I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Single All the Way by Portia MacIntoshPublished by Boldwood Books on August 18, 2022
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 267
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:
Will Dani find love this Christmas? Or will she be Single All The Way…?
When Dani’s boyfriend (and boss!) dumps her for a younger model, the only silver lining she can see is to be able to spend Christmas at home with her family after years away.
Determined to surprise them, Dani turns up unannounced in her hometown, excited to see that the festive season in Marram Bay is in full swing with Christmas lights twinkling on every corner. But disaster strikes when she finds her parents’ house is empty and they appear to have gone away on holiday!
Christmas alone and single is not ideal, and when Dani starts bumping into old friends, neighbours and potential love interests, she can’t face telling them the truth. So in a panic she claims to be home to throw a Christmas party for the whole town – easier said than done with 12 days to go before Christmas…
As the fake party approaches, little does Dani know that there may be someone there under the mistletoe for her, if she can just let her guard down and see them…
A laugh-out-loud festive romantic comedy from top 10 bestseller Portia MacIntosh, guaranteed to put a smile on your face this Christmas.
Please note Single All The Way was originally released as a novella. This new edition is inspired by the original but is a full-length story with a brand new plot and ending.
My Review
I have enjoyed two other books by this author, so was definitely interested in this holiday romance. And while the story itself was not bad, there were a lot of issues I had with the writing or the way the story was told. It read a lot like maybe it was one of the author’s first novels maybe? It had so many info dumps, a ton of the whole telling instead of showing. For instance, the first chapter was a ton of telling. It actually reminded me a lot of the first novel I started writing and how my first chapter was like that until someone pointed it out to me. (Not that it was easy for me to go back and change it, that story of mine still isn’t finished.) And then every time a new character was introduced we got quite a bit of back story at that moment and it kind of took me out of the story each time. And a lot of repetition of the main character thinking the same things over and over about who she should like or shouldn’t like.
However I ended up when it got to those kind of points just skimming and skipping to where I could see dialogue or something actually happening, and by doing that I was able to enjoy the story enough to finish it. From the synopsis above it mentions that this was originally a novella, so maybe it was when the author filled it out to make a full length story that all the info dump sections got added, I don’t know.
In the end, I still enjoyed the story enough that I will continue to look to read more by this author in the future.
I’ve enjoyed books by Portia MacIntosh in the past. Maybe you’re right and this is one of her earlier books.
I also read that it was a novella originally and was rewritten for this, so it’s possible that had something to do with the things I had problems with too.