⭐⭐
The Christmas Wager
Holly Cassidy
352 pages | G.P. Putnam's Sons
The Set Up: Bella is an LA real estate agent with a big promotion in her sights, and it’s all riding on solidifying the sale of Always Noelle, a family-owned Christmas shop in a small Colorado town. She arrives assuming the deal will be a piece of cake, but the owner’s grandson, Jesse, won’t accept the low offer she’s presented. They agree to both compete in the town’s annual Holiday Games - if Bella wins, they will accept her low offer.
The book had a sweet and cozy vibe, just like you’d expect from a Hallmark movie. The story was definitely fun, especially with all of the different holiday games, but I finished the book still not feeling like I really knew either main character very well. I mostly loved the grandpa and the rest of the town’s characters and how seriously they took the annual holiday traditions.
The prose was overly simple for my taste, lacking any depth at all. I tend to struggle with books if I can just read the first sentence of each paragraph and feel like I’m not missing anything at all. I did end up skimming the last 50 or so pages, when I could see exactly where the story was going.
Overall a cute and quick read if you’re looking for a something to give you Christmas vibes, but it fell a bit short for me.
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