-Synopsis-

Get ready for a laugh-out-loud holiday romance that’s brimming with witty banter and heartwarming cheer by the bestselling author of Meet Me in the Margins, Melissa Ferguson.

Chronic people-pleaser Chloe Hollis is determined to finally learn how to get over her fear of rejection. Her unconventional solution? She must collect ten “nos” before Christmas Day by asking strangers for the most ridiculous favors she can dream up. But her plan goes hilariously off-track when she meets James Dutton.

James, a rule-following workaholic, has decided to do the exact opposite of he’s saying “yes” to every opportunity that comes his way in hopes of finally embracing life–and maybe a little Christmas spirit.

As they continue to get tangled up in each other’s wild experiment, Chloe and James find themselves in a whirlwind of festive, awkward, and delightful situations. But no one is more surprised than they are to realize they’re falling in love.

With sparkling humor and swoon-worthy heart, this delightful Christmas rom-com is a feel-good story about facing fear head-on, choosing growth over comfort, and finding the courage to say “yes” to the things–and the people–that truly matter.

-Review-

I would first like to thank Melissa Ferguson, and Thomas Nelson for offering advanced copies on NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews. Thank you!

To begin, this was my second book I have reviewed from Melissa, following Meet Me in the Margins. I enjoyed the former so I jumped at the opportunity to read The Christmas Yes List. It being extremely hot in July, I enjoy Christmas media this time of the year and there is plenty of Holiday cheer and cold weather in this story.

The Christmas Yes List follows the perspective of Chloe Hollis as she is trying to reinvent herself into less of a people pleaser. In order to accomplish that, she is choosing to take the advice from an influencer who convinces her to pick up the challenge of getting as many rejections as possible. Chloe changes the terms a bit, to getting 10 consecutive rejections by Christmas.

What follows is a hilarious and fast paced adventure of rediscovery that includes peculiar social interactions with one James Dutton, and questionable family holiday traditions. All within the scenic backdrop of a small town in December.

This story is set within the West Virginia town of Maple Hills. As mentioned, the community is deep in its Christmas spirit, all with a lovely blanket of snow covering the ground. We get multiple scenes within the main strip of the town with cafes fit with Christmas karaoke, shops full of people who procrastinated their holiday shopping, along with a snow riddled tree farm on the Hollis’s own family property. It truly felt like a Christmas wonderland that reminded me of similar style towns near where I live. I could smell the fireplaces and hot chocolate in the air!

My favorite characteristic of this book, is the humor between Chloe and James. I will admit that I do not laugh out loud too often when it comes to books. However, by the third request Chloe has for James (about the second chapter), I was laughing so hard it brought actual tears to me eyes. I had to tell my husband about it and he started cracking up as well so I put that down as a huge plus for sure.

I did find the humor diminishing as the book went on as Chloe’s antics became more ridiculous due to the misunderstanding plot that makes its unwanted appearance.

There are some light Christian themes in this book. Mainly through mentions of Chloe having a Bible and going to church. However the inserts do not happen too prevalently so anyone can enjoy this story regardless of religious affiliation.

The relationships between Chloe and James and Chloe and her father were my favorites in the story. The former felt so spontaneous and entertaining, mainly due to James’s willingness to be constantly dragged around all over the place. Chloe’s father being a man of very little words is only present in one scene but his patience and fatherly tenderness to Chloe was nice to experience.

On the flip side, there were certain characters that I personally feel should have been left out. Chloe’s BFF Genie being the main example. For this whole story being about Chloe essentially growing a backbone and being comfortable with saying ‘no’, she sure was not following this philosophy with those closest to her. When it came to the ‘drama’ of this story, you had Chloe taking this idea and running with it, mixing in with Genie’s completely overbearing nature who was just there to put a damper in Chloe’s relationship with James. All under false pretenses. The scenes with Genie were honestly a headache for me to get through and is the main reason behind my lower than 5-star rating.

The romance began as a happenstance humor laden acquaintance, but quickly started developing into more. I appreciated James’s honesty throughout the book. He has jumped up to one of my favorite male love interests due to his angelic patience with Chloe and her shenanigans. It took me longer to get on board with Chloe due to her propensity to be entirely too dramatic but James is the best levelheaded person to balance that out. The romance remains clean with some longing and sweet kisses here and there. The epilogue is pretty typical for a contemporary romance which I was glad to read as well.

All in all, I am really happy to have been given the opportunity to read this lovely holiday book by Melissa Ferguson. I definitely look forward to reading more from Melissa in the hopefully ear future!

Apparently The Christmas Yes List has been made into a movie, set to release this holiday season so if that is something you are interested in, keep a look out for that!

Once again, I would like to thank Melissa Ferguson, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for allowing reviewers like myself access to this ARC in exchange for honest reviews. Thank you!

-About the Author-

Melissa Ferguson is the bestselling author of titles including Meet Me in the Margins, Famous for a Living, and How to Plot a Payback. She lives in Tennessee with her family in their growing farmhouse lifestyle and writes heartwarming romantic comedies.

You can find her on her socials at @ourfriendlyfarmhouse.