Received from Net Galley for review

RATING: 3/5⭐

REVIEW

I am so glad that I received this entire series from Net Galley. They were all so much fun. The books go along so well together and each book follows a character we have already met before. It is also fun because we get to see the characters from the previous books and see what they are up to after their story. This book followed Savannah, a girl who does not believe in love. I wasn't super excited to read from her because she is my least favorite character in this world. However, I am in love with the love interest, Jordan, and it took me SO long to realize that we saw him in book one.

I love the writing in this book, as well as the rest of the series. Chelsea Bobulski's has some beautiful quotes that I would definitely underline if I had a physical copy. I really want to read more books from her.

This book was fun and the love story was cute, but as stated previously, I am not a fan of Savannah so I was really reading for Jordan. This book also started in September so it took quite a while before it turned into a Christmas story. I definitely wish there had been more winter and Christmas vibes. The epilogue was GREAT, and I am so glad I read this series!

All I Want for Christmas is the Girl Who Can't Love is actually the 4th book in the "All I Want For Christmas" series.  I am always hesitant jumping into a series book without having read the earlier books, but this worked as a standalone.  There was a bit of a recap at the end with I assume the characters from the previous books which was a little confusing but I was able to make it through everything but that part with no problem as if it was a standalone book.

I had been taking a break from romance, but the write up totally caught my eye because the main female character, Savannah, could have been me - and the male lead, Jordan, may have reminded me of a certain someone too.   Savannah has just started college and is struggling.  Her roommates are on a completely different schedule than her and she is having trouble getting a decent night's sleep.  She also has dyslexia which has gotten more difficult to manage with the less sleep she is getting.  She met Jordan her first day when she was trying to move a mattress into her dorm room and he insists on helping her out.

Jordan and Savannah become friends, he tells her she can nap in the library and ends up dictating her textbook to her to make it easier for her to study.  Meanwhile there is a sub plot of these war time love letters that Jordan has been researching.  Jordan tries to convince Savannah that love is real through these letters, but she is still not convinced.  The two of them end up discovering even more of the letters between Bex and William which will really help Jordan in his research and applying to PhD programs - but will it convince Savannah that love is real? And will the two of them end up more than friends?

This book was a pretty quick read and once I got about halfway in, I couldn't put it down.  I had somewhere to be and decided I'd just show up late, because I couldn't leave without finishing out the story to see what happened and how things with Savannah and Jordan ended up.  I really, really enjoyed this book and maybe now I have to go back to the other 3 books and see if those are just as enjoyable.

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Okay. I don't know what to think. I liked it but at the same time, I really didn't. The storyline was good but the characters, especially the heroine, were hard to connect with and I didn't like the whole thing. The writing style is pretty nice though.

I received an advance copy of, All I Want for Christmas is the Girl Who Can't Love, by Chelsea Bobulski. This is a sweet love story about Savannah and Jordan.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

College Freshman Savannah is practical, realistic, and self-sufficient. She comes from a long line of women that had their lives torn apart by the mythology of love and Savannah won’t be part of it. To her, love is a false tale of magical nonsense that is better explained by the science of attraction and evolution. She has plans for her future, and the false myth of love will not be part of it. But when Junior Jordan offers to help her carry a mattress into her dorm on move-in day, suddenly she finds herself in uncharted territory.

Jordan is kind, sweet, caring, and compassionate. After a series of bad choices following a heartbreak his freshman year, Jordan sets out to not repeat his mistakes, working hard to make the most of his education. He has his future planned out: graduate early, get his PhD in early Colonial Studies and become the next Ron Chernov (author of the book that inspired the musical “Hamilton”). However, meeting freshman Savannah has suddenly rocked his plans.

As Savannah and Jordan get to know one another, they find themselves sharing secrets, building trust, and slowly becoming best friends. But getting too close will have consequences, and Savannah can’t risk her carefully planned future on a biological impulse that won’t last. But Jordan won’t give up on the one girl that has suddenly set his world on fire.

This novel was sweet, endearing, and touching. The characters are developed well, and their backstories unfold in a natural way without overwhelming the reader. The dialogue is well written, realistic, and flows with authenticity. I found this to be refreshing, because many times YA Romances are the opposite. Although this novel is the last in a series, I don’t think you need to read the previous novels to follow this one; the epilogue is the only place I felt a little lost because I didn’t know most of the characters. The only two things that I didn’t like were the ending because it wraps up all the conflict way to quickly and neatly in a very rushed fashion, and that it’s really not a Christmas story. Most of the story takes place between August and November, with only a tiny bit at Christmas. There were some heavy emotional things occurring that get wrapped up quicker than Christmas presents—and I found that disappointingly unrealistic for a novel that I found refreshing BECAUSE it was realistic. But, overall, I really loved this book and it made me want to go back and read the others.

A heroine (Savannah) that doesn't believe in love. Plus a hero (Jordan) who can't let himself get distracted by love; not again. Throw in a two-hundred-year-old love story that's ending is a mystery? Sounds like a Hallmark movie, and honestly, this book gave me the same good feelings that those movies give me. There is nothing I like better than curling up on my couch and turning on the Hallmark Movie channel during Christmas and getting to enter the world of Savannah and Jordan was just as good.

Savannah and Jordan felt like a real couple, in the sense of their meeting and how they progressed from friends to that unknown in between of friendship but maybe something more was realistic. Savannah while a little too perfect in the descriptions of her appearance, Chelsea humanizes her with the addition of a character that many people face and struggle with on a daily basis. And I think she handled it in a respectful way that describes it in a way that makes it understandable to those who don't have it. The plot didn't feel rushed or forced, the internal dilemmas that they faced over working through their respective feelings felt natural and not like they were added in to draw it out or create unnecessary drama.

When I first picked the book up I didn't realize that it was part of a smaller series, but until the epilogue, it reads as a stand-alone, and even the epilogue blends all the other stories together. So you can read them as standalone, but I think after this I'll go back and read the others in the series.

Overall, it was a sweet and cozy read to prepare for the holiday season.