This was the perfect cozy read! You can read it anytime of year but I loved the holiday and city vibes. The found family in this story is one of my favorites of all the books I’ve ever read. I adored the characters and the writing was superb! An excellent debut novel and a new auto-buy author!

Ever read a book that you are surprised that you love as much as you do? Podcaster turned author Becca Freeman’s The Christmas Orphans Club, a story about a group of Christmas “orphans” who meet up every holiday season and spend it together because they have nowhere else to go, is that book for me.

It is Hannah and Finn’s holiday tradition to spend Christmas together. Hannah, an actual orphan, has no family except for an older sister who would rather spend the holidays with her husband than sister, and Finn was disowned by his own family after coming out as gay. Along the way, these Christmas orphans added two more members to their club - Theo, the forgotten son of a billionaire, and Priya, a fashionista from India who isn’t used to celebrating the holiday. This quartet has spent Christmas after Christmas together, making merry memories along the way, but this year is different. This may very well be their last Christmas together, as Finn is set to take a job in Los Angeles, and the group has been finding themselves pulled in different directions as of late. As the Orphans Club sets out to have their most epic, albeit bittersweet, Christmas ever, the members must face the music about their past, present, and future.

While I love holiday novels, it is a rare one that blows me away, but The Christmas Orphans Club is a book that I loved picking up. I was 100% invested in this novel and found myself looking for excuses to squeeze a little bit more reading time into my day - I actually finished this book within 24 hours (no small feat for me!) Not your typical seasonal fare, The Christmas Orphans Club is a novel first and foremost about friendship with a bit of peripheral romance worked in. It has an engaging, well-developed storyline and bold and brilliant characters. Both work seamlessly together to create a memorable holiday read.

The only thing that did not work for me in this novel was Priya. Her character was underdeveloped and one-dimensional, and she came off completely unlikable. I kept wondering throughout the book why Hannah, Finn, and Theo were even friends with her because she didn’t seem to enjoy the holidays, or even their group, as much as they did. Her sarcasm and negative attitude grated my nerves, and I kept wishing that the Orphans Club would just kick her to the curb. Thankfully, her role in the novel is small, so I was able to look past her when rating and reviewing this otherwise enjoyable read.

Loved this book! I enjoyed reading a holiday book that centered around friends who are family. Highly recommend this one. Thank you so much for the ARC!

You guys, this book. I read it in one plane ride from Las Vegas back to WI and I'm so glad I did (though I'm a little sad I never got to the audiobook because the queen Brittany Pressley reads it!). This book not only covers romantic love, but platonic love and found family, too. It's really kind of nice to read a holiday book that isn't quite a romance. Going in you know that the MMC and the FMC are incompatible (mostly because the MMC is gay), so you, honestly, have no idea what to expect...and I loved the ride!

Things I wished there was more of:
Priya. There was so much of the other 3 main characters, that it almost feels like Priya got pushed aside. You heard more about what she'd been part of or her history than you saw it.
The relationship between Hannah and her sister. Hannah has, like, an epiphany near the end of the book about how her relationship with her sister looks - and it doesn't dig all the tmuch into WHY she feels differently now than she did before. I just wish we had MORE here.

Things I really loved:
I'm just gonna say it: I love Theo. I thought he was equal parts broken and fun, but I completely believed in his motivations and that he honestly was a decent person at heart.
The aspect of found family. I loved that this book is built around 4 people who had no where else to go for Christmas and somehow these misfits became a family. Like seriously - so good.

If you want to read a holiday book, but you're not into the Hallmark-y Christmas vibe, I would go for this one. I honestly really liked it, and I think you will too!

Overall, for a holiday book this was very sweet. But it was delightfully average.

Thank you @netgally and @prhaudio for the ebook and audiobook.

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We follow a group of four friends whose group was started with Hannah and Finn. In college, both didn’t have somewhere to go for Christmas and spent the holiday together starting off their friendship. The next two years they were joined by Priya and then Theo, others who didn’t have somewhere to go at Christmas. Each chapter follows a past Christmas and this years holiday.

Some books that go between last and present are hard to read, but this one did it so well! I loved how it was paced and how each last Christmas related to this current one. The audiobook has two authors for Finn and Hannah, both did an amazing job!

I liked each of the 4 friends and I saw growth from them all. While the story was sweet Hannah was just kind of okay. Sometimes I just wanted her to let things go or go to therapy. While that didn’t take away from the story it just made me feel eh about it.

This book is such a fresh take on a Christmas book! I thoroughly enjoyed the found family aspect and the dual timeline that walked us through how Hannah and Finn (along with everyone else) ended up where they are in the today timeline. I thought it had a nice element of suspense and thought the ending was perfect. I loved this book and give it 5 stars!

There isn't anything bad about this book...But, for me personally, not a lot kept me engaged. I never was begging to keep reading. For how short this story is it still took me just as long because of my disengagement. That being said the content with in the storyline, being in NYC and the frequent pop culture reference were a good addition and helped cover up for the lagging storyline. Overall this could be for someones teenage niece who's parents are okay with a few bad words and other references. For this author, I see potential for growth and a bright future.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I have to say I was not expecting to love this one because cute Christmas books usually aren't my thing, but this WORKED for me. This book tells the story of four friends: Hannah, Finn, Priya, and Theo, who have spent the last 11 Christmases in New York together. Because Finn just accepted a job in LA, this could be the last Christmas they spend together. This is the story of friendship, and while there are some B stories that are romance related, it felt so fresh to read a story about complex friendships through the years. This book is also filled with of-the-time pop culture references which I thought was really fun, and it just had great Christmas vibes all around. I would definitely recommend this!

I am an avid listener of the Bad on Paper Podcast, which is hosted by Becca and Olivia Muenter. When Becca's book became available for presale, I ordered it! (And I got an ARC of the e-book, so now I have two versions!) This is a fun holiday-themed novel about chosen family. Hannah and Finn have been inseparable since college and spend every Christmas together since they don’t really have families to spend the holidays with. Over the years, they add Priya and Theo to the group, and the four of them form their own “Christmas Orphans Club”. When Finn announces his impending cross-country move, they aren’t sure if this Christmas will be their last and if their friend group will make it through other life changes as well. It’s a really sweet story! I love how Becca is so vivid with her descriptions; it made me feel like I was right there in New York City with them.

This is such a fun Christmas book! The premise is about making a family out of your chosen friends in a New York setting. I loved all of the characters, especially Hannah and Finn. It has definitely put me in a Christmas mood. It is billed as a romance, but I feel that it is more a story about friendship.

Thanks to Penguin Books and Netgalley for the digital copy of the book for my opinion.

I love the Bad on Paper podcast. Becca always has amazing recommendations for books, so I knew that I wanted to read her debut novel. There were some parts I really enjoyed about this book and some parts I felt were underwhelming. I loved the description of NYC and all the people, places, things and feelings that NYC evokes. It almost felt like this book was half a friendship story and half an omage to NYC. One thing I did not like about this book was the main female protagonist, Hannah. I felt she was kind of annoying. The repetitiveness of her disdain for her friends moving on with their lives got to be frustrating. I did love the Finn and Theo story line though. So that made up for Hannah's annoyingness.

Hannah, Finn, Theo, and Priya are best friends all living in NYC. As "orphans", they spend every Christmas together with wild and fun adventures. As years go by and they begin to grow up, their friendship begins to change and so do their Christmas traditions.

What’s better than a Christmas romance book? A Christmas friendship book obviously! I adored this debut novel from Becca Freeman.

This had two POVs and alternating timelines, which I’m always a fan of. The writing was engrossing and the characters were likable for the most part. I think Hannah annoyed me a tad with the obsession of the tradition and her and Finn’s fallout was also a little immature, but both a little understandable. I also would’ve loved Theo and Priya’s POV because they’re a big part in the story, but you don’t get to learn much about them. I’m looking forward to Becca’s next novel!

Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This book just wasn’t for me. I love a good Christmas book but felt a lack of character development in this one. Honestly it was a bit boring.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Becca Freeman, and Penguin Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was cute! As much as I detest Hallmark movies/cheesy holiday movies in general, I found last year that I really enjoy reading seasonal holiday books. I was intrigued by the premise of The Christmas Orphans Club, and I do think it is a great, unique take on many Christmas-related books. The characters seem realistic, and seeing what adventures Hannah, Finn, Theo, and Priya got up to each Christmas Day over the years was super fun. There are lots of heart-warming moments mixed with serious scenes as well, which I appreciated as a more realistic take on just being over-the-top cheesy. However, there were parts of this book that just didn't quite land for me, leading it to be about a 3.5 star read for me personally. Although there are 4 friends in the group, the book is written in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Finn only across the years. I understand that Theo and Priya come to the friend group out of Hannah and Finn's overall, over-arching friendship, but I felt like this was a great disservice. Theo is mentioned a lot throughout, but Priya seems to be mentioned barely at all. In fact, this leads to a big argument between her and Hannah towards the end. I would have loved to see more of her as a whole and for the book to have been written in alternating perspectives between all four characters. I know that could potentially make it longer or less "deep" in character-work overall to give everyone equal time/space, but the book could have really benefitted from flushing out all of the friend group, not just two characters. I also found Hannah a bit whiny and unrealistic, which led to me not always enjoying certain scenarios or chapters from her perspective. Overall, my issues are minor and more just about my personal taste, so I do recommend overall for a fun, festive read!

Makes me wish I had a dramatic family situation to blow off at Christmas and run around New York with my friends.

This has become hands down my FAVORITE Christmas book of all time! I loved this debut novel, and even though the premise reminded me of the movie" The Night Before", I fell in love with these characters. I wish I had a tradition like this!

I had really high expectations for The Christmas Orphan's Club after seeing all the glowing reviews on Goodreads, but ultimately this fell flat for me and it was a struggle not to DNF.

Hannah and Finn have spent the last several Christmases together as a part of their own "Christmas Orphans Club" - both do not have immediate families to spend the holidays with - and have picked up secondary characters Priya and Theo along the way to round out their group. Told in a split timeline, the reader navigates between present day and Christmases past, as we explore what could potentially be the Club's last Christmas together.

I truly think this story idea and plot line had SO much progress - but it fell flat with unlikeable characters and friends who maybe shouldn't have been friends after fighting over something so petty they didn't speak for a year. I think I went into this looking for that character depth and development and what I got was a YA, kind of snarky and painfully unlikable main characters who are friends who definitely needed (and should have kept) their friendship break. I think it would have served them better to realize that sometimes group grow apart - vs. the painful need to force the characters back together.

Thanks to Becca Freeman, Penguin Books, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4.25 out of 5. Such a lovely book. Tears were shed and the friendships represented were so wonderful. The books show the power of how friends can be your chosen family and how remarkable that could be. This is one to read if you want your heart to be happy and some wonderful innovative Christmas celebrations.

So heartwarming and perfect for the holiday season. Really loved the diverse characters and journeys each went on. Recommending this to all of my friends that want a Christmas story that is not too typical