Chante JVR

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“You have serious dad energy.”
“And here I thought I was exuding serious daddy energy.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ve got that, too.”

Whoever marketed this as a Christmas book needs to be fired.

I’ve been in a relatively big slump since finishing Fourth Wing and Manacled and was super excited to start my yearly Christmas reads. This one was our book club’s pick of the month and I hadn’t realised it was Tessa Bailey when I started. To give you some context, the only other Tessa Bailey I’ve read so far was It Happened One Summer which I DNF-ed and one-starred due to annoying characters and weird sex scenes. But I’m all about second chances so I thought, why not? Maybe she’s improved, maybe this time will be different. Bless my pure heart.

This one missed the mark as well. This novel was a classic case of taking a story and smacking the concept of Christmas on it even though Christmas has little to no impact on the story.

Synopsis:

The story follows Melody and Beat, children of two rock stars from a legendary band that broke up in the 90s. Melody and Beat’s mission is to reunite the band before Christmas Eve – all while being live-streamed to millions of viewers. They both like each other and have since they were 16, but they both think the other doesn’t like them back.

Ah, yes ladies and gentlemen, the miscommunication trope strikes again! A tale as old as time. But was it necessary?

To be honest, I think this book immediately lost me after Beat saw Melody’s lipstick stain on a close and then closed his mouth over it and proceeded to empty the contents of the glass while moaning. Oh also he sniffs her clothing. And I’m supposed to like this guy?

He also has a big, dark secret… and it’s not as bad as he’s hyped it up to be. He enjoys edging. Getting it on with a girl but not finishing off. This, in my opinion, isn’t that weird. No judgement here, bro. You do you.

The third act conflict as well was so unnecessarily dumb that my brain could not even compute. Beat’s also being blackmailed, right, and he’s keeping that from her. But when his blackmailer threatens to go to her for the money, he breaks things off with her to keep her away from the blackmailer. I understand keeping your distance from her on camera to dissuade the blackmailer, but bro, you couldn’t send her a text and explain the situation. She even calls him out on this so well done to her.

The sex scenes are also weird. I’m not a prude by any definition of the word, but Beat’s dirty talk sounds like what a 13-year-old thinks dirty talk is. Occasionally, there’ll also be a serious moment in the book and it’ll somehow turn sexual. You know what that sounds like to me? Toxic, that sounds toxic. Glossing over important issues with sex, no thank you.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a feel-good Christmas read, I suggest looking elsewhere. 1 star.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider donating to mine and my husband’s immigration fund and help us get to the UK. Even a small amount would mean the world to us.

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