Notes from the Shelf

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The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss is a 320-page romance novel. Here is the book blurb: When it comes to relationships, thirty-four-year-old Kate Turner is ready to say “Bah, humbug.” The sleepy town of Blexford, England, isn’t exactly brimming with prospects, and anyway, Kate’s found fulfillment in her career as a designer, and in her delicious side job baking for her old friend Matt’s neighborhood café. But then her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays. Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. The odds must finally be in her favor . . . right?

Yet with each new date more disastrous than the one before–and the whole town keeping tabs on her misadventures–Kate must remind herself that sometimes love, like mistletoe, shows up where it’s least expected. And maybe, just maybe, it’s been right under her nose all along. . . .

I found The Twelve Dates of Christmas to be kind of middle of the road as far as romances go. It was fairly obvious to me that her best friend Matt ends up being the love interest, so it was more of a friends-to-lovers book, which I don’t often like.

Also, her dates were so boring. I found them to be just filling time, because it was obvious none of these dates were going to work out. I don’t need to read twelve first dates when I’ve already had plenty of disastrous first dates myself! Matt often made some questionable comments when Kate would talk about these dates, too, because he was obviously jealous.

There wasn’t really any romance in the book between Kate and Matt, which I was disappointed by. They don’t even kiss until the very end of the book, so it didn’t even really read as romance to me.

I give The Twelve Dates of Christmas 3 stars.

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