Stevie‘s review of Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones
Bisexual Holiday Romance published by Hodder & Stoughton 13 Oct 22
The fake dating trope has never been my favourite premise for a story, but the twist implied in the blurb for this one intrigued me immensely. Haf Hughes is looking forward to spending Christmas with her parents in North Wales, but she has to change her plans at the last minute, when they announce they’ll be holidaying abroad this year, just the two of them. Wanting to take her mind off the prospect of being alone in York for the festive season, Haf gatecrashes a university party with her housemate and finds herself kissing one of the invited guests, Christopher, under the mistletoe. The pair are disturbed by Haf’s new acquaintance’s ex-girlfriend, who assumes that Haf is her replacement. Things spiral, and suddenly Haf has been invited to spend a family Christmas with a man she barely knows.
While waiting to change trains in London, Haf flirts with a woman in a bookshop, only to later discover that this is Christopher’s sister, Kit, who is also returning to the family home for Christmas. Meanwhile, Haf is rapidly learning that Christopher’s idea of a quiet few days with his parents is a lot more elaborate than she had anticipated. And that’s before she finds out that his ex-girlfriend hosts an annual ball at her family home, to which they’re all invited. Needless to say, Haf doesn’t own a ball dress and wouldn’t have had time to improvise something, even with advance warning. Help comes from an unexpected source, however, and Haf is later able to repay that favour with tonnes of interest as she offers new perspectives on the lives of her new friends.
Throughout all this, and multiple other misadventures, the attraction between Haf and Kit continues to grow, even as Haf also realises that she wants to keep Christopher as a friend, and even his ex-girlfriend has hidden depths. It all gets very confusing as Haf tries to keep everyone happy – including Christopher and Kit’s parents, but at least she’s in regular contact with her loyal housemate, Ambrose.
Ambrose was probably my favourite character of the lot. They were delightfully snarky, even as they dished out sage wisdom, and it was fantastic to see them forming friendships with some of the other characters along the way. I really hope they get a book of their own at some point. Having said that, I was very taken with the various minor characters who wound their ways in and out of Haf’s journeys, developing very distinct personalities in their brief appearances, and all contributing to the various Happy Ever Afters.
I also appreciated seeing all the various family and local area Christmas traditions through Haf’s eyes and the way she joined in enthusiastically, even when perplexed by what the point to them was. Any time there was a near-disaster, Haf was right in the middle of it, both as a catalyst and as the means by which the day was eventually saved. All in all, this book was a fabulous start to this year’s holiday reading, and I hope to see more in the same vein from the author.
Grade: A
Summary:
After a year from hell, Haf is ready to blow off steam at a Christmas party: a kind stranger, a few too many drinks and suddenly she’s kissing Christopher under the mistletoe – in front of his ex-girlfriend.The next day the news is out that they’re apparently a couple, madly in love and coming to Oxlea to spend the festive season with Christopher’s family. But Haf doesn’t have better holiday plans and to save her new friend from embarrassment, she agrees to pretend to be Christopher’s girlfriend for Christmas.
It has the makings of a hilarious anecdote they’ll be telling for years. Until Haf meets Christopher’s sister: the mysterious, magnetic and utterly irresistible Kit. Maybe love was waiting for Haf in this quiet little town all along . . .
Read an excerpt.
