Book Review: His Christmas Feast by Nora James (Rainbow Cove Christmas #1)
I wanted to like this and it did start promising, however, it went downhill pretty quickly. Emily of the sad Christmas back story lives next door to French chef, Christophe. And apparently her sad Christmas back story is an excuse for her to be a total bitch to a guy who pretty much should be the perfect neighbour. (No dogs or all night parties or any other reason is really given as to Emily’s issues – there was the wonky fence which resulted in him seeing through it to her in her pjs in the backyard, I guess. This doesn’t seem enough for her bitter attitude.)
Look, I *love* the old hate-to-love trope, but this one just took things a step too far. Emily is just plain rude. I mean, not to spoil, but one of her things is deliberately calling Christophe ‘Christopher’ even though she knows this is the incorrect pronunciation. That’s not funny or quirky or sexy! It might even be classed as slightly racist.
Instead of UST simmering between the characters, there’s a case for an AVO, or at least a Dispute Resolution Officer coming out to sort out their arguments!
What do I know though because despite all this the characters constantly think about how hot the other is. This *really* started to annoy me (can you tell?). Gods forbid if a romance was based on someone’s personality or intellect or similar likes or ability to make someone laugh. All those people who love Love Island might understand this whole ‘even though she’s spewing out constant vitriol, she’s hot’ mentality but it’s not for me. I need my characters, especially my heroines, to have some redeeming features and I’m afraid Emily has zero. Everyone has a sad story, this doesn’t give you an excuse to be the rudest person on earth.
Couldn’t go on after about 70%.
1 1/2 out of 5
PS The 1 1/2 comes from the food porn (Christophe is a chef after all) and the fact that it is truly a Christmas book with a Christmas setting.
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