Squee
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novella, Romance
Theme: Fake Relationship, Holiday
Archetype: Diverse Protagonists, STEM
Her Pretend Christmas Date is a novella comprised almost entirely of Catherine catnip. I am an absolute sucker for White Christmas settings, I love me a Fake Relationship (especially when they come with Only One Bed), I adore a buttoned-up hero who gets completely unravelled by a messy heroine but do you know what I really love?
A Christmas gathering that devolves into a gingerbread house making competition that is run, commentated on and judged by the heroine’s ‘Sugar Rush’ obsessed parents.
OH MY GOD THEY BAKE TOGETHER YOU GUYS!!!
And it is adorable and perfect and wonderful because OF COURSE Mr Buttoned Up, Organised Hero, who always wears a tie and carries a stain remover pen and a sewing kit in his pocket, is going to make sure that gingerbread house is structurally sound, and of course our messy, artistic heroine gets to do the decorating and of course their gingerbread house is amazing.
This is clearly a perfect relationship.
(I am not at ALL influenced in this statement by the fact that there is baking. Nope. Not I.)
Julie Tam is thirty years old and a disappointment to her parents: not only is she single, but she is perfectly happy making and selling jewellery and working at a cider bar bar, rather than having a proper career. When her friend Belinda sets her up on a blind date with pharmacist Tom Yeung, Julie instantly dismisses him as too serious, too buttoned up, and too much like the sort of man her parents want her to marry – he’s even from Hong Kong, just like them! Tom, for his part, finds Julie attractive but painfully chaotic. The date starts poorly and quickly devolves into disaster, and they are both relieved when it ends.
Except… Julie really does want to please her parents, and when she mentions she went on a date with a nice young pharmacist, they are so excited that she can’t bear to tell them it didn’t work out. Before long, she has invented an entire fake relationship, and Tom has been invited to visit for Christmas. Oops.
If this book has a flaw, it is that I’m still not quite sure I understand why Tom said yes when Julie rang him out of the blue and invited him to join her for Christmas as her fake boyfriend. Yes, his parents are travelling overseas and he doesn’t want to spend Christmas alone, but Julie drives him bananas and has been making up stories about him – why would he agree to spend Christmas with her?
But honestly, I just loved Julie and Tom together so much that I decided not to think too much about that and just went with the flow. Besides, once Julie and Tom are under the same roof and pretending to be in love with each other, while dealing with Julie’s very curious and invested family and their Christmas Couple Challenges, it’s pretty clear that they like each other more than they first expected to.
It also doesn’t hurt that they are very attracted to each other, and the chemistry between them is intense. I love the way Julie is constantly teasing and winding up Tom, and that he is so quiet and contained until he really isn’t, and it is SUPER hot. I loved the humour of the book and its sweetness – Tom really is such a kind and thoughtful person, and did I mention hot? I also loved Julie’s family dynamics, painful as they are, and the way in which they were finally resolved, which was very satisfying.
And of course I loved all the Christmas things. I adore Christmas. I love baking ludicrous quantities of cookies and other delicious things, I love finding or making gifts for people, and I love singing, and Christmas gives me so many excuses to do all of these things! But I also love the idea of all those wintry Christmas traditions and experiences that we don’t have here – the snow angels, the ice skating, the eggnog and the general cold-weather cosiness. (Basically, I’m an Australian, so snow is exciting!)
But most of all? I loved the gingerbread house competition. I mean, what better way to demonstrate a couple’s compatibility? Julie’s parents certainly have their flaws, but they were right on the money with this one.
Her Pretend Christmas Date was like hot chocolate spiked with cinnamon; or a Christmas pudding fresh from the steamer and flaming with brandy; or maybe like a slice of gingerbread made to your Oma’s recipe: warm, sweet, spicy, and full of love. It’s the perfect Christmas read, and I loved it.
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Thanks!
Well this sounds like it has all the elements that I love too!!! This is also a new author for me. I’m so excited to get started on this book! Thank you for the recommendation.
I really like Jackie Lau’s books, and I’m a sucker for Christmas books so I’m off to get this right now!
I’m so tempted, but I have a real problem with meddling friends or family in books. I don’t find it funny, and I end up hating it because the meddling in these books almost always gets rewarded. “See? We really did know what was best for you so our meddling was ok!” I’ve read this author before and she’s talented, but I had problems with the family meddling. Others have pointed out that it’s a cultural thing,but it doesn’t make it less stressful for me to read.
On the other hand, you make this sound so appealing! I want to read it for the gingerbread house alone.
Having read this review, I’m glad I preordered this! Lau’s writing has been working really well for me lately, so now I just have to not drop everything and immediately go read it! Alas, work.
@ Carrie G – I feel you on the meddling family thing! Hits too close to home, even though I love Jackie Lau. Her “One Bed for Christmas” may work better – it is set in the big city, just the two of them snowed in together.
This is a B+/A- for me (Mostly because I just liked the other Laus from this year better, and I agree that Tom jumping into the trip makes no sense because that’s Julie doing even more of something he Super Didn’t Like) but this is SO good and SO tropetastic, I adore it.
Okay, you sold me. Also the fact that the book description correctly said ‘strait-laced’ instead of ‘straight-laced’ which I have seen waaaayy too many times. 🙂 Plus gingerbread.
I enjoy Jackie Lau books in part because of the meddling. It is culturally appropriate (and it applies to both men and women, so it’s not sexist), and I like the depiction of people who are in some ways completely Westernized (gingerbread houses!) and in other ways still true to their culture. I think it’s a difficult balance and Lau does it well.
I read this yesterday, and I enjoyed it! I felt like the meddling was very minimal, barely there. A fun, quick read.
I just liked the other Laus from this year better, and I agree that Tom jumping into the trip makes no sense because that’s Julie doing even more of something. I enjoy Jackie Lau’s books in part because of the meddling. It is culturally appropriate. I have a real problem with meddling friends or family in books. I don’t find it funny, and I end up hating it because the meddling in these books almost always gets rewarded.
After having read and loved this author’s Holidays with the Wongs series earlier on his year, this and every other book she has written has already jumped onto my TBR.
I also am so in tune with what Ruth L said
So, trying to use the HTML tags didn’t work so well for me! I was quoting the entirety of Ruth L’s comment as I am in total agreement with it.
@Jo Thanks! You are right that in other contexts the meddling can range from annoying to offensive.
Let me go on head and purchase this! Your summary 100% describes my ideal man lol!
This just popped on my feed and coincidently I just re-read a lot of my Jackie Lau. I think the points about Tom’s motivations not being explained are good. This is a novella, and the character isn’t really as fleshed out as he could have been. Julie and her family were already developed characters, especially if you have read the sister’s book. In addition, because his parents are absent, we don’t see the full family dynamics.
In addition to the meddling being culturally appropriate and equal opportunity, I think the other reason the meddling doesn’t bother me as much is that all the characters in her books are older. In this case, Julie is 30. They have careers (Julie is an anomaly). A lot of the family dynamic is that the children being meddled with (not only the women but sometimes the men) don’t realize that their parents are proud of them and their accomplishments even if they aren’t married. This tension is then resolved as part of the resolution of the romance. What it’s not is young women being told that their only worth is in being married.