Jenny Bayliss

This festive season, fall in love with The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss - the most romantic, feel-good read of 2020, perfect for fans of Beth O'Leary and Josie Silver. 'If you need help getting into the festive spirit, this is the book for you' - Good Housekeeping 'Sparkly and romantic' - My Weekly On the first day of Christmas, a dating app offered me Twelve tailored chances for perfect harmony . . . Kate Turner is happily single – a bit too happily, in fact. Since returning to her hometown, the sleepy village of Blexford, love hasn’t really had a look in. But Kate does love Christmas. So when her best friend insists she signs up to the Twelve Dates of Christmas, a brand new dating app service, she doesn’t need too much persuading. Twelve perfect festive dates with the area’s most eligible men – who could say no? Amongst the twinkling lights and falling snow, over hot chocolates and glasses of red wine, romance is easy to find. But with each date, Kate learns more about the men, and even more about herself. As the big day approaches, Kate’s left wondering – is it really the season for true love, or will this Christmas be the coldest yet? * * * * Readers are loving The Twelve Dates of Christmas! ‘What a fabulous book to snuggle up and get cosy with. I'm all set for Christmas now!’ ‘This is a perfect festive read, I adored this book!’ ‘A really funny read that you can imagine being a slice of real life’ ‘This made me feel so Christmassy that I want to put my lights up now’ ‘The perfect book to cosy up with in the lead up to the festive period’

The Most Romantic, Uplifting Love Story of the Year!

The Twelve Dates of Christmas

julie reads

first book i read in the year and it was alrighttt it took me a while to finish

‘Tis the season for finding romance in this hilarious and uplifting holiday read.

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. . . .

Sarah Selvaratnam 

What an absolute gem of a book! So light and joyful yet moving. Such an amazing read to get you in the Christmas spirit and wonderful to curl up with with a cup or tea in front of the fire. I had a great time reading this and cannot wait to pick up more of this author’s books as she writes them!

Jessica Ford

Such a sweet, funny book. I love a romcom set in a small English village. Makes me want to live there. I loved going on all the dates with Kate. The one with the architect was hilarious. Listening to this book just made me happy.

I might just be in the mood for a Christmas romance, but I really liked this one.

Marloes

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I would have hoped and sort of expected. I'm all for a good Christmas rom-com story, but I found the whole story predictable and uncomfortable. I loved the idea of incorporating the twelve days of Christmas into the twelve dates of Christmas but, I found the story boring and I predicted the ending right from the start. Also, the romance between Matt and Kate didn't happen until the last 5% of the book. All in all, I think I would have liked this story more as a film, than as a book.

Connor 

cute, but I think there were too many other people involved in the plot for me to be invested properly? Still, gonna read just about any friends to lovers, doubly so if holiday, so here we are~

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Kate has a career she loves, friends, and family. In her mid-thirties, she doesn't need love...but it would be nice. So she signs up for twelve dates during the Christmas season.

First of all, this is the Christmas season in a small town in England, my type of story. There are plenty of holiday festivities, funny moments, wonderful relationships, and a satisfying outcome. I enjoyed this immensely.

Carolina Mendes

2,5⭐️

Okay so- I’m not gonna say this was a terrible book, because lots of people liked it, so it must have some good things about it, so i’ll say it wasn’t for me, and i will tell you why.

The plot sounded amazing, specially with the holidays vibes in the mixture, but had a poor execution and I found myself getting more and more bored through the book. Tbh I almost DNFed it and only managed to get through it by skipping all the descriptive parts (and even some dialogue). It could, easily, be 100 pages shorter and have shorter chapters (please, they were soooo long!!), at least.

It was easy to see the endgame from the very beginning and I like predictable romances but this one wasn’t a good kind of predictable for me, honestly it throw the point of the premisse through the window from the start 😐.

The writing was really, REALLY not for me. There were way too much descriptions, with tons of info-dumping and i saw myself just getting bored through it (I already said that, but it was that boring sry) 😮‍💨

The dates itself weren’t explored that much and I would really like that cause since it was the whole point of the book (?) 🥴 plus the EXACT same way Kate interact with all of them?! Zero enthusiasm that made some dates even look forced and out of place. In almost every date, I was expecting her to find love (right?! It was the point with this premisse) but every single one was declined for some random reason 😕 

Also the characters fell really flat for me, I couldn’t relate to them or even like them and I didn’t care about what happened to them, they were just meh. Kate had no personality whatsoever, she was very immature and made some very questionable decisions. And please don’t get me starting on the love interest, he wasn’t a good guy and was toxic to the MC pretty much all the time 😤. They had no chemistry plus the sudden realization that she loved him all along, without a proper development of the relationship, felt wrong and their romance forced. They were all really annoying (except for Laura, loved her!) 😪

Honestly, I only liked the setting of the book with the Christmas cheer, it was the best part but I wouldn’t recommended it based on that 😔.

Caitlyn Baldwin

4.5 ⭐

Cute holiday read, heavy on the Hallmark vibes

Amanda Rocha

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ....
This was such a cute title, and a perfect fun & quick read for getting in the holiday spirit! I loved that a bakery was the setting, everything sounded so yummy and Christmasy! With the snow and all of the great date ideas, the setting was everything you hope for when thinking of the Christmas season. Tfast paced storyline and funny characters made this story easy and fun to read, and I just wanted to know more about the first date fails! It seems like everything that can go wrong will for poor Kate, from being stood up on date one, to the dinner date with the weeping vegan, and finding Mr. Perfect (only to find out he does NOT want kids), and I just wanted to see the man she falls in love with! Her finally finding Mr. Right was so satisfying and heartwarming, and it was a great end to this really cute story.
Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC!

Jamie Trenholm

Michelle Newitt

3.5/5

A cute christmas book!! definitely cheesy but just what i needed right now

Rebecca

Robin Sturm

I couldn't stand the love interest. While the dynamics had potential and some good moments it couldn't overcome all the loathsome missteps. 

Tatiana Alvarez 

Actual rating 3.5

The Twelve Dates of Christmas was a cute story, but it tended to get repetitive. By the end of the 5th date, I really wasn't looking forward to reading more. None of the men really stood out to me and it was clear who she would choose at the end.

I must say I liked the predictability in her choosing because 12 dates are a lot to remember. I was able to focus on her choice rather than scramble and try to remember every single man she chose. 

I started this book on kindle but had to switch over to audio because it wasn't keeping my attention. I definitely recommend the audiobook. I really enjoyed the narrator!

** spoiler alert **
           I am going to be honest, it took me forever to get through this book. It wasn't that it was boring or that it didn't have a good story line, but I just could not get through it as quickly as other books I have read. Normally it will take me about 1 to 2 days to read a book, this one took 5 days.
Besides the time it took, I really liked the book. I loved some of the characters, the setting, the community and the cute dates she went on. I am not gonna lie, I even liked some of the drama that happened within the dates. 

*Spoiler*

I would say the part that I liked the least would be how Matt reacted to Kate not telling him that Sarah saw her ex and how he reacted after they slept together. Both situations were kind of explained by Laura and Matt, but it still was a bit much. 
Another thing that I liked that was not present in the spoiler free section was when the date manager asked Kate to report the sleazy guy she was paired up with. I was so glad to see that someone cared about the date process and its authenticity.

Overall I really enjoyed how cute and sweet and Christmasy this book was, it really got me into the Christmas mood. 

I gave it 4 stars.

Candyce Kirk

My first Christmassy book of the year and I loved it! Full review to follow soon!

Ruth Parker 

This book was super cute and super Christmassy - a perfect read for this time of year. I enjoyed it a lot. Of course it was incredibly predictable, but it’s made me want to live in a little cottage in a little village in the middle of Christmas always and forever... mission accomplished!

Mariana Afonso

3.5 stars.

It was a good read, I liked the writing and the sceneries the author set. You could transport yourself to this little British town, covered in snow and Christmas vibes.

The characters were well built and enjoyable, however the plot was way too predictable from the very beginning - I mean, a lot of romances are predictable, but the twists in the middle didn’t distract me from the feeling I had of ‘I know how this is going to end’, and in other books they distract me, so I would say that’s where it failed the most to me.

But it is an endearing read nonetheless, and great if you feel like reading something Christmassy.

Jennifer Bayliss-Jennings

Pam Sartain

The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss is about Kate Turner, who has gone back to the village where she grew up, to look after her father after her mother left him.  She's a fabric designer who works for Liberty, and so can work wherever she likes, and as she specialises in nature, this is perfect.

She hasn't had a lot of luck with love, and so when her friend Laura pesters her into signing up for the Twelve Dates of Christmas, she's a little bit hopeful.  She's going to have 12 different dates in different settings, and with different men.  Her friend Matt is worried about her doing this, but she's confident it's going to be fine. After all, she might meet the one.

This is a wonderfully festive read, with lots of festive activities, food, drink and snow!  I very much enjoyed reading it, and found it very evocative.  

 The Twelve Dates of Christmas  by Jenny Bayliss was published on 12th November 2020, and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and your  local independent bookshop .

You can follow Jenny Bayliss on  Twitter  and her  website .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Pan MacMillan .

Heather Harrington

*2.5

Kate Turner's dating life is looking pretty bleak. As the calendar ticks down to Christmas, Kate allows her friend to talk her into signing up for a dating agency's 12 Dates of Christmas in the hopes that by the end she'll have found her one true love. When each date turns out more disastrous than the last, Kate soon realizes that is definitely not going to happen. Luckily Kate has her best friends, including her old flame Matt, to keep her spirits up. But when old feelings start to resurface, Kate has to face the facts that maybe her true love has been right under her nose the whole time.

The premise of this sounded cute and very much like a Hallmark movie, and that's exactly what it was. I liked the small village vibe where everyone knows everyone and is in everyone's business, and thought that it added another layer of humor with them all keeping tabs on Kate's horrible dates. The actual dates themselves were fine, some being better than others, but I never found myself getting invested in any of them. It's very obvious within the first few pages who Kate is going to end up with, so mostly I just found myself waiting for that to happen. And, boy, did I do a lot of waiting because this book is way too wordy. There were just so many in-depth descriptions that I didn't feel were necessary and just made the book feel too long. Overall, it's a cute holiday read, but ultimately, I don't think it'll be very memorable.

Kelsey Holtaway

So many painting scenes, so little romance

Amy Arthun Lorton 

Is this “The Nightingale”? No. Was it perfect? No. Did I interrupt another book to check this out, and then get obsessed with it and want to listen to it 24 hours a day, completely forgetting aaallllll about the other book? Yes! So I definitely think that’s deserving of a 5 star rating. I just adored it. The narrator was great and it was a cute story. I think I will listen to this and “In a Holidaze” every Christmas season from now on. And this was great to listen to even though it isn’t Christmastime!

Ann-Loy

Excuse me but I LOVED THIS. If it becomes a movie I would watch it every festive season. It starts off a bit slow but when it picks up? Dazzling!

The Twelve Dates of Christmas The Most Romantic, Uplifting Love Story of the Year!

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