A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
The Plight Before Christmas by Kate Stewart

emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

๐Ÿ“– The Plight Before Christmas 
โœ๐Ÿป Kate Stewart
โ˜‘๏ธ Contemporary Romance
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ซ๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™˜๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™œ๐™ง๐™–๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™„ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™™ ๐™š๐™ฎ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช.โ€

A funny, swoony, and steamy holiday read!

Overview:
โ€ขHoliday Romance
โ€ขSecond Chance
โ€ขMemories/Flashbacks
โ€ขFamily Drama
โ€ขShenanigans 

๐—”๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€, ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐˜…-๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—น๐—ถ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€ฆ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜.

I really enjoyed this one!!

This second chance romance thrived in the dual POV format! Hearing from both Eli and Whitney about their initial relationship and where they are at now was key to creating that angsty connection and the tender moments.

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™š๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ก๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฉ. ๐™„๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™– ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š, ๐™€๐™ก๐™ž, ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ ?โ€
โ€œ๐™’๐™šโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™—๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™—๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ. ๐™Ž๐™ค, ๐™ฃ๐™ค, ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š.โ€

Whitneyโ€™s family was the HEART of this story. Each individual was dealing with their own struggles and relationship challenges, and it gave this book more weight and depth than other holiday reads. 

๐™„๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™˜๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ก๐™–๐™ง ๐™–๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ž๐™ง ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™ž๐™–๐™œ๐™š. ๐™๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ. ๐™Ž๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ. ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ. ๐™’๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™–๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™๐™ช๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ?

(Iโ€™ve seen some people compare this to the movie The Family Stone, which I havenโ€™t seen, but figured it was worth mentioning).

Plus, the sibling banter felt so relatable and genuinely hilarious. 

โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™ข๐™–๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ ๐™š๐™จ? ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ซ๐™š ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ ๐™š๐™จ! ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง!โ€
โ€œ๐™’๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™œ๐™ค๐™–๐™ก๐™จ.โ€

Iโ€™ve read at least one other Kate Stewart book, and her writing style has moments that work for me, and others that donโ€™t. I do love her exploration into the messiness of life and complicated dynamics, though sometimes it felt a touch repetitive.

โ€œ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™ก ๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ ๐™š๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ข๐™–๐™™๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ. ๐™๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™. ๐™’๐™š ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ค๐™›๐™› ๐™ž๐™™๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜. ๐™’๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ค๐™›๐™› ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™ช๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š. ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™š๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™›๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ.โ€

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a holiday book that dives deeper than others!

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