Hello, Sunshines, I am delighted to be a part of the blog tour for; The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett and to be sharing my review for this festive romance.
Firstly, thank you to Sarah at Bookouture for the invite to this tour.
About the Book
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett.
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Two single thirty-year-olds. One marriage pact. And a night in Vegas that’s about to change everything…
On Christmas Eve eight years ago Evie and Dan made a pact: if they weren’t married by thirty, they were going to marry each other. Of course, neither of them took it seriously, even if Dan has always been mesmerised by Evie’s beautiful smile, and Evie has always fancied Dan, her best-friend’s brother.
But then “it” happens. They wake up on Christmas Eve, the night before Evie’s thirtieth birthday in Vegas… married. In a honeymoon suite filled with hundreds of heart-shaped pillows, they realise too late what they’ve done – just like Ross and Rachel.
Surely if they just get a quickie divorce, they can go back to the way things used to be, right? If it wasn’t for the alcohol and Susan-with-the-huge-beehive-hairdo who just wouldn’t take no for an answer, none of this would have happened. They can just go back to being friends.
Except moving on is easier said than done when you’ve secretly loved each other forever… but if one of them doesn’t admit that, what happens to their friendship? If they don’t get together this time, what happens to the pact? Are they really ready to let it go for good?
Review
I have to admit that my overall feeling’s about this book are still a little mixed, on one hand, I did enjoy aspects of the story, yet on the other hand, I still don’t know if ended up liking it or not. Confused? Yes, me too!
I loved the sound of The Mistletoe Pact from the moment I saw it, the cover enticed me in and the back blurb made me think of sweet little friends to lovers romance, a romance where after making a huge blooper they figure a way through to make the best of the situation. Then I started reading it and found that my expectations were shattered as I don’t think the actual story within the pages matches up with the cutesy back blurb.
I admit that I did like the overall concept or two people who haven’t been able to find ‘the one’ marry each other, both disregard this ludicrous plan as being a bit fool-hardy, only for every to go belly up and waking up in Vegas having done exactly that. Now, it’s this part that I did like, the start would make a great TV movie rom-com, but it’s what follows that fell short.
These two have loved each their entire lives, they are friends – incredibly close friends, they know each other inside out – flaws and all and still secretly love the other, this should have been the start of them finally admitting how they feel and work through this newfound relationship – but oh, no they want to divorce and go back to how they were before. Errrr? OK!
I just couldn’t seem to get to grips with the exploits after they rather rashly married in Vegas, and I think it’s that what has put a dampener on the overall book for me. I do think is a huge shame because the story has the potential to be a classic rom-com, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
What I did like was the clear love between Evie and Dan, just because they didn’t share how they feel with each other until pretty late on in the book, they certainly give the reader a glimpse into their minds and their emotions, which was a bright spot on entire book. I also liked them as individuals, even though I felt like screaming at them to grow up and look at what’s in front of them or just bang their heads together.
If your looking for a quick will-they/won’t they romance with a lot of Christmas feel and you love those TV Christmas movies then this is the book for you. I think it could have been so much better than it was, but I will read more Jo Lovett as I did enjoy her light and cheerful writing.
About the Author
Jo Lovett lives in London with her family.
She worked in Corporate Tax before taking a longer-than-expected career break to have more-than-expected children (five). She started writing romantic comedy when she realised that she was regularly begging her oldest son to let her do his English homework but she wasn’t actually that interested in haunted houses or Macbeth.
Jo was runner-up in the Good Housekeeping/ Orion First Novel Competition 2018 and shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Award 2019.
When she can escape from her laundry mountain and childcare, she enjoys reading, tennis and wine.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoLovettWrites
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