book. They drove me nuts. I already have an issue with thriller/suspense books keeping things from the reader to build tension, but this one does it with like, everything? The characters in this one make just the worst decisions every step of the way, and then the motive and turning of the "bad guy" was so far out of left field- it was absurd.

I really wanted to love this one and just didn't.

The concept was amazing and the plot sounded perfect for a creepy Xmas read but I struggled. It's short but felt like it just kept going and yet, nothing happened lol. It wasn't my vibe

Xmas Break intrigued me with the Advent Calendar Style of reading, however for this being a novella, it felt long. I’m not sure that this is fully edited to be ready to go. I wasn’t really drawn in in the way you need to be in for a thriller type story and unfortunately it just didn’t keep my interest.

This book concept had me very excited. Three things I love most are advent calendars; Cozy Christmas Vibes; and Thrillers. This book was incredible in concept unfortunately I felt it was lacking in execution. The chapters did not give me enough of a deep seated unsettled intrigue to want to hold out for each day so I read it one go. I am glad I did because it just sort of fell short? I felt like the plot lagged, by halfway through the book I was nervous that there wouldn't be a plot because nothing had happened. Then when things did start happening over all they felt lackluster. The believability of the psychosis of the character who snaps is just not there and even the reasoning is so convoluted. I found myself guessing exactly what would happen and not being impressed with how it did. Overall I think there was so much potential here and there was so much that could have gone right it just sort of...didn't.

I recently discovered Christmas thrillers. Christmas is supposed to be a time of love and happiness, not a time for m$rder. But, I am here for all the Christmas thrillers.

This was a short read at 182 pages. It was a bit of a slower burn. There was a lot of tension created in the first half of the book as two estranged sisters get together at Christmas for the first time in years with their spouses.

We know immediately that something is a little off with the couple who is hosting. The atmosphere of the story just lends to the tension. A beautiful mountain home in the middle of a snow storm, and of course, the power goes out.

But there are definitely some surprises in this story, some plot twists I didn't immediately see coming.

I liked how the story ended. While not exactly a happy ending, it was probably the closest to you could get.

Unfortunately, this was awful. Most of that had to do with the incredibly lackluster and repetitive writing. I was about to go insane if I had to read “forced smile” one more time as it was quite literally repeated probably 50 times in this short book. The plot was meaningless and anticlimactic. The characters were undeveloped and I did not care what happened to a single one of them. This was a waste of time and I recommend avoiding it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5, rounded up to 3.
I'm not sure why this book didn't work for me-I love everything about this premise-isolated location, christmas, family drama, the advent theme, a novella-i just think that as a novella, we should have gotten answers quicker.

Xmas Break: a Christmas Thriller sounded like a nice enough holiday read and it was.
When Isla gets an invitation from her estranged sister to celebrate Christmas at a remote luxury villa in the mountains she doesn't want to go but her husband James convinces her to accept the invitation because 'they can leave any moment they want", right? Wrong: a very heavy snowstorm intervenes and makes the roads impassable. Pretty soon after they have arrived Isla is noticing strange things that just feel off. Why is her sister trying so hard to recreate her mothers Christmas spirit and why is her brother in law behaving so strange and like he is just not there?

Enough ingredients for an interesting thriller but somehow I get the impression that the author is trying to hard: the snow that is just to much, the over the top references to the shining, the colours that are too red, too green, etcetera. The Santa Clause that Isla is terrified of, really?!
Also, the novella doesn't really explain why the sisters fell out when their mother died and the explication that is given is lacklustre to say the least.

I found the idea of reading a chapter a day like an advent calendar a nice twist but there just wasn't enough suspense to keep coming back every dat so I just finished the story to be done with it. Really not more than 2,5 stars, but because I'm in a holiday spirit I will round it up to 3.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.