Review: One New York Christmas by Mandy Baggot

Will this Christmas romance be just for the holidays?

A fun, festive romantic comedy to curl up with this winter. If you love Josie Silver's One Day in December, you'll love Mandy Baggot's heart-warming festive romance.

Lara Weeks is heading to New York with best friend Susie for the Christmas trip of a lifetime.

A festive break in the snowy Big Apple visiting the tourist hotspots, not to mention the shopping, seems like the perfect way for Lara to get over her ex-boyfriend. Or maybe make him so jealous he begs for a second chance.

Enlisting the help of gorgeous actor, Seth Hunt, doesn't quite go to plan, but there's something about him that has Lara wishing for a different kind of happy ever after...

*Review copy received via NetGalley*

ebook.

Full-length novel.

Alternating pov, Lara & Seth, third person.

No, standalone.

No.

More like a Happy For Now.
An epilogue would have given a better feel as to whether the HFN turns out to be a proper HEA.
It's too open-ended.

No.

Despite the book beginning with Lara being dumped and the plot of the book arising from trying to show her ex what he's missing, no, there isn't actually a love-triange.

Nah, unless you count being accidentally stabbed by a spork.

One New York Christmas is a delightfully festive novel about a girl who goes to New York on a whimsy after being dumped by her asshat boyfriend and meets one of her famous crushes and falls in love.

It sounds fabulously fluffy, doesn't it?
A nice holiday romance that will make you smile but will be easy to forget about?
Well, it is a nice holiday romance that makes you smile and it does have a lot of funny fluffy moments but it's so much more than that.
It actually has substance.It's not just a girl meets a boy who heals her broken heart type story.
It's a story about learning who you are and being true to yourself.
A book about the meaning of family: That blood isn't what makes a family, it's love and it's loyalty.

Lara was such a fun character.
A homebody with a desire to see the world. A female truck driver. A girl not afraid to get dirty, or to rescue animals, or get in between a couple of homeless guys having an argument and get sporked for her trouble (yep, that happens). She is a highly competent female with a hint of vulnerability that makes you want to hug her and keep her as a best friend.
Basically, she was lovely and you only wanted good things for her while simultaneously wanting to slap her silly over her fixation on her ex who didn't deserve her loyalty or sadness.
(OMG did the ex-boyfriend fixation get annoying... *screams into a pillow*)

Seth was a lovely, lovely, guy and I want one (even though I already have one, but that's not the point).
Gorgeous, smart, kind and decent. Hard-working, a loving son, a decent human.
He's basically, completely different from how actors are usually portrayed in fiction (well, except for the gorgeous part) and all the better for it.
He's a wonderful match for Lara and their relationship made me smile, giggle and swoon.

I was seriously rooting for this pair... And that's why I'm so unbelievably sad that the ending is a 'happy for now' and not a 'happily ever after'.
I just don't see how they could ever make it work in the long term and with no epilogue to delude me into thinking it's possible I just don't believe it...
But that's irrelevant I guess.
I mean, there's no point fixating over the undisclosed affairs of fictional characters, right? *sobs*

The book was utterly charming, fun and had a host of memorable secondary characters that made me smile from the flamboyant best friends to the quirky relatives and shelter guests.

New York was brought to life in beautiful festive colours and it made me desperately want to visit it at Christmas time but what really amused me was the mention of so many places local to me! I spent a silly amount of time puzzling over what town or village the fictional Appleshaw was based on considering the other towns mentioned... Apparently, the author is a local, who knew? Unfortunately, there wasn't enough to go on to pin-point Appleshaw's inspiration, but I digress.

One New York Christmas pretty much had everything you can think of when it comes to Christmas read rolled up and stuffed into a sweet, and touching story which was sprinkled with reindeer dust and if that's your thing, I'd give it a try.

I love this cover! It's sweet, it's romantic, it's festive and makes me want to curl up all cozy with hot chocolate and a blanket.
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.