Lauren Layne delivers YET ANOTHER gem. An Ex for Christmas is a super fun read through the eyes of NYC private school teacher Kelly. From the onset I adored her voice and "magical" thinking and it reminded me that Christmas has always been a season where the more you "believe" the more you enjoy.

Kelly, an only child, returns to her family house in upstate NY to enjoy the holidays. However, she's shipped her parent off on a cruise and plans to enjoy some time with her old friends. Prior to hitting the rails, she meets a fortune teller of sorts who tells Kelly her true love is someone she already knows. It then becomes her mission to track down all her exes. The reader is introduced to Kelly's best friend Mark, their dog Rigby, said exes and old friends.

Kelly really is an endearing character. Her holiday spirit is infectious and the ambitious search for her old boyfriends is rather hilarious. It's apparent just what Mark means to her, even as he teases her about her decision making skills (the use of her "Magic Eight Balls" and "tea leaves" reading is just the tip of the ice berg). It takes Kelly a bit to see that maybe she's approaching this with wrong mindset and I loved every bit of that journey. At first, her bestie Mark comes across a teeny bit prickly, but it doesn't take long for his charm to show through. When we do get his voice it's sentient and sweet and he fully embedded himself in my heart.

Part of what made this a fun read is Lauren Layne's references to holiday movies and music. I too love "Love Actually" and agree wholeheartedly with Kelly's choice of favorite scenes. Even in Kelly's confusion and missteps, this book just made me feel happy ( and festive). An Ex for Christmas is now my "Love Actually" of books and my favorite scene...well you'll know it when you read it. 5 ++ Stars and recommendation!

Kelly believes in fate - she has at least 3 magic 8 balls in case she has to make a decision. On her way home from work, she misses her train, but a woman with the ability to see the future tells her she has met “the one” already and will be with him before Christmas. Kelly, being somewhat oblivious to everything else around her, has determined that must have meant one of her previous boyfriends will be coming back into her life. Strangely, she then decides to set up meetings with each of the men instead of looking just past her nose at her best friend for 10 years. Mark has been her best friend forever, and it becomes obvious that he really hates her plan, but doesn’t come right out to tell Kelly why.

The book reminds one of a Hallmark movie. I enjoyed the way this book was written. A lot of it felt like a friend confessing to another. You could see the way Kelly thought things through, and when the lightbulb finally clicked that Mark was the one for her.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Heather’s Review: This was a straight up Hallmark Christmas movie (which I love)! Lauren should just pitch the idea and see what the response is.

This was a great friends to lovers story between Kelly and Mark. It was sweet, funny and kept you entertained.

With all of Kelly’s quirks Mark was the quiet in her storm and just perfect for her. They also had great chemistry, they were p erect together.

Heather’s Rating: *****

Disclaimer: An ARC was requested in order to take part in the blog tour, with no expectation of a favorable review. All opinions are our own.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was weird reading Christmas in October, but it’s one of my favorite holidays so I loved it!

A psychic tells Kelly Byrne that she’s already met her true love. She decides she needs to find him before Christmas and starts a list of her exes to find out who’s the lucky guy. She decides it’s her college boyfriend who’s back in town. Her best friend Mark isn’t looking forward to the search because he’s always wanted more out of their relationship. Will these two realize what’s been there the whole time? Another excellent story by Lauren Layne.

4.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this one. It caused a book hangover because I just couldn't this book down. The characters were well written. It has one of my favorite troupes friends to lovers. Mark and Kelly have been friends and always there for one another. One of my favorite things in this book is the banter and playfulness between them. I really felt for Mark in this book because he's had to stay on the sidelines and watch his best friend get her heartbroken over and over. Now he may have to watch it once again during the holiday season. I can so relate with Kelly because I love Christmas as much as she does with all the traditions. I loved the ending. It was the icing on the cake to this great book.

(Crazy blogger looks around to make sure no one is near to judge.) Here's my harsh truth. I freaking hate Christmas. HATE IT. If I could skip the entire month of December and more straight on to the new year, I would do it without hesitation.

Which is why I rarely - and by rarely I mean almost never - read holiday books.

Except this year I encountered my own version of kryptonite. Lauren Layne wrote a Christmas romance. And how could I not read it?!? She's my favorite author and I am consumed with her love stories. They make me laugh. They make me swoon. Basically, there aren't enough words in the world to gush on about how much I love her books.

All of which is how I found myself reading, An Ex For Christmas. A charming, friends to lover romance which thawed my frozen dead holiday heart. It was exuberant and sexy; I was totally caught up in Kelly's excitement and good cheer. Not only did I want her to find her love but it also made me want to take a new approach to this year's holiday.

But that's another topic. What you need to know is why you should grab this book??

I loved everything about our heroine, Kelly. She is an eight ball toting believer who thinks fate and higher spiritual powers can come into play in life. She completely buys into the notation that she will realize who is her true love before Christmas and the journey she takes in finding true love is spectacular.

So my recommendation is that you don’t miss out on this romance. It’s funny and sweet but it also has lots of sexy, enticing moments. An Ex for Christmas is a must read!

An adorable, Hallmarky, friends-to-lovers story! I'll admit I'm somewhat Hallmark movie crazy this time of year. It's a little embarrassing actually and luckily I have 2 daughters I can blame for why so many of my December hours are spent watching them!

So take the Christmas-loving cute heroine and her bah humbug gorgeous neighbor (who also happens to be her best friend), a cheesy psychic, a bunch of ex douchebags, and add Lauren Layne's trademark chemistry and steam and you've got An Ex for Christmas.

I love that Kelly is sweet and pretty clueless. She doesn't even consider Mark as the "one" even though it seems pretty clear to everyone else!

Loved it! A perfect holiday read:-) Even if you don't love Christmas!

This book has become one of favorites!! Not only is it a friends to lovers book but the added Christmas element has made it more sweet.

Mark’s protective nature and Kelly’s quirky personality is the perfect blend for the unraveling of a crazy adventure to search for ex’s that can be her soul mate.

As I read, I couldn’t help but think about the movie What’s Your Number. It’s pretty similar but LL has definitely made it her own! Plus, Chris Evans can be a Mark in my eyes <3

Plus, when she finally realizes that Mark is truly her one love, it’s one of the sweetest moments.

I cannot wait for you guys to dive into this one!!

“Kissing him feels both wonderfully new and fresh, and yet comfortable and timeless, as though we’ve been doing this—or were meant to have been doing this—forever.” ~Lauren Layne

*ARC provided my author in exchange for an honest review*

People, I have a confession. I’ve had a lot of things going on in my life lately, though I’m not going to get into them here, but the thing is, I’ve been a bit late starting this book. But here’s the real kicker. Was I worried that I wasn’t going to finish it in time to post this review? No. And bloody more millions of no. As a sucker for friends to lovers stories, Lauren Layne happens to be my queen. So I read this in, what, two minutes? Certainly felt like it. And I fell in love with it. I didn’t just love it, people, I’ve fallen for this story. I think this story, and Kelly and Mark are my soulmate. No kidding.

Let me tell you why. First of all, Kelly. Because I’m a sucker for Hallmark movies, and Christmas music and the whole merry spirit, so yeah, there’s that. I like the snowy background of the twelfth month-setting aside, for the moment, the reality of what it means for some lives. Oh, and I happen to love using my sick voice to deliver merry tunes to unfortunate ears. So, all things Kelly.

I gotta mention a few things about Mark too. You know why I loved this guy? I mean, besides the obvious reasons why you love the hero in a romance novel? Because I so loved the sign guy in Love Actually too. In my heart of hearts-and spoiler for the movie- I wished for a different ending for that couple. Or, I don’t know, hoped things perhaps changed after the credits rolled. Anyway, that tiny bit, and the fact that I knew-I knew– how things were going to end-enter Kelly- and the fact that he was just the kind of best friend in all best friends to lovers stories I secretly wish I had. So, all things Mark also.

I swear, Kelly and Mark are my soulmate. I think I’ll sort of keep this book forever around, but pay it a visit especially around Christmas time because. Just because.

Read this. If you have even the tiniest bit of Christmas, or new year, or any kind of merry spirit, read this. If you love friends to lovers stories, read this. This is as good, as sexy, as sweet as can be. I wasn’t kidding when I said I believe Lauren Layne is the queen of this. Anyway, don’t make me say it no more, do yourself a favor, wrap this book in pretty holiday paper and put it under your tree as your own gift to yourself, and read it first thing on the morning of the new year. And have a merry Christmas and New Years!

I’m adding six spoonfuls of this story into my hodgepodge-that’s right, six– to go with my cup of hot chocolate.

I absolutely enjoyed this Lauren Layne story! I can honestly say that it's one of my top 3 books of hers now! This story was everything I love about a Holiday Romance and even more! It's like I was given the best EARLY Christmas present I could have ever imagined!

This is the sexy, and heartwarming story of 2 best friends who were destined to be soul mates. Mark and Kelly have been best friends since their High School days and like any good friendship should, theirs has survived many failed relationships and has remained just as strong as always.

The story gets angsty while stubborn Kelly tries to hold on to her trust in her silly magic 8 balls and “signs” to lead her to true love. But it’s her underlying fear of losing her best friend that seems to be holding her back from taking that scary first step towards her “HEA”.

Huge thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

An Ex for Christmas
Lauren Layne
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Such a great Christmas romance. This should definitely become the next Hallmark Christmas movie. I loved both the main characters. Kelly is very superstitious and believes in fate. Mark is her total opposite which is great because he keeps her grounded. They are so perfect for each other but Kelly may not realize it until it’s too late.
I love Lauren Layne. She puts out such great stories. I read as many of hers as I can.
Thanks NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks as always goes first and foremost to Netgalley and Random House Loveswept, for providing us a copy of this book so that we can bring you this review.

So for my day 3 book for Christmas I did something a little different instead of a sweet Christmas book I went for a feel good book but in a different way. This book made me giggle at Kelly's experiences with her Ex's. Though her blindness when it came to Mark made me want to reach over and smack her upside the head, the book was great. And my heart went out to Mark so many times. Mark's life wasn't easy but its easy to see why he falls in love with Kelly and was there for her through everything. But I go back to my thoughts on how much I giggled with the series of events and the Ex's Kelly spoke with.

A really great friends to lovers story. Lots of funny and sweet moments.

There are two reasons why I requested this book from NetGalley. One is that I have read Lauren Layne’s books in the past and loved them. The other reason is the cover. I looked at it and got a huge smile on my face. It captures the book’s Christmas spirit and silliness (yes, silliness). Then I read the blurb and I had to read An Ex for Christmas. I am glad that I did because I laughed my butt off. Kelly and her misadventures had me rolling.

Kelly is a teacher in New York City who is coming home for the holidays. As an anniversary gift to her parents, she is sending them on an Alaskan cruise over Christmas. Doing that, this will be the first Christmas that she has celebrated alone. Well, not alone. Her best friend, Mark, lives behind her parents and she has plans to spend it with him. On her way to the train station, she rules into a woman who tells her that she has already met her true love. So, what does Kelly do? She makes a list of her ex-boyfriends and proceeds to track them down. What happens while she does that is pure gold. She comes to realize that her true love wasn’t an ex but someone who had been there for her through everything. Someone that she kept pushing to the side. Someone who has finally had enough and has to let her go to go on with his life.

I loved Kelly. She was a very original person. She read horoscopes and believed that astrology could tell compatibility between people. She consulted her magic 8 ball for everything. She believed in psychics. When the psychic told her that she found her true love and would be with him over Christmas, Kelly was very excited. What does she do? She makes a list of all her ex’s and weeds out the ones that are married or in relationships. That leaves her a manageable list to work with. She then proceeds to get in touch with each one of them….with Mark in tow.

I couldn’t hold back my laughs when she would go on the date with the guy and then write what was wrong. One guy actually accepted her invite to blast her. Another one made off-color comments about how she gained weight (that wasn’t funny). She started to realize that her past relationships were not what she thought they were. While I got a laugh out of those misadventures, I liked how she learned from them. She saw those guys how the other people in her life saw them. It was eye-opening for her.

I did like Mark but I felt that he got what he deserved. If he had been more honest with Kelly, then maybe he wouldn’t have been shunted off to the side every time she got a boyfriend. Now saying that he didn’t let the grass grow under him. Nope. He had relationships and was sexually active. I mean, look at what Kelly walked into when she let herself into his house. I loved how he came clean to her about his feelings. It was awesome to see a male fictional character be raw like that. He let her see how much she was and had hurt him. Then walked away. He couldn’t deal with it anymore.

I loved that the author held off on Mark and Kelly having sex until the last half of the book. By then, Kelly was questioning what she felt for Mark. I betcha Mark thought Christmas came early. The woman he has loved for 10 years is allowing him to have sex with her. Yup, it must have been like Christmas. Anyways, those sex scenes were hot. Even hotter now that I know how Mark felt about Kelly

An Ex for Christmas is told in 1st person and from Kelly’s perspective for about 95% of the book. It does go to 1st person Mark at the end of the book. Doing that made the book. It made the ending even more special because I finally got to see what was going on in Mark’s head.

The end of the book made me cry. Like I said in the above paragraph, it was told from Mark’s view and you got to see Kelly through his eyes. It was very romantic. I am hoping that there will be a book 6 and that Mark and Kelly make an appearance in that book.

An Ex for Christmas is a fun quick read. I had some good laughs reading this book. I also had a couple of good cries. So read with tissues nearby. The characters were lovable. The plot was good. I will recommend this book to anyone who wants to read it.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

An Ex for Christmas is one of the quirkiest books I’ve read to date. Honest to goodness I really could not stop laughing and banging my head on the wall while reading this. Loved every freaking minute of it.



Kelly is really into psychic stuff and when a woman tells her she’s already met the one she’s meant to be with she assumes she means her ex. Well, spoilers right now it’s not any of her exes. Kelly had some interesting taste in men and I honestly couldn’t believe the lengths she went to, to disregard what everything was telling her and she continued to try and see her exes. It was insane and beyond hilarious. I enjoyed Kelly’s character so much I disregarded her fatal flaw. Mark was a great character who I felt really equaled Kelly out.



I really enjoyed this story. It was quick and cute and I couldn’t have loved it more. Lauren Layne did an amazing job. Plus loving so much on that cover. This is the perfect holiday love story to curl up with a book with.

I expected that I would love this book, as Layne is reliably good. However, the heroine is really a completely blind, thoughtless idiot and I nearly stopped reading at 75%. Without giving away too much plot, why on earth would a reasonable person continue on with her crazy plan to see an ex, after what was going on with her friend! No! Stop! BAD IDEA! The ending could not erase the sour taste in my mouth, because she was just so thoughtless that I couldn't like her any longer.

What’s it About? Mark has been in love with his best friend Kelly for years but Kelly has been mostly clueless about his feelings. When a psychic tells Kelly that she’s already met the love of her life, she sets about looking up her ex-boyfriends, never even thinking that Mr. Right might be her best friend. Meanwhile Mark is finally ready to move on from his unrequited love for Kelly until suddenly the sparks start to fly and Mark may finally have his chance.



Overall reaction to the story? I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. An Ex for Christmas is one of those super sweet romances that you’d probably see on Hallmark. Except in my opinion, this story is written better and has more charm (FYI I’m not a fan of those Hallmark movies). I loved Mark but found Kelly to be annoying and ridiculous which made parts of the story difficult to enjoy. There were some definite Love Actually and What’s Your Number vibes which was cute and that’s exactly how I would describe this holiday romance too: Cute.


Mark is the type of guy that I’d do anything for. He’s a great friend with a sense of humor and accepts people for who they are. He’s a bit dorky but that’s part of his appeal. I liked this guy’s attitude about almost everything. He was in love with Kelly but at the same time he didn’t put off the pathetic friend zoned guy vibes. I do think that he was a little too patient with Kelly but then again, I didn’t care for her too much and thought Mark deserved someone that was more mature.


Kelly on the other hand was difficult to like. She was a woman-child to me and took her superstitions to a level that had me rolling my eyes at her constantly. That wasn’t cute or charming, it was ridiculous and made her seem like a flake, hiding behind her superstitions in order to avoid making adult choices. She wasn’t a very good friend to Mark either, again because she hid behind psychic predictions, “magic” eight balls, and tarot cards to avoid reality. To me there’s a difference between believing in the spiritual/supernatural/etc and just using it for your own convenience and Kelly definitely used it only when it was convenient to her. That just made her childish and she brought down my enjoyment of the story.


As friends Mark and Kelly worked really well, they spent time together, put each other first above significant others, and they had such a great level of confidence in each other. I liked that easy vibe that they had and the humor that was always in abundance. As a couple they weren’t as believable, there were a lot of conflicts and setbacks that didn’t give them a chance to just be a normal couple for a few moments. I honestly thought they were better as friends but only because I didn’t really get a feel for them as a romantic couple.



Click It or Skip It? It wasn't my cup of tea just because of the heroine but if you like Hallmark holiday movies then this book is something I'd recommend to you.

Cute story of friends turned lovers. Mark and Kelly find love the hard way. Quick read with a little steam thrown in.

This was a fun little Christmas romance! Lauren Layne is one of my go to authors when I am in the mood for a contemporary romance. When I pick up a Lauren Layne romance, I expect to enjoy myself for a few hours with characters that just seem to fit with each other. This was a perfect example of her writing and I had a really nice time reading the story.

Kelly and Mark were great. They have been best friends for the past ten years. They live right next to each other sharing a backyard and even a dog. Seriously, they share a dog...I am not sure that it even gets more perfect than sharing a dog. There is one little problem in that Kelly is convinced that her romantic future is with one of her ex-boyfriends after a conversation with a psychic at the train station.

So this book was a little bit predictable. I knew that Kelly wasn't going to find her happily ever after with one of her loser ex-boyfriends as soon as Mark entered the story. They were just so perfect together and I thought that they had a really fun way of relating to each other. There was some definite chemistry between them as well.

This book was filled with Christmas fun. Kelly goes all out for Christmas and this is the first year that her parents are out of town for the holiday. You will get the full holiday experience with this story with tree decorating, holiday movies, a Christmas parade, and even a bit of snow. I loved the small town holiday setting and thought it added a bit of romance to the story.

I would recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance. I thought that this was a well done friends to lovers story with a whole lot of holiday spirit. I can't wait to read more from Lauren Layne very soon.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept via NetGalley.

This book was totally adorable. It reminded me of a Hallmark Christmas movie, which I LOVED. An Ex for Christmas was the perfect read this time of year. It was so sweet, swoony, and funny! Loved every bit of it.