I have mixed feelings about this romance book. This is my second ARC provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and while the story description drew me in - best friends brother, a marriage pact under the mistletoe, a crazy drunk Las Vegas wedding - this had me in the feels, but also wasn’t the cute corny cheeseball Christmas romance I was expecting.

The story line - pure gold. Loved it! This was like the mocie What Happens in Vegas meets a Hallmark movie (so super cute). The characters were also super adorable and flawed, but some moments seemed to slow or dull or the slow romance build up just took too long. Like ten years, yikes. And some of the conversations were lacking.

Although, called the Mistletoe Pact, it wasn’t really a Christmas book. Did a lot of the scenes happen around Christmas - yes in parts, but I didn’t get so much of the Christmas magic.

Overall, it was a quick and easy read, if you need a cute semi Christmas setting book for your winter holidays - then I suggest this quick filler.

The Mistletoe pact follows best friends Evie and Dan. It is told in third person. Both thirty two they wake up one Christmas Eve morning to find out they got married in Vegas. Eight years ago Evie and Dan made a pact that if they weren’t married by thirty they would marry each other but they were not expecting it to happen. They are going to get a divorce but they have a romance instead. This novel was not what I expected and to be completely honest I didn’t enjoy it. The writing felt very forced and I didn’t find myself wanting to keep reading. It was nothing special.

This is my first Christmas book of the year. The first few pages of the book is fun and exciting, where the mess happened in Vegas. But as the story progresses, I have mixed feelings about it. The story becomes too tedious. It switches back and forth between present and the memories. The POV also switches in every chapter. At 50% of the ebook, I find myself debating to continue up to the end or just jump into the epilogue since I’m sure the ending is predictable. The slow burn romance is too slow; but still a page turner for me because of those secret glances that Dan and Evie do to each other during special occasion gathering, a stroke of serendipity of events and the interrupted kiss scenes.

Overall, the reading experience feels like a whole complete season of a TV series through a book. There are great themes such as family relationship, friendship, comedy and of course, romance. I whoop into small sweet gestures done by Dan Marshall in the story.

If you wish to swoon yourself over cozy holiday romances, The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett could be a good read for you. This book is to be released on October 1.

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for the opportunity to read an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First let me say thank you to @NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

Evie and Dan have been friends for basically forever. There has always been an attraction between them, but neither of them acted upon those feelings until Evie's 22nd birthday. They somehow manage a major make out session AND the adorable mistletoe pact to get married on Evie's 30th birthday if they were both still single. Which subsequently they were and they did.

I wanted to love this book so much based on the premise. I mean, who doesn't love a good friends to lovers trope?! Throw in a drunken Vegas wedding and I'm totally here for this.

Sadly, the angsty build up of attraction between the two main characters seemed to drag on and on and on. They make terrible decisions over and over, obviously, and somehow manage to live out their mistletoe pact wedding only to mess it up again. And again. I found myself frustrated with them often, and wishing they would stop all the moping and just get it together already.

3/5 stars for me

I couldn’t connect to the main character and the relationship between the main character and the mom. I also didn’t feel the relationship between the main character and the person she ends up with . The writing was okay but not my style

2.5/5 stars

The book had a great start and set-up for a great premise. Evie and Dan wake up, married in Vegas. We come to find they made a pact eight years ago and in one drunken night they follow through with it. This story is told though flashbacks in time, and the current year to see how Evie and Dan's relationship develops and builds, including relationships with other people, and development of their selves.

I felt that this book had a lot of flashbacks and move forwards that were meant to move the story along, but it just seemed to carry on for so long. This book had so many things going on in it, in both Evie and Dan's lives that just one incident could have built the story, with more added romance, rather than throwing every obstacle possible in their place. This book seemed to have the ultimate miscommunication trope and really, if either Dan or Evie even talked to each other for a minute and were honest with each other, so much heartache and heartbreak could have been avoided.

I just didn't find this a book that I connected with. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

I really enjoyed the progression of both Evie's and Dan's characters. I did feel like I would've liked to see their actual romantic relationship develop more than what we saw. However, I love the story told through the years, and how the timeline jumps back and forth. It was such an easy read and is a feel-good book for sure!

Festive Romcom…
Evie and Dan made a pact. Eight years ago. If neither were married at thirty then they would marry each other. Neither expected that to happen. Did they? A festive romcom for the Christmas season with some nicely drawn characters and some amusing moments, albeit with much to-ing and fro-ing and perhaps a little long winded, although generally a feel good, warm hearted slice of festive escapism.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Dan and Evie are lifelong friends who make a pact to get married if Evie is single at 30. At Evie's 30th birthday in Vegas years later they get drunk and do get married. They panic in the morning and annul the marriage. After that point the timeline went back and forth for 8 years and it got very confusing. After years of miscommunication the story reaches it's happy conclusion but it was a long trip to get there. It was told in alternating points of view and there were some funny moments. I will continue to look for books by this author but this one was a bit of a miss for me.

The story
When Evie is in her early 20’s she makes a pact with her best friend Sasha’s older brother Dan that if she is single when she turns 30, they will marry. It’s a bit of a joke, but the book starts off with the two having gotten married in a drunken Las Vegas moment. They annul the marriage but underneath the “joke”, both have feelings for each other. The book has flashbacks/ flash-forwards examining every aspect of Evie and Dan’s relationship… the good times, the bad times and the times where things just didn’t go to plan.

My thoughts
I thought the storyline of this book was so promising but the flashbacks and flash-forwards carried on for longer than was maybe necessary. I enjoyed the start and the ending when finally things come together. Overall, a cute read.

Reading this book was like a huge hug complete with all the warm fuzzy feelings, it also kept you wanting more with the 'will they or won't they' excellent and thoroughly enjoyable

The Mistletoe Pact I do believe was misleading in the description. My expectations were not lived up to in what I thought was going to happen in the book. There was so much unnecessary additions that just does not make sense.

Energetic and Exciting!!!! The timeline of the book was slightly difficult to follow but the slow-burn friends-to-lovers was BRILLIANT

I really wanted to love this book as I am a huge fan of the Hallmark love story. The writing was really flat and I just felt like the chapters repeated themselves over and over. The conversation was stilted and I just didn't buy the interactions between Dan and Evie.

I was a little disppointed with this romance. Whilst the synopsis had me excited to read a christmas based romance and the whole forbidden siblings best friend trope this book left me feeling a little deflated. I enjoyed the characters albeit a little more depth to them would have been interesting, they felt a little 2D.
The idea that two people who definitely like each other accidentally get married, have sex and yet still don't discuss their feelings etc seems a little far fetched. There also never seemed to be any reasoning for them not to investigate their feelings for each other, Dan's family all seemed keen and whilst he may have had some emotional issues these weren't discussed until the very end. I can't believe that all these people from the same village had moved to London but never seemed to meet up unless going back home or a specially arranged event ..... I think this book had great potential to have a secret romance that was spoilt in some way rather than it just never really happening, until it did

Honestly for me, miscommunication trope is a hit or miss. If you have fun characters I can connect to and a very interesting plot, I would enjoy it. Sadly, this one didn't. Evie and Dan just felt so....meh. Personally, tgis kinda felt like a hot mess. There was a random baby thrown into the mix and idk maybe it was just for cuteness factor that totally failed because the drama around it just made me feel 😐. The book was just Dan and Evie silently dealing with their secret feelings with each other while one or the other was hooked up with someone and it got a little tiring after a while. The writing was okay. Sometimes it felt more like telling than showing. Won't lie but I skimmed a few parts because I wasn't invested at all.

Sad, because the plot to this sounded really amazing and overall it was just a disappointment. If you're interested to try more Jo Lovett books though, The House Swap is a lot more fun with some more entertaining characters.

2.5/5

They are a few things I'd like to say. Honestly starting the book after reading the blurb, I was full-on excited for a Christmas Rom-Com. There were some amazing things, I loved how the author wrote the past and present dual POVs and each chapter idea blended seamlessly into the next. But that's probably where the good stops. It got too boring after only a few dozen pages. I'm all for a slow burn but this one was really draggy. I managed to power through and finish it though. It had a good basis, but the execution didn't live up to my expectations.

So two people who have been friends for a long time make a pact that if Evie is unmarried at thirty they will get married. Evie has always had feelings for Dan and Dan has always had feelings for Evie unfortunately they are both afraid of commitment because of their parents.

In Vegas, with friends, celebrating Evie’s thirtieth birthday Dan and Evie get drunk and end up married. For me the story then becomes boring and very confusing when the chapters flash backwards and forewords over eight years. The ending was obvious, it just took a long time to get there

this concept could’ve gone really well but this book just didn't quite deliver :( there wasn't much chemistry between mcs and i felt like there was no building up of it either. the story was kinda directionless to me and most of the time i was just reading for the sake of it

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers ahead and as always check trigger warnings.
Age rating: Adult.

One of my biggest book hates: miscommunication/lack of communication!

I wanted to love this book, but by 25% in, the characters had had little interaction with each other. It seemed like we just kept repeating the same chapter over and over again where the characters talk about how much they like each other, remember they’re married and then remember why ‘they can’t be together’. It was tedious, it was boring.

I will never ever understand the lack of communication that takes place in these types of plots.

I debated continuing to the end and hoping we’d have some progression but from reading the other reviews, it seems that all the things I dislike about this book continue until the end. So, not for me, I guess.