I really Loved this book. I rushed through it desperate to see what happened. I thought the mystery and details of the art world were brilliant. The only thing was that it didn't real feel like a Christmas novel, could have been any time. Wish it had a different title.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Really enjoyable read that doesn’t need to be confined to Christmas. The storylines dip and weave around each other creating a tension and romance that’s tangible. The setting is just divine, coupled with a mystery that needs to be solved. I was completely engrossed by this story. It’s does not disappoint.

Thank you Netgalley

I'll be honest and say that for the first 30% of the book, I struggled.
I have read quite a few of Karen's books, and sometimes they are a bit hit and miss.
Art is not my thing, and I did find some of this boring. The diaries for me were much more interesting.
I liked Darcy. She was a very determined lady who knew what she wanted, and that was to find love.
Max was a complex character, moody, and brooding.
Thought out this they clashed on many occasions with Max giving Darcy mixed signals.
The title is a bit misleading. It did make a couple of references to Christmas, but it wasn't really Christmassy.
I was invited to read this ARC in return for an honest review. Thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley.

A really good read. A very interesting story when Darcey is commissioned to try and find out details of a painting there is a fabulous history that is uncovered which is also a very emotional story. While she is working Darcey who has just finished a relationship tries dating again after her best friend encourages her to try online which is not very successful but after she meets the gorgeous Max who is very much involved in her work there is an instant attraction. The two stories work very well together and with some Christmas spirit in the mix makes this a real page turner

Well, we all knew that Darcy and Max would get their happy ever after but it was great fun finding out how. A good story but could have been a bit less descriptive for me, at times I was skipping whole pages to try and find the story again

All I want for Christmas is a brilliant read. The details included about art history and preservation made the book more than just your standard romantic fiction. I was thoroughly absorbed in the mysteries held within, both those of the past and present.

The main character Darcy is a PhD student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Denmark who is chosen to be the soul researcher into the mystery surrounding a painting that has been discovered pasted behind a famous work of art. The painting is glued and only ghost like images using UV light can be seen. Darcy is charged with a massive task to go through all the records about and by the artist to try and identify the woman so if displayed the history of the painting it’s creator and subject can be displayed at the National Museum. As if the daunting task wasn’t enough the Foundation that stores and displays the majority of the artists work are also involved and although are offering resources time and space to do the research they want the information and painting for their collection too. The mystery of the painting really drew me in. Darcy’s enthusiasm and emotional connection to the subject was infectious.

The beginning chapter sees Darcy and her flatmate talking about their love lives and scrolling through an exclusive dating app. Darcy is tasked with choosing three maybes for a bit of fun but no heart strings to be involved. Of the three the most cocky Max the Lawyer is chosen because he seems honest “no time for dating” despite the cold look in his gorgeous eyes. Fate comes into play and Max is involved with the Foundation and Darcy has a couple of meetings with him. The chemistry between them is immediate and intense but neither admit to knowing one another through the app. It is all about business and Darcy has two other dates to go on first.

I was thrown by the app aspect of the story being in the first chapter, it was very lighthearted, talking about sex and not giving any indications to the more serious nature of the rest of the novel. It was essential we met Max in this way before Darcy goes to the work doing where important work meeting where she meets Max the Lawyer in his professional capacity, but I would’ve been drawn in faster if chapter one had been the unexpected meeting when Darcy is appointed to the researchers role. However, the dating app was central to the romantic side to the story. The interactions with the dates as Darcy juggled her work with play were amusing and enlightening. I was always rooting for dark, brooding and secretly kind Max the Lawyer, but it was clear from the start that the relationship between the two wouldn’t be straightforward due to work and his cavalier attitude to dating.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an early review copy of this book.

Karen Swan's books truly intoxicated me, and this Christmas love story weaved through another tale of discovery was pure magic.
Darcy has moved to Copenhagen to finish her PhD studies. It's a good thing because, given a breakup, she needs to remove herself from certain aspects of her life. Love and celebrating Christmas are the last things on her list, and a chance project to research a particularly juicy discovery gives her the opportunity to bury her mind in other directions.
However, her wonderful housemate, Freja, is in the throes of her own early love story and, not wanting to leave her friend behind, creates a profile for Darcy on a dating app for well-to-do folk.
Max is one of those suggestions on the app.
He's wealthy, intelligent, in a good job, broodingly handsome, and moody. Sparks of attraction fly, but his close connection to her research makes it challenging to explore that attraction.
She kisses a few frogs on her journey of discovery, both personal and professional, and unearths some well-hidden home truths along the way.
I love the details of the art world. The history behind various artworks is always fascinating, and how this is entwined in the writing gives the story another dimension.
Did I want to shake Darcy and a specific other character several times? Why, yes, I did! But then, the book would have been far too short, and Darcy wouldn't have been allowed to finish her essential research!
Fantastically written and a wonderful read!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

I loved everything about this book. Yes, it was a romance but it was also so much more. The plot was a real page turner and I enjoyed every minute of reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this ARC.

This complex story takes place in Denmark at Christmas time but can be read at any time of year. The emphasis is on the story of a painting discovered behind another, very famous one of a fictitious historic Danish painter. Darcy, a young British art history student working for the National Gallery, is tasked with finding out who the lady in the painting is and who painted her, which reveals a tangled web of secrets and lies that has far-reaching consequences into the present.

Darcy's best friend Freja doesn't want her to be alone at Christmas so gives her access to an exclusive dating app via her rich boyfriend. She swipes right on three guys but then discovers that one of them works as a corporate lawyer for the Madsen Foundation that she is seconded to. Max is a complicated character, and it took me a long time to warm to him - he's too possessive and jealous for my liking.

The men Darcy gets to know through the app are a mixed bag but seem to eat only at fancy restaurants like Noma and Geranium. Hasn't Noma closed down in 2023?

The love for art shines through and the mystery was intriguing enough to keep me interested, however, I found the historic diary excerpts distracting and taking me out of the story - thankfully there were only a couple.

This could have been shorter and feels repetitive at times, especially when it comes to Darcy and Max dancing around each other. Darcy is very traditional in dating etiquette and I discovered that I should have been sitting on the banquettes in restaurants all this time. I've been doing life wrong for years!

I usually love Karen Swan's novels but this one disappoints a little due to not being very festive and turning a nice man into an awful one, and an arrogant, moody one into a palatable one (he gets a rescue dog at the end so awww). I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and didn't deal with what will happen after Darcy's year in Copenhagen is over. A epilogue would have been a good idea!

However, it is a very well-written, partly predictable escapist read that is deeper than your usual fluffy rom-com. The supporting characters are rounding the story out nicely and Copenhagen is a fabulous backdrop setting.

I absolutely loved this book, great characters and setting with romance and a mystery thrown in, I do love a Karen Swan book!

Darcy is working on her PhD in art history and in Copenhagen for a year, working at the National Gallery. She shares a flat with her friend, who is recently very loved up and trying to find a date for Darcy over the Christmas period, so has her (rich) boyfriend sign her up to an exclusive dating agency. Darcy has recently split from someone so isn't interested, but to keep her friend quiet she swipes on three guys who she eventually has dates with - but one turns out to be someone she is involved with at work.

There is lots going on here, the different blind dates all have their issues, but Max is always there in the background, although it's a very rocky road for them both, lots of antagonism and avoiding each other, even though they're obviously very attracted to one another. Their work also causes issues as a secret painting of a woman is discovered, hidden behind a very well known painting by Denmark's greatest painter, and both Darcy and Max are working on opposite sides of what the powers that be think should happen to it, along with Darcy's task of uncovering who this mystery woman is.

I just loved the whole way the story flowed, with the current dates around the city at Christmas, and the mystery of the painting, along with the very slow burning romance with Max. A real page-turner that I would highly recommend, I couldn't put it down!

Enjoyed this book. At some parts I found it a bit slow but it did pick up further on. Thanks for an early read Net Galley.

This was an enjoyable story however I did feel it was a little drawn out in places that made me start to lose interest. Glad I stuck with it though as it was worth it.

Set in beautiful Denmark, at Christmas, this is a carefully woven tale of art, mystery, and smouldering attraction.
The gripping narrative kept me on the,edge,of my seat, as secrets are revealed in a sparkling
festive atmosphere. I enjoyed reading this story immensely.

Overall Good Read 🤓

Great read that could be read at any time, whilst the title would make me think it would be a festive read, it’s not overly Christmasy focuses mainly on the challenge at hand.

Another enjoyable book from Karen Swan, although I didn't take to it as much as some of her previous ones. This was mainly due to the man female character, Darcy an English PhD history of art student, who I liked initially but didn't take to in some of the situations she found herself in. Set in Copenhagen in the run up to Christmas with plenty of cold snowy weather. I loved the historical mystery side of the story and although it was quite obvious which man she'd end up with, it was still a good tale. Light with some quite funny humorous bits to enjoy over the festive season.

There's not much more exciting than a new Christmas book, especially one by Karen Swan.

This is going to be a generalisation but a positive one. Whenever I read festive books, they tend to be along the happily-ever-after line - snow, romance, uplifting, easy to read etc. And I love that, don't get me wrong, I'd read them any day of the week. But with a Karen Swan Christmas book, they've got that but they've also got so much depth, so many other interesting layers to them that whilst you assume it'll end in the same vein as the happily-ever-after types, there's no guarantee and it becomes really interesting to read.

As someone who was fascinated by, but not very good at, art, and oved history, I absolutely loved the plot regarding the mysterious painting of an unknown woman. I liked the romance plot and other subplots, but it was the art strand that I was so interested in.

What I will say - and this is possibly my expectations rather than a comment on the book itself - but with a title like All I Want For Christmas, I was expecting much more of a festival novel, but with life happening around it, but apart from the odd mention about people's plans for Christmas, there is no real festive feel to it. There are suggestions, such as buying a Christmas tree, but apart from that, there's no festivities. Whilst I really enjoyed it and will always recommend a Karen Swan book, but this is not the cosy festive story I was expecting from the cover.

I liked Darcy as a main character. She seemed to stumble through life, not certain of things and that endeared her to me. Her best friend is a fine accompaniment; she didn't impact the story enough for me to have a huge opinion on her but she was good to read and I loved her working off of Darcy. And then the main man Max, he is a bit...aloof maybe, confident, handsome, slightly awkward but in a way where he uses it to his advantage, sometimes cocky. My opinion on him flipped and flopped. He was charming but with a short fuse and at times I just wanted to bang his and Darcy's heads together. Then we have Aksel, the quiet, shy, handsome vet who is not necessarily all he appears to be. There are a lot of other characters, potentially a few too many although I didn't feel overwhelmed. Some are more prominent than others, obviously, but I didn't feel there were any surplus ones which is always good.

It didn't wow me quite as much as I expected. It was still really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm glad I've read it and will recommend it highly, but having read some of her other books, this one didn't really have the big wow moment.

Overall, I would say a very good story, I was fully invested and really thoroughly enjoyed, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to call it a Christmas novel.

In my opinion this is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
A wonderful story set in Copenhagen in the art historian world with Darcy, a PHD student from London seconded to the Danish National Gallery to finish her thesis, and Max a corporate Lawyer and art trustee ,
Things I have really liked about this book include
Location and the danish culture - well researched the reader feels like they are in Copenhagen
Characters - Darcy, Max and Freya and the many supporting characters are all strong , well portrayed and believable
Storyline - Fast moving with many twists and turns and a secondary storyline introduced as the book progresses. The two storylines are seamlessly blended together
In conclusion, a brilliant story I would highly recommend, It was a book I didn’t want to end
Thank you to Netgalley, and Pan MacMillan for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

Another fantastic Karen Swan read! I loved the academic and artworld setting, and how Copenhagen felt so atmospheric and magical. The perfect pace, and plot twists, on top of intrigue and romance. A fabulously festive read to disappear into.

So I have actually read all Karen Swan's standalone books and I am generally a big fan, but this one rubbed me up the wrong way. All I Want For Christmas sees PhD art history student Darcy going through the archives of a fictional Danish painter in Copenhagen to try and work out who the subject of a recently discovered portrait is. When she meets Max, a trustee of the foundation where she is working, she's instantly drawn to him, but wary of his playboy reputation. This was too much like The Paris Secret to really appeal to me - I don't think Swan is at her best with these cultural-historical-secrets plots. It also has precious little Christmas or wintery atmosphere. But what really got to me was how old-fashioned All I Want For Christmas felt - Swan's novels are not meant to be zeitgeisty, but this reminded me of chick lit from the 80s or 90s. There's the casual biphobia, when Darcy mentions that one of her exes was bi and left her for a man as he was always more inclined towards men (the 'closet gay' is a harmful bi male stereotype, and totally unnecessary here). There's Darcy's bizarre obsession with rules of dating 'etiquette' that would feel old-fashioned for a Gen X character, let alone Gen Z: apparently, men must pay the bill, sit on the chair not the banquette in the restaurant, walk on the traffic side of the pavement and always let women go first. She also has a weird thing about not dipping bread in soup. [SPOILERS FOLLOW] Then there's the nice normal guy who is obviously going to get dumped for the sexy unreliable guy, but to make this work, the nice normal guy has to turn out to have been secretly horrible all along, even though there was no evidence of this except that he spent too long chatting on the dating app before asking her on a date, plus the aforementioned etiquette fails. Also, why did Darcy's best friend have to get engaged to her much older boss after seeing him for a matter of months, cheerily abandoning her independent, fun life for a diamond ring? Because of all this, I really disliked Darcy and had no investment in the central romance. I'm sure Swan's next will be better, though, and I'd recommend my Swan favourites instead: The Perfect Present, The Christmas Lights and, most recently, Together by Christmas. 2.5 stars.