Get into the Christmas spirit with
All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox.
This book was enemies to lovers, fake dating and a whole lot of cute.
I loved the characters and the premise that the book rotated around an American Idol type show. You do not need to be a country music fan to enjoy this book either.
Max is the son of a famous country music star and Sadie moved to Nashville in hopes to make it in the music industry. When they are forced to work together on the show and forced to fake date in order to build up the audience, tension & sparks fly.

I expected a lot from this book following the summary and the cover. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The story started well with the music competition and the tension between the characters. But their miscommunication was far too present and repetitive in history. In addition, I thought there would be more time on Christmas as it is a Christmas romance. The moments I would have liked to see more develop because they were a good starting point were those in Alberta

I love this duo author and the lighthearted writing they collaborate on for fun romance stories. I enjoyed this sweet enemies to lovers romance based on a singing competition. It was a quick read for me. This would be a great hallmark movie story. I loved the characters and loved the Canadian aspects brought into the story. A great book to curl up with on these cooler fall days with a cup of tea and a fire .

I received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own. I would recommend this book to friends and family and I know my book club would love it,

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but reading this book was absolutely delightful! As someone who thrives reading Christmas romances as I roll into Christmas season, this book was no exception in making my cherry mood, that much more cheerful. It was sweet and cute, wrapped up with a perfect little romantic bow.

The premise of two country singers (um yes, I'm obsessed with that!) going on this reality show and teaming up which equals fakes dating, enemies to lovers, all around cuteness and wishing they would just get together already because their tension is killing me, was by far my favourite Christmas novel plot. There's obviously a disdain of each other but you can't help falling in love with Sadie and Max, and ultimately their love story either.

This book was an absolute blast to read, so much fun, tons of smiles, and overall got me in the holiday mood! Thank you Penguin and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ARC!

This is the second holiday enemies to lovers rom com arc I've read this week - is this going to be a trend for 2022?! This was a solid book that delivered on what it promised, and interested me in reading the author's 2021 holiday release (that was on my radar, but I haven't gotten around to yet). I really enjoyed that the book was set in the Nashville music scene, and that the hero Max had a cabin in Banff, Alberta.

With #AllIWantforChristmas, Maggie Knox has once again penned a holiday page-turner of a romance, this time set in the exciting and fast-paced world of music competition shows. Even for a non-country music fan, the book provided enjoyable insight into the competition show atmosphere from the point of view of the contestants.
The two main characters - Max and Sadie - run the gamut of emotions from disdain and dislike at the beginning of their forced collaboration, to warmer feelings of friendship and regard for each other personally and professionally, to even deeper feelings later on in the book.
I must say, it's a wonder they ever got there at all. The first few times they jumped to conclusions about each other without bothering to discuss underlying issues were somewhat understandable given their age and the circumstances, but the number of these 'misunderstandings' kept creeping up to the point of becoming ridiculous. I began to wonder if these two could possibly be so dense as to not learn from the previous times they had jumped to conclusions and walked out on each other. They certainly didn't seem to learn from their mistakes.
Regardless of how frustrating the characters became over time, the book is definitely well-written, interesting, and easy to read.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

All I Want for Christmas was set up as a cute enemies to lovers, fake dating, Christmas story. I love these types of tropes, and this book worked for me up until about the 30% mark. What I thought the book was about, ended there. The next 60% of the book took me on a ride I wasn't expecting.

While this had the potential for a cute story, it just didn't work for me. The characters are supposed to be in their late 20's and they were both so incredibly immature to the point of frustrating. I also think that, maybe that is something a character can have, but there should be growth in the book or an attempt to even acknowledge it, but that did not happen. These people were miscommunication and non-communication at its worst.

I don't know why, but I just didn't feel the spark between Sadie and Max either. I feel like the miscommunication trope carried on to the reader and I never fully got to know or understand either of the main characters. Sadie and Max weren't only closed off to each other, they were closed off to the reader who wanted to get to know them better.

The plot and story idea definitely had potential, but it just didn't work out for me.

I am starting to think that maybe Maggie Knox's way of storytelling is just not for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

A Christmas filled, enemies to lovers, fake dating romance. With a dash of a cute grandma, reality tv, the Canadian Rockies, and a little dog you'd love to adapt.

Sadie and Max meet on the set of the reality singing competition Starmakers. Max is country music royalty, and Sadie is trying to make it in Nashville. Two weeks in the do a duet that changes everything. They as a couple go viral and are threatened to be kicked off the show if they don't stay as a duo and fake a relationship. But will their undeniable chemistry flourish and develop real feelings, or will their animosity and determination to succeed keep them from realize the future they could have.

While this was a cute Christmas story there was a lot that just did not work. The immaturity of both characters was so frustrating. There was so much miscommunication and jumping to conclusions with little information it made me want to scream. I didn't believe the romance at all. The writing left a lot to be desired.

This was a sweet Christmas romance story that I enjoyed! It was cute and it was fun, and even though you know how the story will go, it’s still enjoyable. My only complaint though is what the amount of miscommunication needed to be limited, I felt like the last half of the book was just them not having a real conversation. It got a little repetitive and tiresome, I understand how it adds suspense but it shouldn’t be every chapter in my opinion. I feel like it would have been better at times if Max had defended Sadie instead of run away, it would have made the reconciliation more believable.

If you love the tropes of enemies to lovers and fake dating, this may be the book for you. However, there are many pieces of this book that fell apart for me. Firstly, I felt that their was a lack of development of the burgeoning relationship between Sadie and Max. The timeline jumped significantly without much of the build up and anticipation that makes rom coms engaging. These two were either hot and heavy or engaged in, what can only be described as a number of toxic and problematic “off again” scenarios. While I love supporting Canadian authors and seeing Canadian landscapes in a novel, unfortunately this book was not a win for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Paperback for the e-ARC version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

With a Hallmark Christmas movie feel, All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox is a sweet (with a touch of grumpy) holiday romance. With alternating points of view going back and forth between Sadie Hunter and Max Brody who are contestants on a holiday reality singing competition. The two are joined together by the competition and thrown into a fake relationship, both are individually dealing with some issues, including loss of loved ones, dealing with being a celebrity and miscommunication between the two. The book takes place over the course of three Christmas seasons, set between Nashville and Banff.

Thank you to NetGalley, Maggie Knox and Penguin Random House Canada, Viking for an eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

CW: sexual harassment and death of a loved one

A holiday Rom-Com about two reality star country singers who must fake it to win the competition. The fans must their chemistry even though they don't like each other initially... They eventually fall in love of course...

Fun and light-hearted. A perfect holiday story. Love both characters and their chemistry together. I had a lot of fun reading it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Cute enough story, but a bit humdrum. I wasn't particularly invested in the story or the characters but it was a harmless way to pass a couple of hours.