Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery

I got this book as a blind date with a book, romcom themed Christmas box. I have to say, I wasn’t blown away by this book. There are 5-10 subplots going on, the badly behaving characters (both of the rich ones) don’t ever learn any kind of lesson, and none of the characters empathize with anyone in this book. Almost all of the characters are incredibly selfish. Many side characters are introduced and then just disappear. You definitely don’t need to read books 1 or 2 to get the gist of this 3rd installment…which means the characters don’t really learn or grow. The characters each have a schtick and that’s basically it. Reuben, the rich husband of best friend, is incredibly problematic (openly racist, an obnoxious narcissist, won’t be present at the birth of his son because it would be like “watching your favorite pub burn down”- yuuuck). He ends up being a low key hero by the end of this book. There’s just a lot wrong with this book and the cozy setting doesn’t really come through enough to make this enjoyable. I wouldn’t spend real money on this one. However, if you enjoy roasting a book while reading it, this book is full of roast worthy moments. (Just don’t pay for it!)

Content Warnings

alexan007's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

Content Warnings

fromjuliereads's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Cute and easy Christmas read! Was able to read most of it quickly. I really liked the characters, and loved Neil - haha! There was a lot of morality and right and wrong decisions as part of the story which made it a bit heavier at times. And some of the descriptions were a little much for an easier Christmas read. But I enjoyed the story and it wrapped up well!
Apparently this is a spinoff of another series that I haven't read, but I don't think I needed to just to enjoy this cute story!

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Reread in 2022. I had forgotten how a large part of this plot is around a secondary character cheating and people lying about it. I definitely didn't enjoy this as much as the first time I read it. There are cute moments but wow so many issues with things...

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