Fiction Friday | All’s Fair in Love and Christmas by Sarah Monzon

Today for Fiction Friday I’m sharing my Christmas book recommendation for All’s Fair in Love and Christmas by Sarah Monzon.

Here’s the book description:

Two workplace rivals. One festive competition. And a romance that upends it all.

Every December two things are guaranteed for graphic designer Mackenzie Graham–Christmas celebrations and the annual promotion at her workplace. Those two things are by no means mutually exclusive. In fact, the better an employee is at harnessing the Christmas spirit, the more likely they’ll win the new job. With her social anxiety, Mackenzie never thought she’d be a contender in her company’s holiday competition, so how exactly has she found herself dueling her workplace crush with wrapping paper tubes and using tinsel as her weapon of choice for a much-needed raise?

Jeremy Fletcher’s life is meticulously planned out, including how to win this year’s promotion at work. Not only will the new position fulfill some of his career goals, but as a single guardian to his twin niece and nephew, he needs the salary increase to support his family. Jeremy has barely noticed Mackenzie Graham around the office, but now that she’s his rival, he can’t stop thinking about her. Her quirkiness intrigues him, and he’s afraid that if he can’t get his head on straight, the promotion isn’t the only thing he’ll end up losing to Mackenzie.

Narelle’s Thoughts:

I enjoyed reading All’s Fair in Love and Christmas. Mackenzie has severe social anxiety and struggles to talk to people. She’s had a secret crush on her colleague, Jeremy, for years. Her boss at the graphic design firm has set up Mackenzie to compete with Jeremy for a job promotion after Christmas. Mackenzie’s mother has Alzheimer’s and is living in an expensive care facility. A pay rise next year would take financial pressure off Mackenzie.

Jeremy is raising his twin niece and nephew on his own, and he doesn’t have time for a relationship around work and caring responsibilities. A job promotion would assist in topping up the twins’ college fund. His colleague, Mackenzie, is shy, and she wasn’t on his radar until the promotion opportunity arose.

A fun romance develops as they embrace the joy of the Christmas season. Jeremy starts to see Mackenzie and get to know her. I appreciated learning more about the struggles that people may face when dealing with debilitating social anxiety. I recommend All’s Fair in Love and Christmas to contemporary romance readers who like Christmas romcoms with multilayered and quirky characters who are dealing with relatable issues, and a relevant faith element in the story.

Many thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Learn more about Sarah Monzon and her books at her website.