New Year’s Kiss | Review

Synopsis

Tess and her opinionated older sister Lauren are spending the week after Christmas at the snowy Evergreen Lodge in Vermont and they aren’t happy about it. Their stern grandmother, who owns the holiday resort, is not known for her warmth and good humor. But when shy, straight-laced Tess meets Christopher in the lobby, things are suddenly looking up. And when she decides to get out of her comfort zone and create a bucket list of things to accomplish before the New Year-like singing in public and skiing a black-diamond slope-Christopher is happy to help, even as he keeps a secret that could turn everything upside down. When the ball drops, will Tess and Christopher share a magical kiss-or will Tess start the new year off alone?

Review

I really enjoyed this book! It gave me Jen Calonita and 10 Blind Dates vibes and I was all for it.

I wasn’t really sure what the purpose of the book or the end goal was going to be when I first started the book, but I quickly figured it out. Our main character, Tess, wanted to accomplish a bucket list before the start of the new year. This bucket list contained a list of things she had always been too scared or too shy to do. I loved this premise especially because it brought me, the reader, on some fun adventures with the characters.

At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about most of the main and side characters, but they all grew on me pretty quickly. Tess was a nice main character. I loved that we got to see her grow and evolve throughout the book more into the person she wanted to be. It was fun to see her come out of her shell and try new things.

I also really liked getting to know Christopher. He was around in the first two-thirds of the book and then disappeared for nearly the whole last third of it. His disappearance was explained, and I guess it gave Tess a chance to see that she could accomplish her bucket list items on her own, but I still missed his presence. He was such a huge part of the book and then he just disappeared. I think that time was vital to the growth of the relationship between him and Tess, but that’s alright. The ending didn’t feel super forced, despite his disappearance, but I think it could have been more organic if he wouldn’t have been gone for this chunk of the book.

Overall, this book was sweet, and fun and, and right up my alley! I love cute YA romances, especially ones that take place around the holidays (at a lodge-type resort at that!) so I was happy with this one. Definitely take the time to check this one out!

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Lee Matthews, go to their Goodreads profile.

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