A double booking leads to a sweet Victorian romp. Same Time, Next Christmas is a gentle and lyrical holiday romance set along the coast of Italy. Told in the first person, which did take a bit to get used to, it follows Portia as she tries to navigate sharing a house, a beach, and a holiday with one Jamison Fletcher. Not only does she discover him bathing in the surf nude — so scandalous – but she also finds herself slowly and inexorably becoming more and more attracted to him.
As a reader, I had a hard time getting into this book. At times there seemed to be an overabundance of infodump and it took me a very long time to warm up to characters. There were definitely charming scenes here and there – enough to keep me reading albeit slowly. The romance itself is sweet/clean/non-sexual and definitely for those who like slow burns.
As for me, this wasn’t my cup of tea. The writing style is a little too literary for my tastes, and that’s a personal thing. While I like slow burns, there’s slow and then there’s pacing problems slow. Like the ending felt rushed and the beginning waaaay too slow.
Frankly I feel that this book would be right up my mother’s alley, but it’s not mine.
However, it’s still worth checking out if you like a sweet, slow build holiday romance. Three stars.
If this is your jam, you can get it here.
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I received an ARC through NetGalley