Good Elf Gone Wrong (Wynter Brothers, #1) (2024)

Gracie is the most insecure, doormat, no backbone having FMC I’ve ever read. It’s truly incredible to witness. Hudson is an asshole, a conniving, dirty talking, no boundaries having MMC. They are complete opposites and decide to fake date to ruin her sisters wedding - who is getting married to her ex fiancé .

Was Gracie infuriating? 100%
Did I want to punch Hudson multiple times? Oh you bet.
Was most of her family horrible? They sure were.

But did I eat this up? ABSOLUTELY. 😮‍💨

4.5 ⭐️

Probably the worst book I’ve ever read. Really wanted to DNF but I almost never do that so I ended up basically skimming through the 2nd half just to finish it. Totally unrealistic and inappropriate family interactions (the whole family gathers in her doorway after hearing her lose her virginity and they all her talk casually about it 🙄🙄🙄). Her family treated her like shit and she just took it. Even the guy was an asshole to her most of the time and yet she still fell in love with him. The sex scenes were good but everything else was just cringe and really bad writing. Also wayyyyy too long.

It should have been a DNF but I needed to see if it could get worse. Did not disappoint. It absolutely got worse.

Yikes y’all. 2.5/5 ⭐️

Holy Christmas balls

There are a lot of sad delusional people reading this book and giving it 5 stars!!! I really can’t believe it.

There’s so much wrong I don’t even know where to begin.

The gist though, No man should ever treat a woman this way and get a happily ever after. EVER. I mean if readers are happy with this and even turned on by these actions, then you’re as weak as the leading lady throughout this awful book.

Most genuinely pathetic woman I’ve ever read. There’s nothing to idolize.

And the author is seriously disturbed if she thinks it’s okay to have sex in front of your entire family, parents and young children, and I’m not talking once… mind blowing to think anyone’s family actually operates like this.

My biggest issue is the dirty talk. My neck and shoulders are literally sore from the amount of cringing this book induced. This lackluster and spineless woman turns nasty during any hint of a sex scene. It’s so grossly out of character that I’m literally uncomfortable. And the guy never lets up. I mean, yah some naughty stuff here… a little there… great! But not every time and honestly it started to sound like the guy just needed to constantly remind himself that he thinks his d*** is big.

As a women, my expectations are MUCH higher when it comes to hunky guys. He can’t just look good and f*** good. And no they didn’t ever make love, that’s too nice a term.

Come on ladies!!! Demand better.

4.5 stars rounded up because this book had me laugh throughout the entirety.
This is one of the funniest books that I've ever read. I laughed out loud constantly. I couldn't put this book down. I wish I had the grandmother's in this book. Chefs Kiss 🤌 this book will put you in the Christmas spirit. It's a crazy bananas book that is very heavy on the comedy, and yes, unrealistic at times, but it's a rom-com Christmas book, and this is why I, and many others, read them. Cringey and unrealistic moments that are over the top but again... it's a Christmas rom-com. It's kind of the point. This is one of those books that you'll either love or hate. Was the mfc character annoying as ever sometimes, yes? Was the mmc, infuriating at times, also yes? The book pulls the entire story together in the end.

Such a fun idea for a story but the execution left a lot to be desired. The MMC didn’t just play a ‘bad boy’ he played (was) a totally crass jackhole. The things he said about the FMC to her ENTIRE family wasn’t embarrassing or inappropriate, it was nasty & gross. The FMC was a huge doormat for her family and childish, if I’m being nice, dumb if I’m not.

DNF

Overall impression: this book is just glorified abuse...other authors have been cancelled for less so why does Alina Jacobs get away with it? Avoid this book at all cost. Every character is unlikeable, poorly developed and downright abusive to the FMC. None of the scenes are realistic and the FMC is a doormat that just tolerates the abuse and thinks she deserves it because ChRIstMAs. After reading other reviews I realised it doesn't get better, so I'm not going to torture myself by reading any more of this crap. #GetTherapyAuthor and educate yourself before you write about abuse in your stories.

10 things I hate about you:
❌ Abusive family
❌ Abusive hero
❌ Heroine has no backbone
❌ Sister actively cheats on all of heroine's boyfriends + fiance
❌ Family condones cheating on heroine for ReaSOnS
❌ Shit dialogue
❌ Unrealistic + inappropriate character reactions
❌ Poorly written with weird time jumps
❌ Zero world-building
❌ Ruined my favourite tropes (fake dating, bad boy/good girl, enemies-to-lovers)

This book is horrific. The FMC is verbally abused first by her family and then by the MMC for most of the book. They treat her like garbage and she just takes it. There’s multiple scenes where sex acts take place with family members watching and it’s a stretch to believe these characters love each other, the way they speak to each other. I kept waiting for it to get better…and it never did.

I’m writing this review before I finish the book (I’m 77% done so I know I’m going to push through & finish). Now there is going to be someone out there who truly, & I mean TRULY loves, this book it’s just not me. I was literally saying “what is going on here” by chapter three & said it multiple times before I got to the end of the book. I truly wish that Grace would stick up for herself because it’s one thing to attend the wedding of your ex & you sister AFTER YOU CAUGHT THEM FUCKING THE DAY BEFORE YOUR WEDDING but to plan their wedding? I’m sorry but is the most spineless & pathetic things I’ve ever read. She deserved everything she went through for that reason alone (in regards to her family at least).

Hudson is so mean to her in the beginning he pushed past bad boy in ass hole. He is NOT the type of MMC I crush on. Bad boys aren’t necessarily my preferred archetype of MMC anyways (I love a cinnamon roll) but I don’t mind as bad boy who is good/sweet to the FMC & that was not this. He flat out disrespected & embarrasses her in front of her family as well as in private multiple times. That’s not a turn on for me that’s a red flag. He could have found a much better way to do his bad boy performance in front of her family.

Again, just a trope that I don’t personally prefer, was the FMC being a virgin. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but very few authors write it correctly. If a FMC is a virgin it doesn’t have to be a big deal DEFINITELY not a big enough deal for grace to allow her ex to blackmail her into supporting his & her sister’s relationship. And then Hudson was so creepy when he found out about it. Like he knows no boundaries.

I hated most of her family & the way they treated her (and I know I said she deserved it for being a doormat but still). Granny Murray was my absolute favorite thing about the book. And Kelly never faced any consequences for her actions. Grace’s parents never admitted/recognized their fault in all of this & how harmful their actions were to Grace

Finally, the book was too smutty for me-it read like p0rn. And don’t get me wrong I love an open door romance novel but none of it felt natural like how many times do I have to read the word c0ck?!

Final part of the review after I finished reading: Grace FINALLY stood up for herself at the very end so thank God for that but I still don’t feel won over by either main character so my review is (currently) remaining two stars

I hadn't until now read a book that got me so f.... Mad 😡, like seriously Grace.
I wanted to scream while reading Gracie's interaction with her family, to the exception of Dakota and sometimes Grandma Murray the whole lot were just awful even Hudson most of the time until the las 10% he changed upon realizing of his feelings, but wanted to pull my hair out 90% of the time.
The book was not entirely bad, smut was good but I couldn't get past the toxicity of the family and how Gracie just let them the entire time... #!?#!!!

This is by far one of the funniest books I've ever read!!! Set during two Christmas seasons one year apart, this follows our FMC, Gracie, as she discovers her fiance cheating on her underneath the Christmas tree with her sister. She decides to try to take revenge by hiring a bad boy type of fake boyfriend, enter Hudson, to break up her sister and her ex (who are now engaged to each other). The family dynamic here was so dysfunctional, but there was hilarity on just about every page. Grandma Murray is a standout hoot, and this book just brought me so much joy while reading it. If you love outrageous open door rom-coms, grab this one immediately! (It's even on KU)

2.5

Honestly it was to much for me at certain times. I get the mmc was playing a role but he did it to well to where I disliked him. I didn’t like how the mmc spoke to the fmc at times. Or the way he treated her. I didn’t like how comfortable the mmc was with saying/doing/showing sexual acts in front of her whole family(grannies/aunts/uncles/cousins included). Example 1: When he first met the family he described in front of everyone how he f’d the fmc in his truck n she soaked his back seat. Example 2: He tells her family how she enjoys him releasing all over her face. Example 3: When they finally do have sex her fam is at the door looking in cheering(weirdos) n he pulls out completely naked goes n showers for a few secs. Then returns still naked n just looks at her fam while they’re talking to her. Once he started liking the fmc for real he continued to flirt w/her sister n let her touch him. He just did to good of a job playing an ahole that I wanted the fmc w/someone else. I’ll give it to him there were moments where he stood up for her.

I was over the fmc. She continuously allowed her fam to walk all over her. She never stood up for herself. There were times I thought she would but then she’d disappoint. She let way too much slide. The fmc annoyed me w/how weak she was.

4 stars

So this was really fun. The initial machismo and the way the MMC over shared in the beginning kind of put me off, but it worked and since it was an act, it was eventually forgivable. The transitions between scenes seemed clunky in a couple of places, but other than that, this was great. I loved her Granny!

This is a delightful holiday tale that drags on a bit too long with some seriously eye-popping smut scenes and some cringe-worthy festive dirty talk. However, it is 'laugh out loud' funny throughout.

If I were in A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Future would show me myself reading this book every Christmas to scare me back on track.

Oh dear. I'm sure this author has upset heaps more readers with this one. Do not take it seriously...

It's unrealistic, silly and way over the top. There's zero romantic chemistry between the H/h, it has cringe worthy/weird erotic/soft porn sex scenes that are so much out of character - especially for the heroine. Skimming over those is sensible, but I didn't.

There's a bit of action - eg bar fights, hockey fights, family fights. All the main characters need their heads knocked together.

I'd like a dollar for each time the words hard/thick c*** were used.

I'm sad to say I chuckled throughout and I really enjoyed reading it. Sorry... 😂😂

Made it 1 chapter and couldn’t do it anymore. There’s a fine line between rom-com and cringe and this was so cringe. I couldn’t sit here and read almost 600 pages of this nonsense.

This book is so bad that it’s actually good, if that makes any sense.

It’s ridiculous, the characters are so mean and extreem that they’re unrelatable, and it’s unnecessarily long. But it’s so goofy that it’s entertaining, and couldn’t help but keep reading it.

On Christmas Eve (the day before our main character, Gracie, is about to get married) she walks in on her fiancé, James, screwing her sister, Kelly, under the Christmas tree. (This happens on page one.) This is now the third relationship of hers that Kelly broke up by sleeping with the man she was with.

The whole family walks in, everyone thinks it’s funny, and then James shares that’s he’s in love with Kelly. Then Kelly and James later announce that THEY are now getting married next Christmas.

Our FMC, Gracie, is constantly told she should be happy for her sister and somehow ends up planning the entire wedding because she’s a chronic people pleaser.

But she’s had enough, and she wants revenge. So she decides to hire a man that is exactly Kelly’s type to fake date her, so Kelly will cheat and the wedding will be off.

The man she hires, Hudson, is a very sexy asshole that plays his part super well. He’s a “bad boy” type and Kelly is absolutely mesmerized by this new man and her fiancé, James, is getting jealous.

But as time goes on, that fake relationship between Gracie and Hudson starts to feel more real and they develop feelings for each other.

At the same time, Hudson has a secret. And if Gracie found out, there’s no way she’d want to be with him.

I’m not going to lie to you, this book is complete trash.

I think most people won’t like it. The characters are so absurd, so you have to suspend reality and just learn to laugh at them.

I had to adjust my expectations as I was reading this.

If you can do that, it’s a fun, entertaining, spicy, goofy Christmas read.

The audiobook was also done very well.

Generally my default for any book is 3*. However the OTT writing lowered this to a maximum of 2* if I actually enjoyed it despite the low quality content. There were a few moments where I thought it was getting better but in the end I wish I had DNFed in the second chapter. 1*

Grace is a doormat and Hudson is an arse. This is the premise of the book. Normally I choose to not hold the premise against a book. But it was too extreme. She is this super competent person who lets her family use and abuse her. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t charming. It was simply boring and pathetic. He wasn’t just a bad boy with an attitude. He did horrible things that he knew were horrible. He was rude to her over and over. His attitude about women in general was awful and he is worse with her. He does not redeem himself.

Save yourself. Don’t read this.

3.5⭐️ É um livro divertido, uma leitura relativamente leve. MAS por mim tirava-se umas quantas páginas. Sinto que estendeu um pouco. Para não falar que chega a um ponto em que só dá para estar irritado. Não é possível que haja pessoas tão parvas como a família da Gracie. Juro. Fiquei possessa!
O fim podia ter-se desenvolvido mais rápido. Mas de resto, achei engraçado e cumpriu o seu propósito.

If you enjoy Christmas stories with a hero that is a tattooed ex military with a chimney sized chip on his shoulder and a mouth so dirty that Clorox won’t clean it, then this book is for you. I personally thought that it was a bit too much, but I was drawn in by the espionage aspect of it.

DNF - I tried so hard to keep reading this book but it was awful. The FMC gets treated like trash by everyone in her family, except one person, and the MMC is the biggest asshole. FMC is extremely insecure, is a human doormat, and it’s infuriating to read. After reading other reviews that it doesn’t get better, I had to stop reading.

Ugh. I wanted to like this book so much. But when the heroine has ZERO growth and willingly continues to put herself in an extremely toxic situation, I can't. If she'd made her stand with her family and stuck to it, I would've had a much more enjoyable reading experience. The whole situation with her losing her vcard was unbelievable cringe. The only reason I gave it 2 stars is that there are a few comedic bits that made me laugh. Otherwise, I just felt sick over how insanely toxic every character behaved.

I’m sure this is someone’s cup of tea, but unfortunately it wasn’t mine. I appreciated all of the holiday nonsense and some of the humor. But…and I really can’t believe that I am saying this, the sex was terribly written, the foul language didn’t ring true with this mousy character and her growing a backbone in addition to the “love” between Hudson and Gracie didn’t seem real or appropriate. Now I personally don’t read romance necessarily for “real”, as a romantic I am thrilled with the fantasy and the happily ever after…this gave me two characters that I didn’t care for very much right from the beginning.

Gracie is somehow sort of running the family business in Manhattan…and doing all this amazing Martha Stewart quality cooking and decorating and crafts for her large extended family through the holidays….and she is the unpaid event planner for her sister’s Christmas wedding. Oh! And it is also her ex fiancé’s wedding. The two of them were caught having anal sex under the tree the year before on the eve of his and Gracie’s wedding.

So much irreverent material, lots of rich girl poor boy nonsense…and I think we were supposed to cheer when Gracie finally grew a backbone…it’s just by that point I didn’t care. Sorry. I think there is an audience for this but it made me feel very out of touch with them.

1,000,000x no

"I'm mad that you were nice to my dog and made a thousand Christmas cookies with me, and acted so perfect with my little cousins, and helped me decorate, and made me think that you were someone I could be together with forever, that I could build a life and a future with. I'm angry that you made me fall in love with you, and that I still am in love with you."
"That wasn't s lie, I am that man."

The idea was good. The execution was not. I felt like I was reading something on Wattpad written by a middle schooler. The MMC telling her entire family about their (fake) sex life in great detail, the family watching them have sex, the girl being okay with her fiancé cheating on her with her sister because she didn’t want him to tell her family she was still a virgin, and so much more. Don’t waste your time!

Gracie is the older sister to a selfish, hateful, adult who is enabled by her parents to be a horrible human being. A year ago her sister and fiance were caught having an affair which resulted in her being dumped and her sister getting engaged. Now Gracie wants revenge and she hires Hudson Wynter a tattooed bad boy to help her by getting her sister to fall in love with him and then exposing her for the cheater she is. Hudson can't stand Gracie's doormat attitude and the only reason he's helping her is to bring down her families company.
Problems arise when Hudson is around Gracie before the wedding and helps her plan it and bake cookies, he bonds with her and the less toxic members of her family and even sleeps with Gracie who at the time is a virgin. The two of them fall for each other but Hudson avoids Gracie after they get intimate one night because he does not think that he's good enough for her. But after she realizes Hudson stole her journals and caused her families companies downfall Gracie is hurt and hates Hudson but he points out that she is just as bad as him and is not a blameless victim which she hates even more. The two of them work out their issues and are together just in time to make this Christmas not be the worst Christmas ever.
I really liked Hudson in this book. Gracie was hard to like at first she was constantly a doormat for her family and did everything for them. I thought that her parents, ex fiance James, sister Kelly and some of her aunts and cousins were extremely toxic and I was glad that some of them got what was coming to them. I liked that Hudson never liked Kelly and just thought of her as a means to an end. He loved Gracie and that was obvious in everything he did for her. Gracie really cared about him and I thought that it was good that she was pissed when she discovered what he had done to destroy her families company. At least she had a backbone, but Hudson was right to point out that she was not an innocent victim in the whole thing.

It is not this crazily well written book, with realistic scenes, BUT it was hella fun to read.

The characters annoyed me until about halfway through the book: Gracie had no backspine and was a pushover (which always infuriates me in books) and Hudson was constantly an assh*le whose actions were pissing me off.

But it gets better, there's character development for both of them; there's a little plot that creates a bit of drama; and there's quite a few funny scenes, especially with Grandma Murray. Give that women an award because she carried the whole comedy part of the book on her back.

It's a fun read, especially if you're looking for a holiday themed book. But this is NOT as cute and innocent as it look. Definitely not. 👀