Thank you to #Netgalley and #PanMacmillan for giving me an ARC of #The TwelveDatesofChristmas by #JennyBayliss in exchange for my honest review.

Kate is happily single and loves Christmas. Her best friend Laura, who works for the village’s country estate, gets involved with helping a dating agency to run some of their events on the estate. Laura convinces Kate that she should sign up to The Twelve Dates of Christmas and after some persuasion she agrees.
We join Kate on her twelve dates and all the highs and lows that come along with dating during the festive season. Romance finds itself easy to find amongst the twinkling lights but are all of the men as they seem? And will Kate finally be able to settle down with her Mr Right?

5 Stars - *****

This book is absolutely everything that you want from a festive read! It is full of snow, Christmas decorations, Christmas markets, festive food, family, friendship and above all romance at the most magical time of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book, the characters were well written and extremely likeable. I really found myself wanting Kate to find her Mr Right. I loved the relationship between Kate and her father but also found myself laughing out loud at points when her mother came into the book. All in all, this is exactly the kind of book that I needed to read right now and is one that any Christmas lover will enjoy over a hot chocolate or mulled wine, in front of a log fire with a mince pie or two on the go. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

A great, light hearted Christmas read. The idea of a you g woman signing herself up for 12 dates before Christmas in the hope of finding true love. Predictable storyline but full of comedy. I really grew to like Kate as the MC and really felt for her as she had some horrendous dates. Matt and Laura had great supporting roles and the village they live sounds quaint and chocolate box perfect. A feel good read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Will definitely be looking out for more titles by this author.


thoroughly this book.

I love this book. Even though I guessed the end I didn’t know the full end and wanted to know how it got there. It is really well written and I could imagine where it all took place as well as the smells and tastes. I would recommend this to everyone.

A lighthearted book with a Christmassy feel. Lots of snow with a good sprinkling of humour, plenty of mulled wine and mince pies. Most of the characters are brilliant - even the more dreadful ones as Kate signs up for a slightly far-fetched idea of 12 dates before Christmas. It's as if all the dreadful dating disasters are gathered together in one book which is mostly fun along the way.. Certainly predictable in places but it's a light read so all the misunderstandings and fallings out just add to the humour. Certainly a book to cosy up with in the warm on the run up to Christmas

Overall this is just a really nice read; a little predictable, maybe, but a cozy and festive book to settle down with and get yourself in the mood for Christmas.
The plot follows Kate, who is embarking on a ‘12 Dates of Christmas’ initiative- a series of 12 dates set up by a dating agency. Kate is a fabric designer who lives in a quaint village which provides a set of characters who really make the plot. I much preferred the scenes set in the little village than the actual dates. I love little villages in stories like this- it makes me really want to move to a cottage and live somewhere where everybody knows everybody and there are no secrets.
I did find the writing a little bit awkward at times and sometimes the dialogue felt a bit unnatural. However it didn’t detract from the story. My other criticism would be that a lot of toxic behaviour from the dates wasn’t fully addressed; I didn’t agree with a lot of Kate’s decisions and I felt that these issues could have been dealt with in more depth. However I understand that this is just meant to be a lighthearted story so I can see why the author chose to keep things light overall.
I’d really recommend this to anyone who loves cheesy Christmas films and likes to get themselves excited for the festive season. I’m a big Christmas lover so this was right up my street- I’m craving mulled cider and pigs in blankets!
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for giving me access to this book!

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot (plenty of reviews like that out there!)

I don't really read "romances", but I chose this novel hoping for a light and cheerful read in these dark days. The book lived up to this expectation, and more! The characters are well drawn - I loved the main characters (Kate, Matt, Mac, Evelyn, Drew etc), and there are some hilarious supporting characters (especially Kate's Mum!).

I loved the detailed descriptions of Kate's work, the food, the surroundings - the level of detail really lifted the book so that it wasn't just a light and fluffy read. The plot is enjoyable (though I personally would not engage in that level of dating!) and there are some highly amusing episodes that made me chortle.

All in all a very enjoyable read! I'd love to hear more about these characters, and will look out for other novels by this author.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

A lovely light hearted book following Kate across her twelve dates of Christmas, some bad, some ugly and some downright awful
But Kate doesn’t realise that she doesn’t need these gimmicky ideas to find her man she has one right by her side,the ever so gorgeous Matt. But they are definitely in the friends zone he has a girlfriend who Kate thinks is great Sarah
But then Sarah goes with Kate on the take a mate date and its Sarah’s ex who is Kate’s dates friend, Sarah tries to escape but fails miserably so Kate gently tells her date she too must leave and they rush off, after a long chat Kate can’t tell if Sarah is still in love with her ex but she certainly has strong feelings for him. But she is with Matt ?
Will Kate tell Matt? Will Sarah stay with Matt?
Follow Kate’s story through this winter wonderland of snow, lights and lots of laughter down a trail to love

The Twelve Dates of Christmas comes about because Kate Turner's happily married friend Laura, despairing of Kate's singleton status, has suggested Kate sign up to a dating app for twelve blind dates in the run up to Christmas. Living in a small village, with few single men, she is unlikely to meet anyone new. So Kate signs up, and is matched with twelve different men, in the hope of finding 'Mr Right'.

Kate's childhood friend Matt has already renamed the event "The Twelve Dates of Shagmas" as he firmly believes that people have not signed up for the purpose of finding a soulmate.

Each date is in a different venue with a different partner. My favourite pairing is with Drew, and sees Kate have the best time, dancing the night away with this wonderfully warm and genuine date.

The plot quickly had me hooked, and I found all the characters to be plausible. In particular, Kate who has family issues to deal with, as well as her now new and exciting social life, making for a well-rounded, more believable character. It is well-written and had me giggling at times. A lovely tale of love and friendships for any time of the year.

Told in the third person, from Kate's perspective, The Twelve Dates of Christmas is a heart-warming, funny and entertaining read, with the obligatory happy ending, which left me feeling content and eagerly anticipating Christmas.

This was a sweet, funny, winter read.

It's December and the snow always falls in the village where Kate Turner lives. She has a great life, a lovely home, a great job as a fabric designer for Liberty's, good friends and all that's missing, according to her best friend, Laura, is a man to complete the picture. Kate's not so sure but eventually agrees to take part in a new dating idea, the twelve dates of Christmas. The fun begins. Stood up on her first date, comforting the weeping Vegan on the second ... is this really a good idea and what are the chances of finding love.

Honestly, you'll see exactly where it's going very early on, but the journey is everything in Christmas chicklit and frankly, I love it. Seriously, my not-so guilty pleasure is reading Christmas chicklit from late November all through to Christmas. Some may say that's sad but do I care? Obviously not or I wouldn't be admitting it in a review.

This has all that it needs to be a lovely new entry to the hundreds of Christmas romances already out there. If you want snow, hot chocolate, hot toddies, a woodburner and lots of laughs, you'll enjoy this.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Even though I could see the ending a mile off it was good to travel the journey with Kate. It's a lovely the Christmas storyline which really put me in the spirit of Christmas even with the uncertainty of this year.

I did find quite a few of the descriptions superfluous to the storyline and felt like they were just there to fill pages, for example, did we really need to know how Kates best friend used to wear her hair before she had children, this and many others were totally irrelevant to the storyline.

A very light-hearted read, good to curl up with on a rainy day

Kate Turner is a fabric designer for Liberty Department store in London who has returned to her childhood home of Blexford when her parents marriage broke down. Her lifelong friends Matt and Laura both have partners but Blexford isn’t exactly the Big Smoke, and the romantic prospects are limited. So when Laura comes to the rescue and signs Kate up with a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays, she decides to give it a go – after all what has she got to lose? Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men.

This is an extremely festive read and will have you jingling your bells by the end of it – there is no way you can escape the Christmas season after reading this book!! It is stuffed full of tinsel, baubles and snow!
It is a lovely, albeit predictable read and at times I felt that the twelve dates were way too much, and about thirty pages in I knew where the story was going to go. Having said all that, towards the middle of the book, I didn’t want to put it down, it seemed to gather pace and drew me in. I just desperate to find out how everything would be resolved, and I found myself waking up in the night to read a few more pages. Now that I have got to the end, I’m disappointed that Matt, Laura and Kate won’t be in my life anymore, I’m desperate to meet them for coffee and cake in the Pear Tree Café!!

Have the minced pies and the mulled wine ready for this gorgeous Yuletide tale.

I am sad to say that I could not finish this book. The writing was just so over the top. There were huge chunks of writing about things that didn't need to be talked about. The dailogue was clunky and rather cringeworthy. I also knew what would happen after the first chapter. I hate having to dnf a book but this just really wasnt for me.

A lovely winter romance. I enjoyed the premise of the 12 dates, it was a good spin on an otherwise predictable genre. But a good read in all, I loved the village setting and what to go the The Pear Tree for a coffee!

Very enjoyable easy read with a lovely Christmassy feel.
Kate signs up to a dating site with 12 dates before Christmas and you follow her journey to romance. A predictable outcome but a lovely read.

So before starting this I went into a reading slump where I just couldn’t get into a book and didn’t really enjoy reading as I was stressed about going back to university. However now I’ve come away for a couple of weeks I actually managed to get into this book and I absolutely loved it. Firstly can i just say it has some of my absolute favourite things that surround christmas; decorating, snow, hot toddies, friends, family. It absolutely got me into the christmas spirit (i know two months early). Whilst reading this I also listened to instrumental christmas music so i could fully focus on the book and it just felt so cozy and nice.
One (spoiler alert) major part in this book that I really felt was good to read was Kates date with Jim who at first seemed to be so lovely and nice and ticked all of the right boxes but then switched and turned out to be quite nasty and belittled Kate for not wanting to have sex with him as he said it was the ‘12 dates of shagmas and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste for her’ saying that she wasn’t as good as she thought she was. Kate stood her ground and then reported him to the Silverlinings date rep. But when Kate left she rang Evelyn who told her to meet her and her best friend Matt was there who come over and said how he really doesn’t like her meeting strange men and Kate says ‘Do you think this is the first time some bloke’s pushed his luck with me’ and Matt says ‘That's really depressing’ but this statement is so true. Things like this happen all the time and it’s just not okay. And its also not okay for someone to step in and tell her that she shouldn’t do things just because Matt doesn’t like it. And I just thought that this was a really well written part of the book, and I really fell in love with Kate even more because she stood her ground with Jim and also stood her ground with Matt.

A beautiful setting for this romance. The village sounds idyllic.
The twelve dates themselves I didn’t think were overly memorable and maybe that’s the point because they are not the story, it is about the love of a community looking out for each other, friendships that are everything and love that blossoms from that.

Kate has moved back to her home village to help her dad. She has friends Laura and Matt in the village but is looking for love. She sounds up to a dating site that offers twelve Christmas dates. With varying results Kate goes on these dates. Matt her old friend is there as a sliding board and protector. Laura is her building light. Will she find true love?? Well written albeit not surprising outcome but entertaining. A good read

Twelve Days of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss a five-star read that brings Christmas to the yard. This made me feel so Christmassy that I want to put my lights up now, what I would give to live in the setting of this story, I would love to suck up the atmosphere of the Village. Jenny Bayliss has a way of describing things that makes them so real, its nicely done. I was so surprised to find out this was a debut novel; it shows real talent, so I know I can’t wait for more. The dates are funny, and I mean laugh out loud funny, but there is a real aspect to the story as well. Do not miss this story no matter the time of year, but if you need any help getting into the Christmas spirit then pick this up as you cant help but he swept up in the seasonal spirit.

This book follows Kate on her hilarious journey to find romance via a dating agency. Content with her work life and friendships Kate begins on an adventure to find romance that is full of highs and lows but also opens her life to relationships other than just romantic ones. A funny and heart warming read that shows the all too true realities of dating in the 21st century.

I think this book is different from other because although it follows Kate on a romantic journey it doesn’t solely focus on romantic relationships. I really enjoyed the focus on friendships in the book, too often these are overlooked in a romantic storyline but I felt that they really shone through and it showed that life doesn’t have to be all about romantic relationships and that friendships are equally as important.

I loved Kates character in the book. Although she has her insecurities, on the whole she comes across as a well rounded individual who has real life struggles but it happy in who she is for the most part. She take the rough with the smooth and makes the most out of lives little things. She has a true passion for her work and its nice to see women with careers that they love in fiction.

The trials and tribulations of her dating journey are hilarious but not un-realistic and I could easily conceive these things happening in real life.

This book is a light hearted and really enjoyable read. It is the perfect book to cosy up with in the lead up to the festive period and it is sure to give you some laughs and leave you feeling all cosy. I would definitely recommend this to others and its a full 5 stars from me. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

It an ok Christmas read, But I don't think anyone would have the energy for 12 dates in 1 month! I think the author tries too hard to put everything together with dates and Christmas and parental relationships.
The descriptions of some of the dates are good, but it is very obvious from the beginning none of this will work as Kate's heart lies elsewhere.

If you are looking for a lighthearted, entertaining read it's good its just tries to cover too much in one book.