December 5, 2014

Mistletoe & Mr. Right - Lyla Payne

Title: Mistletoe & Mr. Right
Author: Lyla Payne
Pages: 150
Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark
From goodreads.com
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…but lust refused to settle in for a long winter's nap.
She might be all nestled, snug in her bed, by why, oh why, do visions of the wrong guy dance in her head?

Jessica, (not Jessie), figures that nothing could be better than a trip to the Emerald Isle for Christmas break. So she takes a flying leap and follows her boyfriend home for the holidays, not only sure that he will finally agree they're destined for each other, but also that Ireland will provide the perfect backdrop to the beginning of their happily-ever-after. 

But it turns out his family--and his gorgeous ex-girlfriend--don't feel the same way, and even the family goat seems to be conspiring against her well-laid plans. The only person making the trip worthwhile is the very last one she should be thinking about, but Grady, the local farmhand, has a way of showing up when Jessica needs him most...and least.


I will reading literally ANYTHING if it says it's about Christmas.  Christmas is my favorite holiday and I want everything that I come into contact with in December to be Christmas themed.  When I saw this up on NetGalley I knew I had to request it.  Not only is it Christmas, it's Christmas in IRELAND.  It sounded totally up my alley.  And it was...kind of.

Jessica, (not Jessie - annoying), is a very structured person.  She has her whole life meticulously planned out and she's still in college.  The one thing not going according to her plan?  Her relationship with Brennan, the cute boy she met at a frat party at the beginning of her junior year.  They're dating, but it's not as serious as Jessica wants it to be.  What's a girl to do?  If you answered fly to Ireland to barge in on your boyfriend's family Christmas celebration with no warning to anyone at all, you are absolutely correct.

Okay, here's the thing.  This is a crazy thing to do.  We can all see that, right?  She doesn't tell Brennan or his family (who she's never met before) that she's coming to Ireland for Christmas.  She doesn't make any hotel plans, she just expects to drop in on these people at what is generally accepted as the busiest time of the year and stay at their home.  Not only is this so incredibly rude, but for someone who needs to have her entire life planned out by the time she's 21 I cannot for one second believe that she would not have planned to stay in a hotel in case the reception wasn't the one that she hoped for.  She could have just pretended to be on vacation when people gave her the 'girl are you serious???' face.  "Oh, me?  No I was just passing through the Irish country side (even though I never mentioned any kind of trip to Ireland at all to you) and thought I'd drop in to say Merry Christmas to your family."  Still not great, but much better than, "Hi, I'm your son's girlfriend who he clearly has never mentioned before and oh, by the way, I expect to take up space in your home during this busy time."

Now, this clearly happens very early on in the book and it was something that I absolutely could not get over.  The rest of the novella was fine.  It's pretty much the expected drama - ex-girlfriend that the family still loves to bits and the bf is clearly not over, hot farmhand who saves the goat that Jessica RAN OVER WITH HER RENTAL CAR and she is super attracted to, wacky family hijinks like almost killing her boyfriend's father with pie spices.  You know, standard fare.  

I wasn't really expecting to be wowed by this one, so (besides getting me all riled up about her travel non-plans) it was a decent read for me.  I would recommend it to anyone looking for something Christmas-y or who has a thing for hottie hot hot Irish farm boys.