All’s Fair in Love and Christmas by Sarah Monzon

 

All's Fair in Love and Christmas by Sarah Monzon

Don’t you just love a Christmas story?

Let’s begin with the summary:

Two workplace rivals. One festive competition. And a romance that upends it all.

Every December two things are guaranteed for graphic designer Mackenzie Graham—Christmas celebrations and the annual promotion at her workplace. Those two things are by no means mutually exclusive. In fact, the better an employee is at harnessing the Christmas spirit, the more likely they’ll win the new job. With her social anxiety, Mackenzie never thought she’d be a contender in her company’s holiday competition, so how exactly has she found herself dueling her workplace crush with wrapping paper tubes and using tinsel as her weapon of choice for a much-needed raise?

Jeremy Fletcher’s life is meticulously planned out, including how to win this year’s promotion at work. Not only will the new position fulfill some of his career goals, but as a single guardian to his twin niece and nephew, he needs the salary increase to support his family. Jeremy has barely noticed Mackenzie Graham around the office, but now that she’s his rival, he can’t stop thinking about her. Her quirkiness intrigues him, and he’s afraid that if he can’t get his head on straight, the promotion isn’t the only thing he’ll end up losing to Mackenzie.

And now, my review:

Overall, I enjoyed this book! I enjoyed the snarky first-person female protag’s voice. Loved the humor sprinkled throughout the story.

Our pour heroine is stuck in insecurity. She overthinks everything—what Meyers Briggs’ updated personality charts calls “turbulent.” She habitually rejects herself, undervalues her own strengths and positive traits, and fears she’ll fail in social situations. She has difficulty communicating her thoughts due to paralysis of social anxiety.

Her bff will help her overcome her tendencies, and the heroine will use interesting strategies to do so.

I felt the author did a fantastic job with the heroine’s characterization and her hang-ups. Her story line resonated with me as genuine, flawed, and relatable. I cheered for this heroine to overcome. Hooked, I was curious how she would.

The faith element was interesting here too. The heroine prayed for deliverance, but it didn’t come the way she expected. I loved this subtle thread. The flawed hero has some growth ahead of him too. He’s confident, but perhaps teetering on cocky. He doesn’t always have compassion on others, he blurts things out to his buddies, and he overlooks the underdog at work. His nobility is in his guardianship of his sister’s orphaned children. So we don’t dislike him for long. It was satisfying to watch him grow as well.

I liked that the male protag was the planner. This is a welcome twist on the usual trope. Another helpful author choice was putting the female MC’s voice in first-person narrative, and the male MC’s voice in third person. That helps readers track whose POV we’re in as we come back to the story. Watching the heroine find her voice, celebrate her strengths, and overcome her fear kept me engaged. The simple answers didn’t solve it. I loved that! God often takes us through a process to find healing or breakthrough. He overcomes our misguided attempts or beliefs while teaching us the truths that set us free. He answers our prayers over time. I loved that part of the book. Kudos to the author for going deeper than a surface, pat answer.

I love the competition and the aptly chosen title wording. They’re at war, after all.

My only drawback was with Frank. Not that the author included him, but that, at first, the hero’s pursuit didn’t feel any different than Frank’s. This is a fine line—not to let heroes come across as creepers as they back heroines against walls. Otherwise, this book is very, very well written.

I also read her book Kiss Me on Christmas and appreciated her inclusion of an autistic child. See my review on this blog for that book as well! Sarah is making a name for herself (at least with me) of competently writing about autism and anxiety disorders. I appreciate these deeper layers and tougher topics, especially since she doesn’t gloss over these challenging issues nor does she offer easy answers. Her work feels authentic because of her approach. She’s on my list of authors to watch!