When I started this book my first thought was that it was a bit early to be reading a Christmas novel. However, I in my true fashion didn't read the blurb, or had done but had forgotten it.

This is not a Christmas novel at all, rather it is a beautiful, well written one. With characters you can't help but fall in love with.

I enjoyed the fact that chapters were from both characters perspective. It gave the book more dynamic feel and allowed you to get in their heads a bit more.

The author has done a really good job describing all the scenes. It made you feel like you were there walking along side them, or sitting in the house. It is something we can all relate to, we have all had a house share where crushes develop. It felt very real, the storyline was not far fetched, but people just getting through life and the speed bumps you hit along the way.

I have nothing but praise for this book and the author. Brilliant. Perfect to snuggle up to under a blanket with a cuppa and some chocolate.

4 stars

A gentle love story set in London across 12 months of the year.
A great reminder too of how difficult it is to live in London on a nurse’s salary or even that of a publisher’s operational organiser.
I loved the walks around and about as this is something I like to do too. There is so much hidden history that we forget about - Battle Bridge for instance - not a Civil War battle as so many thing, but Boudicca’s last stand, and then the places where there were spas - eg Sadler’s Wells. And if you look closely, you can find the rivers that used to flow into the Thames and that the Victorian’s culverted over but one still is visible under glass - if you know where to look. And I do!
And yes, Little Venice is pretty but for me Camden Lock and the canals further along are better - Little Venice is too touristy and well aware of its idyllic setting..
So back to the book.
Nicely written, in a good style, gently telling how people learn to know each other and that friends make great romance buddies.
Cozy but understanding the life of the singleton at 30 and the difficulties of making ends meet when you change careers later in life.

A feel good romance!

At the urging of her grandmother, Jess travels to London with the dream of starting a new phase of her life. When a college friend offers a flat in a grand old mansion in Notting Hill, she jumps at the chance and soon becomes enamored with roommate Alex.

Unfortunately, he’s interested in the girl living on the next floor and now Jess’s dream has turned into a nightmare.

This story started out slow for me, but it had some sweet moments that kept me turning the pages. The standout for me came with the author’s quaint, quirky descriptions of London. It made me want to go there for a visit!

I give We Met in December 4 lovely kisses- Not bad!

This is my first read of Rosie Curtis, and I hope there will be many more. I loved all of the characters, and Albany Road was the perfect setting. It was well written, bringing the characters to life and making me read on in the hope they would all find happiness. A heart-warming, feel-good read.

I loved this book so much. I loved the relationship between Alex and Jess, and how the author evolved their relationship.

A fantastic warm festive romantic read. Great characters and setting. Was hard to put down. Definitely will be recommending.

A lovely light hearted romance about missed chances, friendship, families and starting again at 30. Easy to read and charming in a very laid back way, Jess and Alex’s stories intertwine, and seeing the story from both their perspectives gives a special insight into their feelings. Fab wintery read.

Romantic comedy fans who know Love Actually by heart, get ready to meet your new festive addiction: Rosie Curtis’ fabulous novel We Met in December. Poignant, funny, feel-good and heart-warming, We Met in December is a joyous and satisfying romp readers will devour in a single sitting.

Jess does not exactly have the best track record when it comes to relationships. The unlucky in love singleton has kissed her fair share of frogs and wasted far too much time on men who simply did not deserve her, but the time has come for Jess to put herself first. She has always dreamed of moving to Notting Hill and this December, her dream is about to come true. She is about to move into a house-share in one of London’s most desirable addresses and is ready for her fresh start and a new beginning. With her less than impressive history when it comes to relationships, Jess is not expecting a Hollywood romance, but little does she realise that she is about to meet a man who is about to turn her entire life upside down…

Sparks fly between Jess and Alex from the very first moment they clap eyes on one another. Alex is good-looking, charismatic and has made Jess feel things she hasn’t felt in a long time. Although theirs is a strictly platonic relationship, Jess cannot help but wonder what would happen if she took the plunge and told Alex how she truly felt about him. The two would be absolutely perfect for one another, but do they have the courage to admit the truth about the depth of their feelings for one another? Are they going to let fear get in the way of a future together? Or might there be an unexpected twist of fate that leaves all of Jess’ dreams in the dust?

A heartbroken Jess is absolutely stunned when after returning home from her Christmas holiday, she discovers that the man of her dreams is dating the woman of his dreams – and it’s not her! Alex has fallen madly in love with Emma, who lives on the floor above them, leaving Jess with the less than exciting prospect of seeing the guy she is crazy about dating somebody else! With all of her romantic dreams smashed to smithereens, Jess realises that she has wasted enough time on a guy who has no interest in her, so she decides to spend the rest of year falling in love with London – if only her heart didn’t have other ideas…

We Met in December is a lovely read that made me smile throughout. A romantic comedy that tickles the funny bone and touches the heart, We Met in December is a festive delight that will put even the Scroogiest of Scrooges in the Christmas spirit. Rosie Curtis knows how to keep her readers glued to her book’s pages with an irresistible mix of brilliant characters, laugh out loud humour, compelling drama and searing emotion.

A fantastic page-tuner from a writer to watch out for, We Met in December should be on everyone’s Christmas list this year!

The pitch was intriguing, the cover festive and the location of Notting Hill all kinds of rom-com perfect. Initially, I enjoyed reading about Jess’s ups and downs in her new London address. I thought the idea of having the action unfold over a period of one year was rather neat, because it gives ample time to deepen the characters’ traits. I liked Alex’s personality, a well-rounded, driven young man willing to chase his true dream, instead of settling for the wrong job and partner.

But about halfway through the novel, I started feeling as though the narrative was a bit dragging on. The cast of protagonists was well written, but the plot lacked momentum and action. Not that much exciting stuff was going on. It failed to seamlessly maintain my interest. Special note to the happy ending. It was sweet and lovely, so I concluded this reading experience on a positive note.

Loved loved loved this book!
Such a perfect and cute story. The characters were likeable and their relationships were so raw and real.
Highly recommend!

Jess has moved from her small seaside town for a new job in London. Alex has quit his high flying job as a lawyer and is retraining as a nurse. They both end up living in the same house share. Sparks fly.
When Jess returns from her Christmas holidays she discovers, much to her horror, Alex has taken up with another of the housemates. Has Jess missed her chance at love?
I really enjoyed this sweet tale of love and friendship.

**Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.**

I feel bad comparing, but "We Met in December" felt A LOT like "One Day in December" down to the similar titles and covers.

The romance and chance meeting in "We Met in December" is poorly executed. I'm a stickler for slow burn and tons of chemistry, and, unfortunately, the main character, Jess, falls for Alex immediately.

The book is a quick and easy read, but not something I would immediately recommend.

We Met in December is a lovely and gentle story about two people who seem to be drawn to each other but something always gets in the way. I have read and enjoyed Rachael Lucas’s work before, so I did know to expect a delightful story from her alter ego, Rosie Curtis.

Those two people are Jess and Alex. By some lucky chance, they both know Becky who has just inherited a huge house in Notting Hill. Both looking for fresh starts they end up renting rooms in Becky’s house and getting to know each other. As the book begins Jess is moving to London from Bournemouth to start a new life in publishing and Alex has given up his lucrative career as a lawyer to train as a nurse. Both are taking the plunge and when they meet at an unofficial housewarming they hit it off.

But then Jess goes away for a couple of weeks and when she returns Alex has moved on. And so follows a year of living in the same house but one or the other of them never being single or ready to take the next step at the right time.

This is such a sweet story and an incredibly easy one to read. I really liked Jess, especially when I saw her through Alex’s eyes. I so wanted a happy ending for these two lovely characters. There’s also a cast of supporting friends and each one plays their part in Jess and Alex’s story. I enjoyed the little snippets into both of their jobs too which really helped me to get to know them and also the walks around London that Alex took Jess on.

This is not a Christmas book so no need to worry if you don’t want to read Christmas books yet. It just begins and ends in December and whilst it is the perfect read for the festive season because of its heartwarming feel, it’s set over the course of a year so you could just as easily read and enjoy it in July or indeed September! If you enjoy a light-hearted, cosy romance then this is the book for you. I thought it was a real treat.

If you read a lot of romance, eventually you see the same kind of story repeated again and again. Usually what saves the day for those books is the characters and the pacing. Unfortunately, this book lacked fleshed-out characters. After spending more than 250 pages getting to know them, I still don't feel like I know anything about them. I don't even know why the main characters are in love with each other. We're just told over and over again that Alex loves Jess and Jess loves Alex, and that's it. And for a house with five people living in it, there was very little interaction between the housemates. There's only one instance where four of the housemates actively plan to spend the day together and even that day gets derailed when someone from Alex's past shows up at the house. Besides that, there's a lot of 'oh it has been weeks since I last saw this person and that person'. Why choose a setting that implies a certain degree of "family life" scenes and then waste it?

The pacing also left a lot to be desired. It was pretty obvious from the start that the main part of the story was going to take place over the course of one year. There's also an epilogue that takes place on year after the final chapter, and it only exists to make sure you definitely know every single character got their happy ending. But because of that one year timer on the main story, it feels gross when 10 months into that year, both main characters are sleeping with other people while pining after another person. Also, not a lot happens in that year. There were no major events, no big life dramas to solve, everyone just muddled along and in the end everyone was happy. There was no story IN the story, if that makes sense.

All in all, a pretty disappointing read.

Beautiful book about Alex and Jess' story.
They live in a shared flat with some other people. But, even though they like each other, it's not the right moment.
I liked they way London is described. And the plot makes you think about a sitcom.
But I would have liked if the book was a little bit longer. I got the feeling that Alex and Jess' story is not complete

The chapters read almost like vignettes. They are just pieces of Jess and Alex's lives that sometimes don't really have a point. Like, in one case, Jess goes on a run. And that's it. There are large time jumps between most chapters, so the time-stamps at the beginning are really important for keeping the order straight. At first, this really frustrated me. I usually hate stories that try to cover too much time by leaving pieces out (sometimes, by leaving entire months out). But as the story went on, I realized what Curtis was trying to do.

This is a story about everyday love. It isn't a meet cute or some explosive chemistry. It's natural, formed over a year as two people become really close friends. Okay, honestly it's a British, one-year-long version of When Harry Met Sally. They are totally compatible, but are just in different relationships that they don't match up until the last chapters. So, even though it isn't what I'm used to reading when it comes to romance,

Also, Curtis really kept hanging on. I couldn't for the life of me figure out if Jess and Alex were actually going to end up together. It was will-they-won't-they for the WHOLE BOOK. Which is great, except it's not because you honestly couldn't tell whether it was going to be a love story or a tragic missed connection. UGH.

One of the other things I really loved about this story was how great the secondary characters are. Everyone has a backstory -- even a secondary character's mother, who never actually appears in the story. The sheer power of that. I hear angels singing in my editor's brain. Jess's grandmother is an amazingly strong character, and I loved that most of the roommates had great histories (except Emma -- but we'll get to her another time).
So, yeah, I definitely think this is a great book. It was infuriating when I couldn't figure out what was going to happen with Jess and Alex, and I was infuriated they sent so long apart.

This story told in dual viewpoint covers the story of how Jess and Alex meet when they share a house and slowly fall in love. A light hearted romance which was predictable. Told in the first person in the form of diary entries. For me, I would have enjoyed the story more if it had been in third person. An average romance. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

A sweet and light-hearted read as we follow Jess and Alex who have just restarted their life in London. By no means is this a book with a heavy plot, as a matter of fact it's more of a character study. It's us seeing two characters who are meant for each other come together over the course of a year.

A feel good book that is a perfect read for the Christmas season!

All these opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for a digital arc.

A lovely feel good story that had me rooting for the Jess to get a happy ending after she gives up her life in Bournemouth to take a chance on life in London Town.

I was fortunate to be sent a copy of this book to read by NetGalley. It is a feel good read. I couldn't relate to Jess at all but I really liked Alex's character. My favourite character was actually one of the housemate's, Rob. He seemed slightly older than the others and had some good advice!
The book goes through the trials and tribulations of house sharing and living in "the Big Smoke" after coming from a South Coast town. Its a cute love story.