I've decided to return to writing reviews for books so if this review isn't as polished as you would expect, please be kind. It's been a long time since I've written one for this blog.
The first book that I finished in 2025 is How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn with Vanessa Edwin
(Narrator),
J.F. Harding
(Narrator),
Robert Hatchet
(Narrator),
Emma Wilder
(Narrator), and Shane East
(Narrator). Unfortunately since I started it in 2024, I won't be able to count it towards the
2025 Audiobook Challenge.
A new holiday enemies-to-lovers romance from USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn.
Every Kringle in Kringletown celebrated Christmas a lot.
But Cole Black on Whistler Lane, unfortunately, did not.
As his fellow citizens decorate their quaint town, brimming with carols and glad tidings, Cole wants nothing more than to hibernate the winter away. But his dreary plans are thwarted when his Christmas nemesis, Storee Taylor, moves in next door to care for her Aunt Cindy. Immediately, the new neighbor turns his life into a real nightmare before Christmas, especially when she decides to enter the town Christmas Kringle contest in honor of Cindy. And better yet, Storee is determined to win.
Over Cole's dead body, she will. With help from his friend Max, Cole decides to enter the competition as well, to beat Storee at her own game by pretending that this hometown grump's heart has grown three sizes this season and he's fallen for the girl next door. And unfortunately for Storee, she has to follow his lead to have a chance at the Christmas Kringle title.
But the competition isn't the only thing that heats up. Cole and Storee's fake relationship becomes very real, and before they know it, they're attempting to hide it from Aunt Cindy. Things get complicated, the competition gets tough, and all it takes is one single night for someone to steal it all…
My Review with Minor Spoilers
First, I need to explain how hard it was to even find a physical copy of this book. I went to multiple stores looking for it and finally when I asked a Barnes and Noble employee if they had any copies she informed me that "the first printing sold out because of TikTok making it so popular" and the book wouldn't be available until mid-January. I tried my library but there was a queue of 44 people! That also meant I wouldn't get it until mid-January at the earliest.
The queue was the same for the digital library which has both digital and audiobooks. So I gave up trying to find a physical or library copy and signed back up for Audible (not sponsored). I'm more likely to finish the audiobook version of a book than I am a digital copy which is why I didn't buy it as an ebook. I recently checked Amazon and the reprinting (if that was even true) seems to have happened early and the book is available again.
That all said, I suggest getting this on audiobook. There are some books that just work better as audiobooks and in my opinion this is one of them. The narrator at the beginning of each chapter breaks the fourth wall at times. While this likely is in the physical copy of the book, it just seemed more entertaining because the narrators would actually bicker with each other. Oh and this narrator had a British accent. Why when it was a book about a very American town celebrating Christmas? I don't know. Maybe having him reciting dirty limericks just seemed funnier. Did it work? Not really. Most of the time it was kind of cringy.
Kind of like everyone's names in this book. Storee, Cole (as in coal because he's naughty), Cindy and Max (like from How the Grinch Stole Christmas), and the town Santa having the last name Krampus. I get that this was loosely based on How the Grinch Stole Christmas but why not switch Storee and Cindy's names? It would have made more sense.
Overall this whole book was pretty cringy. Sometimes it was a really good, sweet enemies to lovers Christmas romance with some deep heartfelt moments and then it would turn into a Christmas themed Fifty Shades of Grey. This book will ruin candy canes for you. The parts that I liked best were the Hallmark movie-like parts and I would have liked this book a lot better without the kinky sex scenes.
Honestly I found all the sex scenes boring except for the one with the candy cane. That one had me reaching for the brain bleach. Worse, they weren't spread out though the book with things happening in between. They happened pretty much all together. It was like Meghan Quinn needed to make sure she met the sex scene requirement by the publisher so had the characters do some marathon sex. Even on the days the couple couldn't see each other they were sexting each other.
I did like the Christmas competition parts and the confusion about faking the fake dating but the truth was the two love interests didn't really fake date at all. They went on maybe two dates. The whole point was to be seen together by the town but they were rarely seen together! Most of their interaction was bickering or sex. While they did have a few deep conversations what they had was a lot of lust not love.
One of the best nuggets of advice I have gotten in life is that sex is not a relationship. Meghan Quinn has clearly never gotten that advice. Did I believe this couple was in lust? Absolutely. Did I believe this couple was in love? Not so much. Meghan Quinn did apparently get the message to always use a back up birth control method though. That message is rarely seen in a lusty romance book and I appreciated it.
What I liked most about the book was the twists at the end. I didn't expect this book to have any plot twists so they came as a pleasant surprise. Were they realistic? Not particularly but they were fun and raised the stakes. Of course since this is a romance I knew how it would end but it still made for a more interesting and very Christmas-y ending. A very wholesome ending to a very unwholesome book.
Overall I really enjoyed the book but because it felt like it didn't know what it was, I only gave it three stars. Trying to be both a wholesome Hallmark-like Christmas story and a kinky adult version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas just didn't work for me. Maybe if the sex scenes had been a little more tame? I know that sounds so prudish and I don't like to kink shame but this is a Christmas book for goodness sakes. I read a
Christmas book earlier in the season about porn stars that wasn't this kinky.
My overall rating
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