source: arc from author
rating:★★★★✩
from goodreads:
Fifty hours of community service with the town's hot new math teacher. What could go wrong?
When the town sheriff catches me egging my dad's house, he gives me an ultimatum: stay in this town I hate to participate in community service, or risk potential jail time with a criminal mischief charge.
Only once I'm there do I learn the person facilitating my community service will be Nick Monroe, the town sweetheart who hides his rock hard body and surprisingly dirty mouth behind Clark Kent glasses and T-shirts proclaiming he 'hearts' math.
He plans an array of Christmas activities to spend down my hours, and while we build huts for the winter market and prepare the Christmas float for the high school kids, we become something like friends. Who kiss a little bit sometimes.
Before I know it, he becomes the sparkle of my season.
But I have my reasons for staying away from this town. High school trauma and a dad who never cared yet pops up every time I visit. And Nick has his own baggage to work through after his ex left him with a bluff, claiming he was too emotionless to fight for her.
Despite it all, as the holiday draws nearer, one thing becomes
Nick Monroe is all I want for Christmas this year.
my review:
christmas criminal was such a cute book! i’m usually not a holiday book reader but i reallly liked this one, it was such a lighthearted read. it was the perfect mix between story, romance, holiday, and spice! everything has become overly spicy with no real intriguing story but ally’s book hit the mark every time.
noelle was the grumpy of this book, hates the holidays (for a very good reason) and her hometown but also wouldn’t be the bad ass that she is without all of it.
nick, the sunshiney holiday loving teacher that has to watch over his very own grinch. he’s just the perfect person overall, from how he deals with noelle and his students and people overall. he was the breath of fresh air that the town truly needed.
the dynamic between noelle and nick was
just great, they sort of hit it off right from the bat without it being overly “fall head over heels for each other with no going back” like all the other romance books, everything kind of just fell into place and i love that.christina, hank, and helen were some of my favorite people who really emphasized nick’s personality and gave us an idea as to why noelle is the way she is. i really love how the families and town people played a role in telling noelle and nick’s backstories without them being overly repetitive or placing lots of emphasis on certain things. everything really just flowed so smoothly.
ally williams is definitely one of my favorites! every book so far has been a hit, i’m so glad that i am able to be an arc reader for her because i get so giddy reading everything she puts out and i can’t wait for the next book!
favorite quotes:“a lot of people can’t really handle a young woman doing her own thing. but i’m good at this. and its taken me a long time to trust myself in spite of everyone else.”
“but i think it’s really powerful when you get to a point where you can accept yourself as you are.”
“I don’t spend a single moment of my life dealing with anyone who makes me feel less than.”
“what matters is that you stay true to yourself and the people you love.”
“you can’t always rely on motivation, but as long as you’ve got consistency, you’ll see success.”