Julie Hammerle
Entangled Teen
October 2, 2017
Blurb: Danny Garland is so out of Holly’s league. And her family is only back in North Pole, Minnesota, long enough to sell Grandma’s house and say “Merry Christmas.” So telling her basketball-star, too-hot-to-be-real long-time crush that she’d like to kiss him under the mistletoe just isn’t going to happen.
And now he’s asked out her cousin, Elda. Elda is a mess at flirting, so when she begs Holly to intervene, she does. Holly helps her flirt with him over text. And then again. And again. Now she’s stuck texting him as her cousin, and Elda is the one going on the date. Holly thought she could settle for just conversation with Danny, but talking with him is some kind of magic. He’s got the perfect comebacks, she makes him laugh, they text until everyone is asleep.
She just can’t ever tell him it’s her he’s really texting.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book has hot texts, gingerbread wars, and a slow-burn romance that could melt a Minnesota winter.
Books in the North Pole, Minnesota series
Any Boy but You
Artificial Sweethearts
Approximately Yours
SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW
The latest entry in Julie Hammerle’s North Pole, Minnesota series feels like Cyrano de Bergerac for Christmas with teens and texting.
Holly used to visit her grandmother in North Pole every Christmas except for the past several years. She would always enter the gingerbread house-building contest with her grandmother, but would mostly be beaten by cute Danny, which she didn’t mind so much because she had a crush on him. The crush that Holly had on Danny stayed with her a long time. Unfortunately she’s had bad experiences in the intervening years. When she and her cousin, Elda, stop for coffee and Holly sees Danny for the first time in years, he doesn’t recognize her and seems more interested in Elda. As a result, Holly tries to get Danny and Elda to fall in love figuring that they are perfect together.
This is a cute story and a cute idea for a story incorporating all of the Christmas elements: gingerbread and hot chocolate and warm toasty fires. Unfortunately Approximately Yours didn’t work for me as well as the previous two entries in the series.
A little more than midway through two thoughts occurred to me. Holly and Danny were apart for most of the novel so it was really hard to just accept that they were a thing. When they finally do come together, it all feels rushed and a little unsatisfying because I didn’t feel like there was a spark between Holly and Danny and I don’t know if that was because they were ultimately too similar. As well, it was hard to believe Danny was falling for anyone considering that just a few days had passed since he found out about his long-time girlfriend cheating on him and their subsequent breakup.
Also, I found Elda a more intriguing character than Holly and would have loved for the subplot with Elda and Dinesh to be fleshed out more. Probably, it would have helped overall if this novel had just been longer to show more interaction between Holly and Danny and some fun between nerds Elda and Dinesh.
However, this novel is sweet and I think for anyone following the series, you don’t want to miss this latest installment, not to mention it’s arrival is just in time for pre-Christmas reading.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
rating: 
3 butterflies and a ladybug out of 5 butterflies