Sadie has wanted to be a country music star her entire life. Growing up in the Midwest, she kept her eyes on Nashville until she was old enough to move down there and give her dreams a real try. She’s finally made her way onto Starmaker, the reality television show that is hoping to introduce the country to the next big country music superstar. But she’s disappointed to get there and find out one of her competitors is no one other than Max.
Max is the son of a country music superstar, and he’s running out of steam. After watching the industry and its pressures take its toll on his family, Max is trying to decide what he wants more—to be a star, or to leave it all behind for a quiet life. But he’s taking one last chance on country music, appearing on Starmaker, to see if he can get the momentum to break through.
Sadie and Max do okay on the show at first, but when they are paired up for the Christmas duet “All I Want for Christmas,” they bring the house down. Fans all over the country are all over social media asking for more #Saxie, and the producers want to keep that excitement going. They make a deal with Sadie and Max that as long as they keep performing together, the producers will keep them on the show.
But Sadie and Max are both really strong personalities, and as much as their music is in perfect harmony, those strong voices tend toward arguments and criticism when they’re not on stage together. That’s a problem, since their new arrangement with the producers means that they have to pretend to be a couple off-stage as well as on. And they have to keep this up for a year, until they come back to sing on the next year’s Starmaker Christmas special.
Although #Saxie has stolen the hearts of the country, Sadie is still frustrated by Max’s attitude, and Max is defensive about his father’s career being the reason he’s on Starmaker. But they both realize that their musical magic is more than the sum of their significant talents, and some of those warm feelings may be starting to spill over into their real lives. Will they be able to keep their fake relationship separate from their real feelings, especially when the realities of life in the spotlight start to close in on them?
All I Want for Christmas is a charming holiday rom com from the writing duo known as Maggie Knox. Authors of last year’s The Holiday Swap, Karma Brown and Marissa Stapley have crafted a fun, romantic novel that takes a look at the country music industry and the reality of reality competition shows and uses them as a dramatic backdrop for a Christmas love story that is more genuine and romantic than any made-for-television holiday movie.
This book has a lot of heart and a lot of family, adding the warmth and love of a good family with the secrets that parents hold on to in an attempt to protect their children from heartbreak. Sadie and Max are both smart and naive, inspiring but inexperienced, and they come together as a caring and adorable couple, when they learn to get out of their own way. I loved reading All I Want for Christmas. It was exactly the type of holiday book I was looking for, with hot cocoa, bad decisions, knitting, the Grand Ole Opry Hotel, and some rare Nashville snow.
Egalleys for All I Want for Christmas were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.
