Book Review: "We Met in December" by Rosie Curtis
“We Met in December” by Rosie Curtis
Synopsis: Two people. One house. A year that changes everything.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jess is following her dream and moving to London. It’s December, and she’s taking a room in a crumbling, but grand, Notting Hill house-share with four virtual strangers. On her first night, Jess meets Alex, the guy sharing her floor, at a Christmas dinner hosted by her landlord. They don’t kiss, but as far as Jess is concerned the connection is clear. She starts planning how they will knock down the wall between them to spend more time together.
But when Jess returns from a two-week Christmas holiday, she finds Alex has started dating someone else—beautiful Emma, who lives on the floor above them. Now Jess faces a year of bumping into (hell, sharing a bathroom with) the man of her dreams…and the woman of his.
Rating (out of 5): 4
Review: I say this with all admiration and respect: this book was like reading a British Hallmark holiday film — maybe crossed a little bit with Notting Hill. I picked this one up on a whim (aka, I got a Barnes and Noble discount), and I was looking to add some holiday magic to my reading life. This is a time of year that I want to read things that are fluffy and light, mostly as an escape from other stresses that may be part of my (and your) holiday season. And now that I have told you things that I usually save for my therapist, let’s get on with the book review.
The book opens with Jess, who is kind of an adorable mess, moves into her friend Becky’s house in Notting Hill, and falls quickly into a crush on her housemate, Alex. As you can read in the synopsis, before she can act on it, Alex sleeps with another girl in the house, Emma, who is everything that Jess isn’t — put together, stylish, a stereotypical “cool girl.” The book covers the next year in Jess and Alex’s lives, alternating their points of view as they start new jobs, go back to school, and slowly but surely, fall for each other. What, like you didn’t guess this was going to have a happy ending?
A big theme of this book is trying to make yourself be the kind of person you aren’t — maybe that’s someone who is okay with a one night stand or not spending time with family or living up to other’s expectations in spite of what you really want to do. I loved reading about Jess and Alex finding themselves, and in the course of that, finding each other. It was heartwarming and believable, and it made me a little bit jealous of both their meet cute and the way the story progressed.
Plus, London at Christmas is just the best. That, and the wonderful descriptions of the parts of town meandered through by Alex and Jess on their walks, just made me want to book a ticket to go back. I will make a bold claim here — I think London does the holidays better than anywhere in the world, and Rosie Curtis definitely captured that magic.
TL;DR: Basically the Christmas literary equivalent of a snuggly sweater and a cup of hot cocoa — comforting, delicious, and a real seasonal treat.
If you liked this, try these:
“Get a Life, Chloe Brown” by Talia Hibbert (my review here!)
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