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Countdown to Christmas book review



 Countdown to Christmas by Jo Thomas is a 2023 Christmas release. I don’t think I have read a Jo Thomas Christmas book before now but I do have another on my TBR that I am now very excited to get to. I found the premise of this book really interesting but didn’t have super high hopes but I loved it and gave it an easy 4.5 stars. 

Countdown to Christmas follows Chloe whose son, Ruben, is spending Christmas away with his dad and is just ready for the season to be over and for him to be back. Then she gets a call to say she has inherited land in Canada so she makes the decision to go to Canada and see what it’s all about. 

I am a massive fan of festive romance books and this followed the structure you’d expect but wasn’t completely predictable and still let you not know exactly what was going to happen. There is a certain type of comfort that comes with these books and the reason why I read so many each year. The vibes are cosy, there are great characters and some great bonding. Also, the small town feels are fantastic. 

If you couldn’t already tell, I really loved this book but I did have some favourite things that stuck out to me. Quite a few of these things are associated with specific scenes so I won’t go into too much detail not to spoil it but I still need to talk about them. The change in Chloe between when she arrives at the town and the end of the book is massive and really positive. There are certain scenes where you can see those changes and while it means things don’t quite always go as she wishes she would she is so kind to everyone and I don’t quite know the words for what I’m trying to say but there’s a scene that comes to mind when she just wants to make sure no one gets hurt, no matter who it is. 

I loved the romance and while there was kind of a third act break-up there wasn’t any big miscommunication which I was so thankful for. Both characters in the relationship understood the situation and that it may not last forever but didn’t expect them to sacrifice their lives for each other which I was thankful for because they weren’t pushing in ways that hurt the other. The ending was perfect for every single character - no one was left behind and not fully included in the ending. 

The friendships that were built because of how small the town was were fantastic and I loved every character from the town, the ones who didn’t live in the town maybe not so much. Bea, Theo and Chloe are now some of my favourite festive book characters and the opinion of the advent calendar in the town was fantastic. Everyone was involved and it kept them going in a fantastic way. 

I will definitely be adding this to my list of go to Christmas recommendations and I highly recommend picking it up as we go into December over the next week.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

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