Name: Briar's Reviews's review of The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett
Item: The Mistletoe Pact
Rating: 1
Author: Briar's Reviews

Jo Lovett

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? Fall in love this Christmas with this feel-good story about love and second chances. Fans of One Day in December, This Time Next Year and Beth O’Leary will adore The Mistletoe Pact. What readers are saying about Jo Lovett: ‘WHAT. A. STORY… Ever had to take a book chapter by chapter because you couldn’t see through your tears? Funny, light-hearted, but absolutely gut-wrenching at times. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be completely engulfed… A perfect cozy up in a blanket and read on your front porch story.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Oh this book!! I've laughed and cried! This really has given me all the feels. I loved this book… I devoured this gorgeous read in just one sitting. A love story which will completely stay with you.’ Little Miss Book Lover 86 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘There were points when I felt unable to breathe because of how much I loved this… I laughed so much… it was the best combination of insta love and a slow burn romance I've ever read… It made my day. Just a perfect heart-warming romance.’ Hawthorn Book Reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This novel’s pretty perfect… Really great characters, dialogue that hits perfectly, well written and very twisty, this was a fantastic read. I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author.’ Netgalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘If you enjoy romantic comedies with heart between an American and a Brit, snap this one up… Bonus points for making me tear up.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A totally perfect Christmas romantic comedy

The Mistletoe Pact

Anna Agarwal

Briar's Reviews

Every year I try to pick up some Christmas books, because why not feel festive and merry in my reading journey? Well, I kind of slacked but I at least managed to pick this one up in late November! The rest of December fell away from me, but I got two books under my belt for the Christmas season!

The Mistletoe Pact was not what I was expecting nor wanting, to be brutally honest. I was kind of disappointed as I thought this would be a lot more fun and romantic, kind of like a Hallmark movie. IT was more drama and negative for me, and just dragged on forever. It was not my kind of book, which was just disappointing. Very disappointing. 

So why didn't it hit with me?
- So many flashbacks that didn't really help me understand the narrative. They felt... redundant. I could already tell things were falling apart, you don't need to show me the past where more falls apart.
- Some of the characters are just... unbearable. Like, ugh. I wanted fun, merry and festive! Not depressing and just sad.
- This was the slowest race to a romance I've seen in a while for a book that was marketed like a romantic Hallmark-type book. Where's the ooey gooey fun romance? The couple took so long to finally get with each other and by then... I just wanted them to break up. It was painful.

Overall, this book was not a win for me. It was a book I struggled to get through and made me inch away from anymore festive books... I will say, the author is an amazing writer and it's by no fault of her that this book isn't good. I think it's an amazing read, just not for me! It wasn't what I got out of the marketing and just wanted something more... fun. And fast.

One out of five stars.

Mikala Mawer

I was sent this book to give it an honest review. It was a light and easy read that followed two characters that made a pack to get married on Evies 30th birthday. I like how it went back and forth in time. I wasn’t invested enough to give it 4/5 because it didn’t peak my interest enough and my kindle kept messing up the page numbers by saying there were 4000 pages which annoyed me but it was a cute romance. I do not think I would read it again though.

Summer Cashmore

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and it was an easy, fun weekend read. 

The Mistletoe Pact is the story of Evie and Dan - two friends who make a pact to get married on Evie’s 30th birthday if they are both still single. Unsurprisingly, they are secretly in love with each other and what follows is the standard “will they, won’t they” romance scenario. Just to tick an additional romance theme, Dan is the brother of Evie’s best friend. 

It is a cute book with some funny moments, but it was not really to my taste - it was predictable and included way too many overused romance themes. But, it is a light, relaxing read if you’re looking for a few hours of escapism. 

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for providing an advance copy of this book.

Wiktoria Balcerak

I was really anticipating reading this book and I decided to wait for the holiday season to start it. It had a lot of potential but in the end I ended up being just a little it disappointed with it. I really liked Evie and Dan as individuals and some of the scenes with them together made me grin like crazy. What I didn't enjoy as much was how slow it got at times and how repetitive and confusing it was. There are alternating timelines and at some points they got extremely confusing and I had no idea if what I was reading was happening before the Vegas events or after. We got a lot of similar scenes - them seeing friends, weddings, family talks and they felt very repetitive. Also, how can you as an author name two seperate characters JOSH?! Both Evie's roommate and her sister's father had the same name and one time it came up in two sentences next to each other?! The pandemic references were also not it for me, but that's just a personal preference. Overall, a cute Christmassy read but I wouldn't necessarily call it easy both because of the topics it touches (infidelity, pregnancy, marriage, divorce etc.) and also because it took me a pretty long time to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this book!

Clara hash

Merci NetGalley de m'avoir permis de découvrir ce roman en avant première.

Sans vouloir être méchante ou autre, je n'ai pas compris le but de ce livre. Il a tout pour plaire, une possible jolie romance, des personnes drôle, charismatiques avec une personnalité pétillante, des références à noël fréquente. Et pourtant, ça tombe à plat, parce-que pendant quasiment 300 pages on tourne en rond et il ne se passe rien. ab-so-lu-ment rien. Donc, je peux absolument pas mettre plus de 2,5 étoiles à ce roman.

Stella Jovinta 

The Mistletoe Pact follows Evie Green and Dan Marshall who made a pact that if by the time Evie is 30 and still unmarried, she and Dan will marry one another. 

In my opinion, this book falls under the friends to lovers trope, though I would be lying if I said Evie and Dan were actually friends. Evie was just Dan's little sister's bestfriend. The book was a slow paced book alternating between time frames: now and the past. Although the book is centered around Christmas with the book cover being also Christmas themed, this book wasn't really giving off the Christmas vibes. Several plot twists kept on popping up in the story and truthfully I found them unnecessary as they didn't really feed into the plot of the story well. 

The most interesting fact from the story was the Vegas wedding that does end up happening and I love how the author tends to give us an insight into both Dan and Evie's thoughts regarding that as well as their relationship. Since both characters haven't had the best examples of long term relationships in their lives, they kind of find it hard to progress on their relationship given this setback. However, this book was lovely beyond words. It was my first Christmas read of the year and I wasn't disappointed.

Anna Agarwal &
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett

Reviews

Join the club

Anna Agarwal &The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett

Reviews

Join the club

Anna Agarwal &
The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett