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.