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I had a hard time getting into Blame It on the Mistletoe by Beth Garrod at first. It was chosen as one of our December 2022 COYER book club reads. One key aspect of being able to enjoy this book was the fact that I needed to suspend reality. That happens sometimes as an adult reading a young adult story. I highly enjoyed the story once I let it be fiction.

The secondary characters really made the story for me. I think Fred was one of my favorites. Honestly Elle and Holly don’t make the list of my favorite characters. They were okay but I felt like the supporting characters made them shine.

Garrod writes the story with humor and I can appreciate that. I loved “Colin-human” as the distinction for Holly’s mother’s boyfriend. There came a point in the book where I had to set the story down and go down a Tik Tok rabbit hole to forget the huge amount of secondhand embarrassment I experienced. I picked it back up the next day and loved the ending.

There was a Christmastime lesson to be learned and overall I thought Blame It on the Mistletoe by Beth Garrod was a very sweet read. I don’t imagine that it will be a book that I pick up again.