Matthew Prince is a rich, young socialite. His parents are famous and wealthy and he does everything he can to find a name for himself. Including buying an island to throw a Fyre-like festival which is a PR nightmare. So his parents cut him off and ship him to his grandparents in a quaint town far away from everything. First he wallows and then he decides to help plan a local charity event to try to prove to his parents he is capable and responsible. Along the way he meets a handsome boy who he ropes into helping him and then falls for.
This one was cute but didn’t strike me as anything super special. I am not sure I get the references to David Rose that people are offering for Matthew Prince. Sure he’s spoiled and rich but he’s not very interesting or funny. Overall this book was missing the “com” aspect of a romcom, I wanted witty banter and cute, snarkiness. I didn’t even really feel like it was attempting that. Matthew was more of a Paris Hilton, just a rich, unlikable snot. He does have a bit of an arc towards the end but it wasn’t what I hoped for.
I’m happy for there to be queer representation in romcoms and celebrate this book for that. But it missed the mark for me on swoony romance. It does take place at Christmas and Matthew is a jerk but there are way more allusions and direct references to A Christmas Carol so I feel like a Scrooge title would have been better than a Grinch one.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca via Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.
I really had to force myself through this one because I just wasn’t enjoying it. Do you finish books you’ve committed to review or will you DNF?
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