I’ve been trying to read one Christmas romance every December, and We Met in December was my pick for this year.
I really wanted this book to be similar to One Day in December by Josie Silver, which is one of my favorite books, but this wasn’t as deep or exciting as I expected it to be. There’s nothing wrong with We Met in December—it’s a fun holiday romance—but I was also hoping it would be more than that.
Unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to connect to the characters in this book or care about their relationship as much as I should have. Plus I kept getting the other flatmates and various side characters confused with each other. No one was very dynamic, in my opinion. I blame my feelings partially on my mental state this time of the year; working in retail has completely fried my brain right now. But also I blame it partially on my expectations being too high going into this story.
Jess and Alex (and some other people) share a flat and their friend/flatmate/flat owner put forth one rule: no dating. But Jess finds herself falling for nice guy Alex, who gave up his job as a lawyer to retrain as a nurse. The story follows them in dual POVs during the following year as we learn about their feelings and escapades while they avoid dating but still have “feelings” for each other.
This book was alright, one I’d recommend if all you’re looking for is a cute holiday romance story to bring some light to the bleak days of winter, but it’s not overly original. It plays on some cliches and stereotypes I frequently see in romance stories, including the “let’s not communicate and let the other person get the completely wrong idea about what’s going on” trope, which frustrated me a bit. And this book’s definitely not memorable like the poignant, surprising, and emotional One Day in December either, which I suspect no Christmas romance will ever live up to. I shouldn’t compare one book to the other, but with the books’ similar titles and themes, I guess I just wanted them to be more alike than they were. That’s my own fault, not the book’s fault.
I was debating during the whole time reading this book if I should give it 2 or 3 stars. I like it but it’s just okay. Not as bad as some other 2-star books I’ve read, but not as enjoyable as some other 3-star books I’ve read; my feelings are right in the middle. There’s nothing wrong with We Met in December, but nothing really standout either. A predictable, cute, fun, and mostly clean holiday romance that I’ll probably forget about in a month.
No comments:
Post a Comment