Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Publisher: William Morrow
Rating: ★★
Two people. One house. A year that changes everything.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jess is following her dream and moving to London. It’s December, and she’s taking a room in a crumbling, but grand, Notting Hill house-share with four virtual strangers. On her first night, Jess meets Alex, the guy sharing her floor, at a Christmas dinner hosted by her landlord. They don’t kiss, but as far as Jess is concerned the connection is clear. She starts planning how they will knock down the wall between them to spend more time together.
But when Jess returns from a two-week Christmas holiday, she finds Alex has started dating someone else—beautiful Emma, who lives on the floor above them. Now Jess faces a year of bumping into (hell, sharing a bathroom with) the man of her dreams…and the woman of his.
Review:
I feel gypped.
I picked this book up because I wanted a book to put me in the holiday mood. I had been seeing this one all over my Instagram and was hoping that it would be the one to put me in the spirit. Well, like I said, I feel gypped. This wasn’t really a Christmas read, at all.
There was a lot about this that could’ve had potential, but fell so flat for me. First things first, I wish that this was even a little bit wintery or Christmasy because that’s what the cover shows me. The synopsis advertises “December”, “Christmas vacation” and “Notting Hill” so I thought that I was picking up a Christmas book. However, it’s barely mentioned at all.
Next, the characters seemed almost unlikable to me to the point where I wanted to skip through and get to the end. I felt like their romance did not show any chemistry and I had a hard time looking at them together. The mutual pining was too much and I wish something was done sooner. I am all for a slow burn, but this was almost ridiculous. I wanted to grab them and shake them and just get it over with already (since we all know how these books end anyway!).
I feel like there was too much going on, almost like there were different stories thrown into one book with one premise. There were a lot of different characters and a lot of different things going on to the point where I was confused at some parts.
Finally, I am someone who is obsessive over roommate novels. I love them so much to the point where I’ve started a Goodreads shelf devoted just to that specific genre. But when the roommates are intimate with other people for nearly the entire book, it’s just overkill at that point.
The only thing that I really enjoyed out of this novel was the details of Notting Hill and London. Being from the United States and never having been “across the Pond”, it was nice to read and feel like it would be an enjoyable experience to go visit there one day.
Overall, I would skip this one if you’re looking for a book to get you in the holiday mood.
Lacey's Library 