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The Book Revue

The Book Revue Review by Marah Chandler:
https://www.thebookrevue.com/post/the-12-bad-dates-before-christmas-a-holiday-ultimatum

Okay, let's be honest. A holiday romance about a woman being forced to go on twelve dates by her well-meaning mother and a squad of church matchmakers sounds like it could go either way. But NL DiDeo makes it work, and she makes it work beautifully, because at its heart this isn't really a story about bad dates. It's a story about a woman who thought she had everything figured out finally meeting someone who scrambles all her plans in the best possible way.

Evie is the kind of character you root for immediately. She's smart, she has a career she loves, a great best friend, and a cat named Raven who sounds absolutely delightful. The last thing she needs is her mother and the Church Cupids deciding her love life needs a deadline. The twelve dates that follow are exactly as wonderfully chaotic as you'd hope, and DiDeo has a real gift for finding the funny without making her characters look foolish.

And then there's Ryan. A police officer who puts his daughter first, watches Evie stumble through one bad date after another, and quietly falls for her anyway. That slow build is genuinely sweet. You feel it happening in real time, which is exactly what a good holiday romance should do.

What makes this book linger is the warmth underneath all the festive chaos. St. Augustine is a gorgeous setting, the friendship between Evie and Lanie feels completely real, and the romance earns its ending without rushing there.

If you're looking for something cozy and charming to curl up with this holiday season, this one absolutely delivers. Grab it, make some hot chocolate, and enjoy every single bad date.

Literary Titan

Literary Titan Book Review: https://wp.me/p3cyvH-RNz

The 12 (Bad) Dates Before Christmas, by N.L. DiDeo, follows Evie Holliday, a hardworking architect whose quiet single life is upended when her mother issues a holiday ultimatum: go on twelve dates before Christmas or surrender her romantic future to the “Church Cupids.” What begins as a parade of dating-app calamities becomes something warmer and more surprising when Evie repeatedly crosses paths with Ryan, a charming police officer and single father whose presence feels less like a rescue and more like a well-timed miracle. Set against the festive sparkle of St. Augustine, this clean holiday romance turns bad dates, meddling family, and emotional-support donuts into the scaffolding for a sweet love story.

I had fun with this book because it understands the comic misery of dating without becoming sour about love. Evie’s voice is chatty, self-protective, and genuinely funny, especially when she is cataloging each romantic disaster like evidence at a crime scene. The book’s humor works best when it lets ordinary humiliations swell into operatic little catastrophes: garlic rolls withheld like sacred relics, a karaoke ambush, a mother treating a dating profile like a surveillance operation. There is a buoyant absurdity to the premise, but the story stays grounded through Evie’s affection for her family, her friendship with Lanie, and her growing recognition that being busy is not the same as being fulfilled.

Ryan gives the romance its steadier pulse. I appreciated that he is not written as a flawless fantasy dropped into Evie’s life to solve everything; he comes with responsibilities, a daughter he adores, and enough patience to meet Evie’s chaos with warmth rather than swagger. The relationship develops with a light touch, and the closed-door approach keeps the focus on banter, trust, family integration, and the small rituals that make two lives begin to rhyme. Some of the setups are broad, and the bad dates lean deliberately cartoonish, but that theatrical quality feels baked into the charm. The book is not trying to be austere. It is a frosted sugar cookie with a surprisingly sturdy center.

The target audience is readers who enjoy clean romance, holiday romance, small-town romance, romantic comedy, and Christmas fiction. Fans of Debbie Macomber’s cozy seasonal stories or Jenny Hale’s Christmas romances will likely feel at home here, though N.L. DiDeo brings a more antic, sitcom-bright dating-app energy to the familiar holiday-love framework. This is a cheerful, low-angst read for anyone who wants family meddling, festive settings, sweet chemistry, and a love story that believes embarrassment can be a doorway.