Book Review: An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas (RC)

Author: Janette Rallison

One little lie can spin so wildly out of control…and yet turn out so well.

Scarlet’s grandmother wants her to bring her boyfriend home for what may be her grandmother’s last Christmas. Which wouldn’t be a problem…if Scarlet actually had a boyfriend. Scarlet’s sister came up with a bit of fiction to make Grandma happy in that regard.

We all have boyfriends, Grams. Really, we’re not going to waste our lives and die alone in a trailer full of cats.

Scarlet would totally skip the fake boyfriend performance, but her cousin Jane is bringing her boyfriend to Grandma’s too—and he’s Scarlet’s ex.

Yeah. Her rich, arrogant, all too sure of his own charms, ex-boyfriend. That guy. There’s no way she’s showing up solo to face him. Scarlet is stuck, last-minute, with Liam, a man she’s never met and knows nothing about.

Maybe it’s Liam’s extreme hotness that muddles Scarlet’s mind, but she has a hard time keeping certain facts straight—like his profession, and the fact that he’s not really her boyfriend…so she’s not supposed to kiss him.

She needs to stay on her toes because not keeping her story straight will land her and Liam in all sorts of trouble.

An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas is a fun and silly holiday romance. The concept itself is an enjoyable Hallmark-style festive feel, which made it a great read for anyone looking to get into the holiday spirit. The story follows Scarlet Hughes, a 23-year-old model from California who is returning to Flagstaff, Arizona for the holidays. Her grandmother is dying and has been given only two to six months to live and she wants nothing more than for all of her grandchildren to be happy in a relationship. As Scarlet is still recovering from her dream high school boyfriend, Camden, breaking her heart, she has no actual prospects. She instead hired an actor to portray the role of “Jeremy,” her boyfriend. Unfortunately, the actor ends up getting another job and is unable to fulfill his commitment, so Scarlet needs to find a replacement.

Scarlet’s sister, Hazel, hooks Scarlet up with Liam Brooks, who is the sister of one of Hazel’s co-workers/friends. Liam agrees to do it as a way to escape his own family as his parents are currently going through a divorce. To add one more obstacle to the mix of this fake relationship, Camden will be at the family gathering as he is involved with Scarlet’s cousin, Jane. While Scarlet is a likable character, she does fall into that manic pixie dream girl persona. As this is not a persona I personally like, she does become a little frustrating at times. Luckily, there is Liam and the other secondary characters that balance her, which helped me enjoy the story more. While it begins with an extreme physical attraction to the other, I did appreciate that eventually there was more of a connection between them. If Liam did not find Scarlet hot, then this story would have been a lot shorter considering he did not originally come across as the type that would do crazy things for just anybody.

Though Scarlet would not be a personality I could tolerate in reality, she added a lot of fun and chaos to the story. She and Liam have fun banter and their fake relationship does spin out of control. The concept of a fake relationship turning into possible real feelings is not a new concept, but I like the quirkiness that the author added to make it unique. The story itself may not have been very probable for the real world, but anything could be possible. While this is not technically a series, there are novels in the works by two other authors featuring stories for Scarlet’s sisters, Violet and Hazel. Overall, this was a very fun read with heart-warming moments and multiple moments of humor weaved into an entertaining romance.

**I give a special thank you to Book Sirens and the author for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**