I am always on the hunt for YA Christmas stories so I was excited to see this one coming out. It was originally released in French, translated to English for a release in September 2025.

This book follows April, who has had a somewhat sheltered life since surgery on her heart two years prior. Her parents are split up and she is spending Christmas with her father near a ski chalet. She has avoided anything potentially dangerous because of her heart issues, but also wants to live as normal of a life as she can.

This story was cute and a very quick read. I liked seeing April become more confident as the story progressed. There’s a slight forbidden romance aspect as well (best friend’s brother trope) and they were cute together.

However, aside from the advent calendar format (so cool! We need more books like this) and a few references here or there, this wasn’t a terribly Christmassy read. It’s more wintry, with skiing, snowfall, getting snowed in, etc.

Overall this was a cute YA holiday romance. I always love reading them!

This story is so cute. This will definitely be a fun physical book to get with the advent calendar element. I really enjoyed reading about how the mmc helped the mfc step outside her comfort zone. So cute

I was immediately drawn to this book after reading that it was told in an advent calendar style! The idea is so much fun. I attempted to stick to reading just one chapter a day! Sadly, the story wasn’t my favorite. I found it moved slow and felt rather repetitive. I never felt any excitement to pick the book up each day.

I really enjoyed the setting and could really feel myself in the winter wonderland. It made for the perfect cozy Christmas feel.

April was a likable character and I really felt for her and her health complications! Her parents were so over protective, which I totally understand, but it came across as overly controlling at times! It made her character come across as a 13 year old instead of the 18 year old she was.

Augustin was also a likable character. I did find him a bit pushy and a bit self centered at times, but by the end I thought he and April were sweet together. I definitely felt like there were parts of the story with Augustin that could have been left out. I think the book could have been shorter by about fifty pages.

Overall, a great concept, but the story was lacking for me. It felt repetitive at times.

Thanks to Simon Teen for the eARC.

Ooof there are times when I am reminded that I am not a young adult anymore, and young adult books don’t always work for me. April is back in the alps for Christmas for the first time in a few years, and she meets back up with her best friend’s older brother and sparks immediately fly.

Okay so here’s what I couldn’t get over. April has had a heart transplant and I’m sure her doctors have been very clear about what kind of physical activity she should be doing. And yet the moment she’s back in the mountains, Augustin is pushing her to go cross country skiing and claiming that her wanting to be less physically active is her hiding away or some other emotionally manipulative BS. Like SIR are you a doctor??? I rest my case.

And wow, the drama with her BFF was a lot.

I love YA books still…just not this one unfortunately.

Can you believe we are reviewing Christmas books?? I just finished A Heart for Christmas by Sophie Jomain. I loved this book.

I love this concept. I have not seen an adult romance advent before. I loved it. The book is a fun simple Christmas story broken up into 24 days. I loved how the story progressed and flowed. Definitely one to add to the collection.

A sweet holiday romance between a young heart transplant patient several years after her life-saving surgery and her best friend's handsome ski instructor brother, set in the glorious alps. Each chapter is sealed -- one to be opened like a flap on an Advent calendar and read each day during the season -- and festooned with a beautiful illustration by artist Manon Bucciarelli. Recommended for younger teens who love feel-good stories set in romantic locales.