The things we do to escape our family on Christmas…

Synopsis

Billie is looking forward to a quiet, man-free Christmas. It’s just a shame her family doesn’t feel the same way…

With a house full of unexpected (and unwanted) guests, Billie needs to find the perfect escape to get away from the chaos.

So when her dating app recommends a week of singles nights in her area, Billie decides that braving these events has to be better than making conversation with her dad’s new wife, dealing with her mum’s mid-life crisis or witnessing her sister flirting with her insufferably arrogant next-door neighbour.

While this is definitely not the festive season she had planned, between disco bowling and boozy bingo, little does Billie know that she may find love this year after all – she’ll just have to date and see…

Fall in love with the perfect laugh-out-loud festive read from top 10 bestseller Portia MacIntosh.

My review

Billie is looking forward to spend the Christmas period on her own terms. That means a quiet, man – free and mentioning her ex – ban time.
But suddenly Billie’s house is filled with family, some members truly welcome and some other truly not.
To escape everything and everyone, from a mother with a midlife crisis, a  father who suddenly wants to be part of the family again together with his second wife and a sister who is flirting with Billie’s arrogant neighbour, Billie decides to accept the challenge of her dating app. So now Billie’s agenda is filled with a week of singles nights with a activities like boozy bingo and disco bowling.
With the same people appearing on several scenes, new friends are being made and even if Billie wasn’t looking for love, perhaps one of her new friends may be just perfect for her. 

Portia MacIntosh is one of those authors that make me read her books without having read one word on the backside of the book.
No matter what she has written, I know I will laugh, swoon, even cringe a little bit, but most important, I will have a great time.
And obviously she did deliver again! 

From the start, Billie was able to let me linger on two total opposite feelings. On one side, I admired her, because she managed to create the perfect place for herself, even after her boyfriend left her. I have two left hands, even just putting a nail in the wall required me to call my dearest dad to come over!
And she is truly a loving daughter and sister. She is not 100% sure of the changes her mother made after her divorce, but Billie sees that it makes her mother a happier woman, and that is all that matters.
Even as a sister she is amazing. Jess is not the easiest sister to have around, but their bond is just wonderful to read about, and I liked it how Billie tries to protect Jess when jess starts to flirt with the neighbour. 

But on the other hand, she also frustrated me. I understand that for your family you would do anything. But I just wished that Billie at some moments would just say no… But she sees her own little peace of heaven being invaded by family members, all having their own vision and opinion about just everything, going from the Christmas tree to Billie’s love life.
And yes, to just keep the peace between everyone, Billie keeps her mouth, but why should she? It’s her place, so her rules…  

Reading how Billie wants to escape all the unfolding drama home, making her go to different dating events was something I was looking forward to because I knew there would be some disaster and hilarious bits.
Already on the first event things go wrong for Billie and had me laughing all over the place. And things don’t always improve on the next occasions! There was even one specific event in a grand mansion that would make me run away screaming! But obviously as a reader it was just marvellously hilarious! 

But I also found it sweet to read how Billie befriends some fellow daters. It shows us that even if love isn’t found on an event, true friendship can, even after some initial misunderstandings. 

Obviously Billie has a love interest in this story. And he is the kind of love interest I would like to have myself. It isn’t the lovestruck kind of romance, but more the slowly growing together kind, having a laugh together and slowly realizing that there is more than just friendly feelings…
But as expected, even here things don’t go the right way immediately! And even when things seems to go the right way, another twist brings us back to square one!

I truly enjoyed reading this new book from this amazing author. I had so many laughs, saw some disastrous moments coming from miles ahead (one event even reminded me of Mrs. Doubtfire, when Billie tries to be at two places at the same time!).
But in the end, I loved reading how Billie and her (a little bit dysfunctional) family are all together, spending Christmas together, maturing during the process, and realize that despite they all being different from each other, their love for each other is bigger than ever.