Another sweet holiday romance by Maggie Knox! Her holiday books are auto-buy for me. The perfect mix of romance & festive goodness!

I’ve been sitting on this for a while. I stopped and started this book a few times during the holidays and after and I am throwing in the towel at 35%.

This book featured a charming premise of our two main characters meeting on Starmaker, an American Idol type show. They were paired for a duet at one point and ended up fake dating after fans went crazy.

I love fake dating tropes but the chemistry between Sadie and Max just didn’t feel like it was genuine. It felt way too forced and relied on too much missed communication. And really, I just did not like the pair of them together after a while.

I also just felt the overall pacing of the novel was off and it was not an overly enjoyable read for me, unfortunately.

If you like miscommunication and relationship drama then this is definitely the book for you. It also features a grumpy/sunshine dynamic and touches on topics such as alcoholism, parental abandonment and grief.

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed the Holiday Swap (as did other readers I've talked to) but this one just wasn't as interesting to read.

A relatively enjoyable, pretty cute holiday read - one I can see myself suggesting to anyone who's looking for a fluffy holiday romance. despite some issues with pacing, and some scenes and things that i just couldn't understand the importance of, i did enjoy this book. i am a major sucker for enemies to lovers, and fake dating, and sunshine/grumpy tropes, so this gave me a little of everything.

***4.5 ⭐️***

Uber sweet Christmas fake dating romance with pieces of American Idol and Nashville (TV show) together with a bit of the #metoo movement as well. Very well written with great character development. The dialogue between the two MCs was engaging, as were the heartfelt moments between Sadie and her mom and Max and his dad.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the premise of this book sounded really interesting and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t like it quite as much as the authors’ previous book. I found the miscommunication issues to get pretty frustrating as the story went on, but that’s probably a “it’s me, not you” thing. A cute Christmas read just not one that quite met the high expectations I had for it.

It was just okay. Not really my favourite

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The pacing was really weird since this book has a time jump, so it was hard to really feel the connection and development of the romance. They are both musicians and this had some cliche miscommunication moments that were more annoying than anything. One of them jumped to conclusions and the other one kept some pretty important secrets that really needed to be out in the open. I just don't love plots that rely on miscommunication and I didn't care at all for the romance or these two characters being together. A really forgettable book that didn't really feel that Christmasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for the advanced copy of this book!

This story is partially set in Banff, Alberta which is somewhere I travelled to for the first time this year! It is a beautiful place, and to see more Canadian rep in books? I just knew I had to read this on!!

Overall though, I found this one to be just alright. I felt like the timing and pacing of the book were a little hard to get in to (the story does have a time jump). I also am personally not a big fan of the miscommunication trope which also hindered my likeness of it.

I am disappointed because I feel like synopsis seemed so fun and full of potential, but I didn't love it. I don't want to count this story out for everyone though because I feel like my un-enjoyment was based strictly on personal preference, so take this with a grain of salt as you might enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Random House for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of this book was intriguing, two musicians competing in a Christmas themed competition and forced to start a fake relationship to boost the show’s ratings. I thought this made for a cute holiday read, however my only problem was the communication issues between Sadie and Max. It became very frustrating at times as all their issues could’ve been solved with simply talking it out.

This book was Not for me but overall a well written romance. I loved Maggie Knox’s last novel and was disappointed by this one.

First of all I would like to thank NetGalley for this ARC, and all opinions remain my own.

First of all I'd like to say that I had a difficult time with this one. The formatting was absolutely terrible on my ARC and was definitely a factor in how I felt so please keep that in mind,

This book ultimately did not work me. I had trouble with the characters, as they didn't feel authentic. Max especially I thought was kind of cold the entire time til he apparently loved her. I didn't understand how they were meant to be together, and was left completely unsatisfied with their ending.

The writing felt clunky, like it needed to be reviewed by an editor. I honestly thought that Johnny King was a better match for Sadie than Max, and that didn't change. I'm sorry to say that the writing to me felt like it had no heart, and I was never swept into the story.

Regrettably, this book rests firmly as a two-star read for me.

I enjoyed the Holiday Swap last year, so I was excited to pick up the latest Maggie Knox book. The premise of an American Idol style competition, with fake dating and enemies to lovers, held so much potential, but the constant and immature miscommunication overshadowed it all.
I didn’t find Sadie or Max likeable and I didn’t find their chemistry believable, therefore was not invested in their relationship at all. The information that Sadie withholds…. Seriously?? It just felt so weird to me.
When they head to the Canadian Rockies, I was excited, because I’ve been to Banff multiple times. I’m not sure if this was a joke, but Banff has hotels? I don’t know, it’s representation didn’t always feel accurate, but I appreciated the cozy vibes.
Overall, this unfortunately was not the holiday read I expected.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, Viking for the digital copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one more than I did. I'm not saying it was bad...I enjoyed it just fine...but it didn't really live up to my expectations and didn't give me everything I wanted in a holiday book.

And in truth, I had a hard time connecting to the characters. I think that's my main reason for a lower rating. I found both of the main characters incredibly annoying at times. Their lack of communication was frustrating. The first couple problems, ok - there was a misunderstanding. But when this continued for a vast majority of the book, I wanted to shout at them to just have a conversation already! And besides Gran and the dog, none of the secondary characters really stood out.

What I did like was that the book took place in three parts, all around the holidays. I enjoyed the tropes of fake dating and enemies to lovers and it even had a little bit of that grumpy/sunshine thing going on.

Overall, I needed some stronger main characters that I could really root for and a little more holiday fun. Good, but not great.

I wanted to love this one so much but I just…didn’t.

I love a good Christmas musical romcom as much as anyone else, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. At first, I thought I would enjoy it more as a movie rather than a book because then the musical aspect should actually be shown and we would be able to see the chemistry between Sadie and Max in those moments. However as the book went on, there were more issues that I didn’t like.

The story relied a lot on misunderstandings and lack of communication to drive the conflict and I’m not a fan of that. I kept finding myself thinking about how if the main characters just talked, there wouldn’t be much conflict at all. I was frustrated with them more than anything so I had a hard time getting invested in wanting them to be together.

That being said, I did enjoy a few things. I loved Max’s dog, Patsy Canine, and the fact that Max is a knitter (I crochet!). I also really would have loved to be able to see the musical performances because as a country music fan, I think I would have enjoyed them.

I do own a copy of Maggie Knox’s first book and still plan on reading it. I’m hoping I enjoy it more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I had previously read The Holiday Swap by these authors last year, and liked it. I was looking forward to this book and hoped that the storytelling had improved as a sophomore novel. I stopped reading around the 30% mark as I was finding myself uninterested in the overall plot. I appreciate that "fakness" is a general theme at the beginning but it came off as cheesy and disjointed for me.

I was really excited for this holiday read, and as a singer, I thought the premise was right up my alley.
Sadly I had such a hard time with the main characters in this book. They just seemed to bicker and argue back and forth about everything and it made me lose interest in the story.
This one was not for me sadly.

Cute Christmas romcom that seemed to drag on in parts. There were times that I wanted to yell at the 2 main characters to smarten up and just admit their feelings to each other. Glad that they did after some souls searching on both their parts.

I'm sorry but I was really let down by this book. I originally loved the concept of Sadie and Max falling in love on a reality TV show but I felt like the show became much more a piece of the plot than it needed to be. By the end, I just wanted it to be over. I'm sorry but, for me, it just fell a little flat.

I need to start by saying I really like supporting Canadian authors but this book was a flop for me and I totally DNF’d it around 50-60% through the book.

The premise of the book was one that originally pulled me into the book. Think Nashville meets American Idol. Sadie and Max are both country music singers competing on Starmakers. I found the pacing really tough to follow and I was really struggling finding a connection between the two as their “relationship” was built out of fake dating. It was toxic to me (again my personal opinion). Miscommunication was a big concept in this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for this gifted book.