so glad i read this book around the holidays!!! absolutely such a cute and cozy read. cannot recommend enough!!!!

Giving this a neutral rating. I couldn’t get into it at all and it ended up being a DNF for me. I just kept waiting to get invested and it just didn’t happen. The aversion to kids just seemed a bit much. The angst right off the bat was off putting.

This was a lovely British holiday romance!

I enjoyed the banter and the London vibes of it all. The characters were fun (especially Charlotte’s family, I love Alice with all my heart she made me giggle everytime).

The romance between Charlotte and Graham was sweet and I enjoyed the little moments throughout the book; the sheep, the inn 😏, and especially the carolers! The misunderstanding of the book was a little annoying but I enjoyed that it got resolved quickly!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

I am not really into Christmas books, especially not Christmas romances, because they are way cheesier than necessary and as someone who absolutely loathes the commercialization of Christmas, these seem to be some of the worst aspects of that.

But Christmas Is All Around was so freaking charming and Charlotte and Graham are adorable and I was wrong! This book has a great premise and the characters are fun and witty without being overly smart about it, plus it takes place in London, a great city for Christmas so fine, bah humbug this was great. I've really enjoyed Martha Waters' other books and its good to know it wasn't just that series, she's a fun and great writer and now I have to read all her books.

So if you are looking for a holiday themed romance that is about Christmas but thankfully not ABOUT CHRISTMAS, this is the one for you.

Christmas Is All Around by Martha Waters is an enchanting holiday rom-com that effortlessly blends humor, heart, and festive cheer. While the plot follows some familiar rom-com tropes, the charming characters and witty dialogue keep the story fresh and enjoyable. The blend of personal growth, family dynamics, and romantic tension makes for a captivating read that’s perfect for curling up with during the winter months.

If you’re searching for a cute and cozy holiday story that will fill you with festive spirit and leave you with a smile, Christmas Is All Around is a must-read.

This was a cute read, but didn’t wow me or feel spectacular. I did really enjoy the male main character Graham, and thought he was the best part of this book. He was a pretty non-toxic human which I found to be refreshing. The main female character Charlotte drove me crazy. She was so stuck on hating Christmas and everything to do with it and the Holiday movie she was a child star in, that she was blind to literally everything else in her life.

Overall a cute hallmark style Christmas love story with a little bit of spice. Would recommend for people who are just looking for a cute and easy Holiday read.

Who is she?! Who is over here reading Christmas books that don’t involve murder, mayhem, and Krampus?! (because I finished that one, The Family Game, and it was excellent-more to come on that one later) I felt the holiday spirit calling to me and I’m here to tell you that these two are worth it!

🎄CHRISTMAS IS ALL AROUND by Martha Waters was just the cutest!
•grumpy/sunshine trope
•former child star turned Christmas grinch
•small town English countryside and a love interest with an ACCENT
•hilarious dysfunctional family
•the best meet-cute

❄️A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS by Taylor Hahn was NOT a romcom. It was basically a book about how to deal with unexpected grief over the holidays. Parts were sad, but I also enjoyed it because of…
•a precious found family
•the musician aspect of this book. I’m a sucker for music fiction :)
•a cute love interest
•so many family secrets and SCANDAL!

Both books were gifted! Thank you tagged publishers!

Have you been reading any holiday themed books? If so, which ones?!

❄️❄️❄️

I really enjoyed this Hallmarkesque holiday book! Charming, with a hefty dose of nostalgia. Super unique premise, and a lot of fun!

I've enjoyed Martha Waters other books in the past and was excited to see she was going to write something a little different, a Christmas rom-com!

This one was entertaining and had me laughing throughout! I enjoyed all the humor around various rom-com and holiday movie tropes and stereotypes. The British wit is always a win for me. And I loved all the family dynamics between the FMC and her sister's little family, and the MMC and his sisters. Definitely a fun read for this season!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for the egalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this way more than I did, but unfortunately it fell flats in some areas for me. I did enjoy it but I didn't LOVE it. I will definitely give the author another read at some point to see if maybe it's just a writing issue and I'll still be recommending this to my audience!

This was cute! I think my favorite Christmas movie Easter egg was that book Graham is a crier just like Jude Law’s Graham in The Holiday.

Thank you so much to Atria Books for my copy of Christmas Is All Around by Martha Waters in exchange for an honest review. It published October 22, 2024.
I had really high hopes for this book, the blurb made it sound so good! Unfortunately, I couldn’t stand the main character. I felt like she was very annoying, rude, and ungrateful. I get that she didn’t love the movie, but goodness gracious, stop telling us you don’t like it!
I also hated how much she hated her niece, how many times did she have to refer to her niece as a demon spawn or some other awful name? She’s a terrible aunt. (I take being an auntie very seriously!)
Overall, I found the premise of this book to fall flat, and I so hoped all the Christmas movies and art would redeem it for me. But I couldn’t wait for it to end.

3.5 ⭐️

First off, I hope the title was intentional because anytime I see it, I start singing the song from Love Actually.

This was a cutesy, Christmas romcom. Definitely gives Hallmark vibes. If this is your vibe, you'd definitely like this book. Not my favorite holiday book I've read but definitely worth the read.

Very quick and cute Christmas romance from Martha Waters! We follow former child start Charlotte who was in a cult classic christmas movie and Graham who lives where the movie was filmed and is trying to find ways to save his ancestral home. The two hit it off and have quite the adventures scouting out other Christmas locations for an art series. But the more time they spend together the more real the feelings they have for each other get. Will they survive Christmas and make it to New Year's? A cute and well done read from Martha Waters, I look forward to what she does next!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

This Christmas read was a pleasant surprise. I loved reading this story and was immediately drawn in by the prose. Would read again and again!

4/5 stars

Thank you Atria Books for the advanced reading copy!

I really enjoyed this book while reading it, and had a hard time putting it down! This just connected to me perfectly in the moment I picked it up, and was a lot of fun to read in early December while getting ready for the holidays myself. The FMC was annoying to me at times. Her obsession with being a child star didn't totally connect with me and came off whiney. This didn't overtake the rest of the story, though! The romance was really sweet and while it did teeter into insta-love for me, it was still cute and believable. A Christmas book needs great supporting characters in my opinion, and this one nailed it. Plus, the fun holiday references and activities made this story feel all around magical. Great holiday read!

Would read a grocery list by Martha! This was such a cozy read with little bits and pieces of BRIDGET JONES, LOVE, ACTUALLY, and THE HOLIDAY sewn in. There's just something about London at Christmastime!

The female MC was absolutely miserable. It was really hard to connect with her. Frankly I was bored.

This was a pretty good Christmas romance! I loved the author’s Regency series and this wasn’t as good as those, but it was a light, fun read for the holidays.

REVIEW: Christmas is All Around 3.5

Charlotte is a former child actor in a hit Christmas movie. She hated acting and decided she didn’t like Christmas anymore either. Graham owns the house where the film is set in London. When Charlotte visits her sister’s family in London, they accidentally go to the house. While Charlotte tries to hide, she runs into Graham, who is undressing as a reindeer.

Christmas is All Around has many of the typical holiday rom-com elements. It takes place the month around Christmas and features many different Christmas movie titles. The magic, cozy feeling of Christmas plus the London setting put me in the holiday feeling. Graham and Charlotte give off sunshine and grumpy, respectively, and opposites attract. I love the banter and chemistry between the main characters that add humor, romance, and a bit of heat to the story. There were so many cute romantic gestures; I adored Graham as a character.

A few things just didn’t hit the mark for me. Much of the book felt stretched out and long, and it seemed like nothing was happening. I tried not to skip ahead in some areas because it was just slow. The conflict of the miscommunication trope was very arbitrary and seemed to wrap up quickly. It just didn’t make a good conflict. I was also a little disappointed that the ending didn’t feel complete. I still have some lingering questions.

Overall, Christmas is All Around had funny, cute, festive, and romantic moments. I enjoyed parts of the story, but it needs some tweaking.

Thank you, Netgalley and Atria Books, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!