The Twelve Dates of Christmas 2.5⭐️/5

The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

2.5⭐️/5

I think when this book was pitched, it must have sounded like an absolutely adorable, ingenious idea.

In actuality, the context, characters, and description required to take the reader through 12 dates AND have a consistent storyline running throughout the book proved to be too much for a fun holiday book.

I was ready for the cliches that showed up in this book: male best friend who works at a coffee shop, over-the-top mother who shares her sex life and starts most sentences with “darling”, the main character who bakes but is also a “big city” designer. However, because of the length, the little nods to Hallmark movies and charming tropes dragged on for far too long.

I had to switch to listening to it on Audible to get into this one, which proved to be a much more enjoyable experience, and the reason why I rated it 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 on Goodreads) instead of 2.

The writing wasn’t awesome, but there was a little bit more “oomph” when listening to the characters banter, and there was the added bonus of speeding up the slower sections.

Things I liked:
1. The premise and setting - It was fun to imagine all of these dates during the holidays, and it was perfectly Christmas-y in that quirky, small-town way
2. Reading the dates themselves! The author is creative with the activities and with the dates themselves and how many go horribly wrong
3. One of the men she meets along the way, Drew, he was delightful and bright in every scene

Things I didn’t care for:
1. The pacing - lots of filler and not as much payout
2. Didn’t quite nail the “so cozy I’m lost in it” nor the “plot driven conflict,” but attempts to do both
3. The main love interest, I won’t spoil anything, but his character just fell flat for me - this book is definitely not much of a romance despite it’s marketing