‘Tis the season for finding romance in this hilarious and uplifting holiday readWhen 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 … 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. . . .
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A delightful Christmas rom com – every one of the twelve dates had me smiling and I thought Kate was an endearing, relatable heroine. The British small-town setting was lovely as well, with the little cafe, old-fashioned manor house, and plenty of wintry scenery. This is the perfect cozy read for the holidays!
A quick and clever read/listen. The Twelve Dates of Christmas will leave you breathless from laughing and will warm your heart. I listened to this gem in audio format.
I enjoyed the book. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it. My actual rating is 3.5 but I rounded up.
I like Kate. I kind of like that she is flawed in a way that many women are. She ignores red flags because she has a “need” for a man in her life. I like that because reading characters like this might help women identify it in themselves or a friend. If you can identify it then you can work on it. Unfortunately Kate doesn’t and the author didn’t chose to let her work on it.
I do understand that it was suppose to be a light read though. It did work for me on that as the dates were somewhat crazy. Kate does come away recognizing they were, (although she seemed pretty ready to do the deed with some anyway). I didn’t really like any of the guys as I thought most were fairly into themselves.
The chapters were longer than I felt they needed to be. It made it easier for me to put it aside and read other things. Kate, and her plight, did stay with me though. I could pick up where I left off easily because I remembered what was going on, which is why I felt good with rounding up instead of down.
If you like British rom-coms, this may be your jam. It did do Christmas well. Try it and see.
This is a fun, holiday story to read before the holidays!
What a sweet and fun book with some truly lovable characters and some real scoundrels. Who could believe one person could have so many disastrous blind dates in a row? The surroundings were so beautifully described I even wanted to be in all that snow, and the food – oh the food – made me hungry! Great holiday read!
The back cover gives away the story. Clean romance novel with numerous British phrases. I had my browser open to look up words that were unfamiliar to me.
Closed Door Romance
Kate is in her mid thirties and hasn’t had any luck in the romance department. Her best friend convinces her to sign up for the Twelve Dates of Christmas dating service.
This is a cute Christmas time romance, though it is quite predictable. I loved the concept of Kate attending twelve prearranged dates to test the waters. Each man was quite unique and it was fun to guess how a date might go wrong (or if I wouldn’t).
This book is broken up into twelve chapters, one for each date. I think it was a cute idea, but the execution of it lead to chapters that were long and felt like they dragged on. I never felt that urge to pick up the book like I prefer to have. I also struggled a bit with Kate’s reaction to some of these men, she started off thinking rationally about each man and then seemed to turn desperate. I cringed really hard when one of her dates stated to throw up red flags yet she seemed oblivious or just willing to overlook them. I also wish that less time was spent focused on her work and wanderings and had instead been focused on the ending, which felt rushed and thrown together.
Overall, I thought it was a cute concept for a winter romance and a good option if you’re looking for a book with a unique storyline.
This was a cute, fast read to get you in the mood for the holidays. It has some funny things that happen and it feels very relatable. From the very first sentence I was hooked! To quote the book, “don’t be a Chad” and read the book. Lol!
This was my favorite Christmas read this year!
So my body decided I needed to wake up at 230am today…and since that was the case I grabbed this book and read in one sitting.
While this is a very cute and flirty book, it’s also extremely predictable. For once though, that didn’t take away from the fun and enjoyment for me.
If you’ve ever been on a blind date you’ll feel this book . I’ve been there and have my own horror story to go with it. This book was dating on the worst possible scale of the spectrum as every guy/date had something either off or crazy happen (outside of Drew – he was the best part out of the 12 dates).
At any rate, if you’re looking for a quick, fun and enjoyable read, pick this one up. It’s definitely fun to read the chaos happening to someone else
Song/s the book brought to mind: My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss is a hilarious book that was perfect for the holidays! I loved the idea of Kate going on twelve different dates, and the fact that her friend signed her up for them made it even better. I’m beginning to notice that I am a huge fan of British humor and there is plenty of that packed in. The second half of the book did start to get a bit more serious, but the first half had me laughing so hard that I actually cried at times. I listened to the audio and cannot tell you how awesome Elizabeth Knowelden was at narrating. She did a spectacular job and because of that I highly recommend the audio if you can.
I really enjoyed the mixture of humor and seriousness in the book, and I fell in love with so many of the characters. I was impressed that this was a debut, and I think Bayliss did a great job with it. Her writing flowed well for me and I could definitely see this being made into a movie. The Twelve Dates of Christmas is brimming with Christmas spirit making this the perfect holiday read. I had a lot of fun with each of the different dates, and I really liked that it was how the book was broken up. I thought it did lose a tiny bit of steam in the second half, but it had an adorable ending and was an all-around good time, so that was a win for me.
There should be a hallmark movie option for this book. This was a very cute romance book. Perfect for an easy relaxing read around the holidays. It definitely puts you in the Christmas spirt .Makes you wish you lived in this town.Overall a fun read.
Good but not my cup of tea
Wonderful, easy to read Christmas story. Strong, believable but entertaining characters. So glad I read it, a real pick me up in this not so bright year.
Book 284 for the year! 4/5 stars for this sweet romance read! This would make such a cute Christmas movie! Loved the story and the characters. Narration was great! Definitely give it a try if you need a holiday treat!
I have laughed so much reading this. Kate is so lovable and relatable. I could not imagine trying to date now a days. This was a cute wintery romance. I would recommend it.
The Twelve Dates of Christmas was a fun British romcom perfect for the holidays. Kate Turner is single, living alone in her childhood home. She moved back home to be close to her dad after her parents split up. Her best friend, Laura, persuades her to sign up for the Twelve Dates of Christmas. Through an app, participants choose a fun event and they are matched up with a date. The idea of these pre-paid activities sounds great!! I’m married, but I’d love to pay someone to plan fun activities and fancy dinners for me. Some of the dates are horrendous, others are quite nice. I enjoyed reading about all the snow because it’s currently warm and sunny where I live.
The cast of characters are really fun. Laura is a mom (“mum”) and is enjoying hearing all about Kate’s adventures. Matt is her grumpy friend who gives her a hard time about her embarrassing moments but is also concerned about Kate going on all these dates. And maybe a bit jealous? The guys she goes on dates with are all unique and some are better company than others. The ending was somewhat predictable, but that’s usually the nature of romcoms. It’s still enjoyable to go on the journey with the main character as she figures out what she really wants and truly listens to her heart.
Thank You to @NetGalley for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars
The best parts of this book featured Kate’s prowess as an artist, both in the kitchen and with her photography and paints. The details of both had me wanting to try all the yummy treats and drinks and to visit her small hometown.
From page one, it’s very clear who Kate will end up with. Her case of unrequited love is rather monstrous.
Some of the dates were fun or funny. I can’t imagine how awkward it would be to have a man sobbing about his ex on a blind date. I wouldn’t mind a night of salsa dancing with a pal or cracking up laughing at a maniacal wine or architecture enthusiast. What bogged the story down for me is that the majority of the characters were invested in someone from their past. I would have liked to see a little more crazy and a little less crazy for someone else.
The last few chapters were great. I love the big moment between Kate and her man and the small town celebrations for the holidays.
No. This isn’t allowed. I cannot have more of these adorable tales set in small towns, my heart cannot take it! Everything about this was precious, I loved the little characteristics, like Matt’s fear of birds, and the crazy men that were met through the dates. Sometimes I felt like the men were stereotyped a little strongly, some of their comments came across as fake over the top toxic masculinity. But with so many dates to fit in the books, I can see how these stereotypes made it a little faster.
The setting descriptions could get heavy, but I found I loved it at the end. Even when I skimmed the descriptions I felt like I could see every bit of the setting.
Read this if you want to squee and smile over a beautifully written romance!
At 34 and still single, Kate decides to sign up for the “Twelve Dates of Christmas,” a program put on by a dating app, where she’s matched with twelve different men and sent on pre-arranged, pre-paid dates (which, honestly, sounds amazing–all the planning is done in advance/for you, no awkward “who’s-picking-up-the-tab,” someone to keep an eye on you and make sure your date isn’t a murderer–I would totally sign up). Will she find Mr. Right on one of the twelve dates, or maybe somewhere closer to home…? Like her best friend Matt?
SPOILERS BELOW
If you guess Matt, you were right. I’m not even hiding this review for spoilers, because it is THAT obvious from, like, the second page. There’s just no other option, no matter how well the other dates go. But the author tries to pretend it’s not going to happen (unlike Ten Rules for Faking It, where we get a dual POV and its no secret they’ll end up together). It’s just so unbelievably predictable I wince. Absolutely nothing unexpected happened. I WISH Kate had ended up with one of her twelve dates, just to make this one interesting.
If you like this concept, I would recommend reading 10 Blind Dates, the YA novel instead (or in addition to) this book. Even if you’re not normally a YA fan, it’s adorable.
I will say, I actually really liked Kate. I think she stood up for herself and didn’t take crap from some pretty terrible men. I also LOVED hearing about Kate’s job–she’s a fabric designer and honestly hearing about it may have been the most fascinating aspect of this story. I feel like the paragraphs on this showed the author’s real potential. She wrote some great lines and some great characters but the overall predictability of the plot bogged down otherwise actually pretty great writing.
I also really hated the ending. I know I’ve already spoiled it a bit, because, well, she ends up with Matt. But honestly, Matt didn’t deserve her. He did some pretty sh*tty things to her in the book and while Kate seemed to be able to respect herself when it came to other men, she had too much of a blind spot when it came to Matt. Matt needed to do much more groveling and begging to deserve her forgiveness and love. It was too sudden and undeserved.
I plan to read other books by this author, but this one had too many aggravating aspects to be a favorite. It’s a cute Christmas book, though, if you’re looking for something to get you into the holiday spirit and can snag it from the library or as a Kindle deal.
4 stars – 6/10