I really wanted to love this one, The premise sounded wonderful, sadly it wasn’t the right fit for me, I couldn’t really connect with the characters and found myself spacing out so I decided to DNF.

I love the concept of this book, but I unfortunately did not love the book. The book goes from present day to ten years back, which I thought was a cool concept. The characters were good. I just found myself spacing out a lot when reading it. I know others loved it, so I recommend checking out their reviews for it!

Such a fun Christmas romance! I loved the characters and plot! It was sweet and funny, and hit the right notes!

Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

Might revisit this over the holiday season and will update my review if I do pick it back up.

The plot was promising but I couldn't quite get into it. The writing was stiff and I couldn't connect with the characters.

Having read both of Jo Lovett's other books, I was eagerly anticipating the publication of her third and have not been disappointed - it is every bit as good as the other two. It's an adorable slow-burn romance. I loved the settings and all the characters. Jo Lovett's writing is fantastic with amazing dialogue. I couldn't put this cute feel-good story down and really recommend it.

This was a fun, if straightforward, Christmas read. Dan and Eve have chemistry, and it's obvious to everyone but themselves. It may take a while, but over the years, fate does its best to bring them back to each other. But will that be enough?

For those who love a good hallmark movie! Super cute. Missing some development but overall a good read.

I found this book to move a little slow. Evie and Dan have always had a crush on one another and one crazy night they get married in Vegas. Thinking what a mistake it was they decide to get a divorce. The story follows them over a year as things in their lives change, but not their true feelings for one another.

I'm not sure what I expected when I first read this book's blurb, probably an easy read, a fun little book whose romantic plotline is set over the Christmas holidays. Funny misunderstandings, charming main characters. I don't usually have any particular expectations of how the romance should go: good friends to lovers, good friends to losing their friendship to lovers, strangers to lovers, strangers to friends to lovers, acquaintances to lovers, acquaintances to enemies to lovers... I've loved all kinds of storylines. I do, however, need to have an interesting plot that makes me want to read, whether that's the love story or something else.

In this case, the main characters are friendly but not close friends, secretly pinning after each other since time immemorial, and jokingly agree to marry each other when Evie turns 30 (if they aren't in a relationship of their own..) So they both go on a Christmas trip to Vegas and get married while blackout drunk, they immediately agree to have it annuled and the story drags on. The secondary characters are absolutely forgettable and they show no emotion: when they hear Evie and Dan just got married in a drunken haze, they show very restrained interest, as if they'd just been told they have cheesecake for dessert, when they then admit they'll have it annuled they shrug and go back to tell silly jokes. It is the most anti natural reaction I could have imagined. The trip to Vegas, which offers so many possibilities, is just a long string of nights where they get smashed and then nurse a hangover. It just seems like every decision in the construction of this story was the wrong one, the one that made sure the plot stayed as still, boring and unremarkable as possible.

I would usually have read a couple of chapters of this kind of romantic, Christmasy book before going to bed, an easy read that gets me in a good mood. However, this one was a slog and made me incredibly depressed. I had a hard time picking it up to read just one more chapter, it was downright painful. if I'd had a good day, reading this would ruin it; if I'd had a bad day, reading it meant I might not be able to take more bone-chilling sadness and I'd hurt myself. I'm not sure who the public for this book is, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

This was a festive romcom that I enjoyed reading over the holiday season. It was a bit too much of a slow burn for me and the time jumps got slightly confusing. Overall I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Jo Lovett!

I always read Christmas books in December and I love a good holiday romance. This year I only managed to read one so far and glad this was my choice. The best part is how well the relationship is built. I like the non-linear timeline (though may have got confused a couple times). It also has some wonderful secondary characters and plots to round it out and manages to be not just a good Christmas love story but also a family story.

DNF @ 36%
I so badly wanted to enjoy this book but it was just impossible to get through. The first couple of chapters were fine but the time jumps were jolting and not handled well. Chapter 13 is one of the few chapters after their night in Vegas where we see them interact but the dialogue (was it supposed to be banter?) was completely flat.
Another gripe was how much focus there is on the parents? Evie's mom gets pregnant and has a kid with a guy that Evie thought was cute in the first chapter (odd) and then in Chapter 13 we find out Dan's dad is cheating on him. I just don't care. Yeah, ideally the two MCs in a romance novel have conflicts outside of the relationship but these were poorly handled and brought up intermittently so what was even the point.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing e-ARC for an honest review.

this book was so good, could not put this down from the moment i picked it up. i fell in love with dan and evie, seeing their relationship grow was amazing. i live for this sort of cliche marriage pact trope, its one of my favorites, and i cannot wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Jo Lovett for an ARC in return for an honest review.

'The Mistletoe Pact' is a festive romantic story about two life-long friends. It is very much a 'will they, won't they' kind of deal. It was a bit of a slow burner but nevertheless I enjoyed it. A lovely little festive read.

I have mixed feelings about this romance... In fact, the concept is pretty cool: a wedding in Las Vegas between two long-time friends. But in the end, the story is spread out over 1 year where the characters are going to do a cross chase, with each advancing on their own to finally have a real something towards the end of the novel.
The only thing that makes the romance more believable is the fact that they have loved each other almost forever, but in reality, it's not that exploited except for the jealousy. But otherwise, the mood of the novel was at the very beginning and end Christmas themed, so for me those were the best parts. The characters are also endearing, plus we alternate points of view depending on the chapters and we also have flashbacks to better understand the protagonists.

If you like Friends to Lovers, Will They/Won't They, What Happens in Vegas, Hallmark movies, extra cheese, slow burn, SLOOOOWWWWW burn, and slow burn, then this book might be for you! Seriously, if you love the Hallmark channel in December, you'll probably enjoy this. That is not my favorite genre, but I'm pretty much a sucker for holiday books during the appropriately snuggly time of year.

I wasn’t a fan. I really wanted to love it but it just fell flat for me. I read this as a Buddy Read and neither of us cared for the emphasis on life being over if you aren’t married with kids by 30. And I’m married with kids in my 30s and my buddy isn’t married with kids. So even being at different places personally we both still didn’t care for it

Really enjoyed this book! Such a fun read with great character development! Such a fun one and great to grab!

I was hoping for a little more with this one. It had some confusing timelines and annoying miscommunications. I found the characters lacked chemistry and I was missing cute banter or just that spark to make me really root for them to be together. It fell a little flat but I have hopes for future books from her.