This is a lovely holiday romance and will brighten up your mood no matter what season it is. It starts with a pact between friends, that if they were to be still single by the the time they were 30, they would marry each other. While these notions of marriage by a certain age are not exactly the message we want to hear anymore, the book explains their predicament in a satisfactory manner.
It does involve an accidental marriage and very very long road to the happily ever after, so if one likes fast paced plots, this romance isn’t it for them. It switches perspectives from the past to present and while that can be confusing at times, it gives a nice peek into the lives of the characters. The long term friendship of the characters is what makes this a sweet romance, otherwise it could be frustrating to see the constant pull and push in their relationship.

This was a sweet holiday romance story with a somewhat predictable plot and likable characters, and while it was a slow burn for me, I found the plot heartwarming.

The plot of the book revolves around two friends who had promised to marry each other by the time they were 30 if they were not already married to someone else. While I don't mind an overused trope to develop a plot, I also found that this story dragged for too long. Evie and Dan seem to be the only ones who don't see their chemistry, and the fact the most absurd conflicts and miscommunication keep them apart is irritating.

I did like the characters and was hoping to get into the plot as the story unfolded, but I keep getting distracted. At least I was happy with the ending.

Having read both of Jo Lovett's other books, I was eagerly anticipating the publication of her third and have not been disappointed - it is every bit as good as the other two. It's an adorable slow-burn romance. I loved the settings and all the characters. Jo Lovett's writing is fantastic with amazing dialogue. I couldn't put this cute feel-good story down and really recommend it.

If I read the first chapter of a book and forget what I’ve just read the second after I read it, I feel like the book isn’t worth my time. I absolutely hate saying that but it’s just what happened with this book. It wasn’t compelling and engaging.

Cute story, I enjoyed the waking up in Vegas premise. It was at times hard to follow character motivations for me but I think overall it was an enjoyable holiday romance. I would recommend it to anyone looking for Christmas romance vibes.

A cute Christmas romance that everyone needs to read. It was a fun and easy read and easy to fall in love with the characters and really route for them. I love a friends to lovers book and this one had plenty of cute moments

I really wanted to love this one, The premise sounded wonderful, sadly it wasn’t the right fit for me, I couldn’t really connect with the characters and found myself spacing out so I decided to DNF.

I love the concept of this book, but I unfortunately did not love the book. The book goes from present day to ten years back, which I thought was a cool concept. The characters were good. I just found myself spacing out a lot when reading it. I know others loved it, so I recommend checking out their reviews for it!

Such a fun Christmas romance! I loved the characters and plot! It was sweet and funny, and hit the right notes!

Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

Might revisit this over the holiday season and will update my review if I do pick it back up.

The plot was promising but I couldn't quite get into it. The writing was stiff and I couldn't connect with the characters.

Having read both of Jo Lovett's other books, I was eagerly anticipating the publication of her third and have not been disappointed - it is every bit as good as the other two. It's an adorable slow-burn romance. I loved the settings and all the characters. Jo Lovett's writing is fantastic with amazing dialogue. I couldn't put this cute feel-good story down and really recommend it.

This was a fun, if straightforward, Christmas read. Dan and Eve have chemistry, and it's obvious to everyone but themselves. It may take a while, but over the years, fate does its best to bring them back to each other. But will that be enough?

For those who love a good hallmark movie! Super cute. Missing some development but overall a good read.

I found this book to move a little slow. Evie and Dan have always had a crush on one another and one crazy night they get married in Vegas. Thinking what a mistake it was they decide to get a divorce. The story follows them over a year as things in their lives change, but not their true feelings for one another.

I'm not sure what I expected when I first read this book's blurb, probably an easy read, a fun little book whose romantic plotline is set over the Christmas holidays. Funny misunderstandings, charming main characters. I don't usually have any particular expectations of how the romance should go: good friends to lovers, good friends to losing their friendship to lovers, strangers to lovers, strangers to friends to lovers, acquaintances to lovers, acquaintances to enemies to lovers... I've loved all kinds of storylines. I do, however, need to have an interesting plot that makes me want to read, whether that's the love story or something else.

In this case, the main characters are friendly but not close friends, secretly pinning after each other since time immemorial, and jokingly agree to marry each other when Evie turns 30 (if they aren't in a relationship of their own..) So they both go on a Christmas trip to Vegas and get married while blackout drunk, they immediately agree to have it annuled and the story drags on. The secondary characters are absolutely forgettable and they show no emotion: when they hear Evie and Dan just got married in a drunken haze, they show very restrained interest, as if they'd just been told they have cheesecake for dessert, when they then admit they'll have it annuled they shrug and go back to tell silly jokes. It is the most anti natural reaction I could have imagined. The trip to Vegas, which offers so many possibilities, is just a long string of nights where they get smashed and then nurse a hangover. It just seems like every decision in the construction of this story was the wrong one, the one that made sure the plot stayed as still, boring and unremarkable as possible.

I would usually have read a couple of chapters of this kind of romantic, Christmasy book before going to bed, an easy read that gets me in a good mood. However, this one was a slog and made me incredibly depressed. I had a hard time picking it up to read just one more chapter, it was downright painful. if I'd had a good day, reading this would ruin it; if I'd had a bad day, reading it meant I might not be able to take more bone-chilling sadness and I'd hurt myself. I'm not sure who the public for this book is, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

This was a festive romcom that I enjoyed reading over the holiday season. It was a bit too much of a slow burn for me and the time jumps got slightly confusing. Overall I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Jo Lovett!

I always read Christmas books in December and I love a good holiday romance. This year I only managed to read one so far and glad this was my choice. The best part is how well the relationship is built. I like the non-linear timeline (though may have got confused a couple times). It also has some wonderful secondary characters and plots to round it out and manages to be not just a good Christmas love story but also a family story.

DNF @ 36%
I so badly wanted to enjoy this book but it was just impossible to get through. The first couple of chapters were fine but the time jumps were jolting and not handled well. Chapter 13 is one of the few chapters after their night in Vegas where we see them interact but the dialogue (was it supposed to be banter?) was completely flat.
Another gripe was how much focus there is on the parents? Evie's mom gets pregnant and has a kid with a guy that Evie thought was cute in the first chapter (odd) and then in Chapter 13 we find out Dan's dad is cheating on him. I just don't care. Yeah, ideally the two MCs in a romance novel have conflicts outside of the relationship but these were poorly handled and brought up intermittently so what was even the point.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing e-ARC for an honest review.

this book was so good, could not put this down from the moment i picked it up. i fell in love with dan and evie, seeing their relationship grow was amazing. i live for this sort of cliche marriage pact trope, its one of my favorites, and i cannot wait to read more by this author.