Decked With Holly

by Marni Bates

[Angie]

Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, I still adore holiday stories and Decked With Holly sounded too cute to pass up. What was suppose to be a relaxing holiday vacation turns into something quite unexpected for normal girl Holly and rock star Dominic. She's on the cruise for her grandpa's birthday, while he's looking for a temporary escape from his hectic life. One faithful night, Holly stumbles into his room while extremely seasick, Dominic mistakes her for someone else (you'll have to read to find out what, because it's hilarious!), then as Holly tries to leave she's bombarded by crazed fans. The tabloids of course write the worse possible story, so Dominic and Holly need to pretend to be the perfect couple for the duration of the cruise in order to save his band's image.

Dominic is either a self-absorbed jerk or he's not the brightest crayon in the box. He repeatedly refers to Holly as an insane superfan just because she's wearing his band's t-shirt and happened to look at him in the dining room. If she was such a huge fan, wouldn't he think she'd be flailing about or the very least, recognize him? She does neither. He also nicknamed her "The Mess" and continues to call her this even after he finds out that her disheveled state is because she's beyond sea sick! How the heck would he look if he was vomiting up his guts and sweating profusely?! He also accuses Holly of using him for fame and popularity when he's the one who came up with the fake girlfriend plan! He really did not make a good first impression on me.

I did like how Holly wasn't a pushover in their arrangement. She had her own terms that she wanted met in order to help Dominic. They bump heads a lot, but they do come to an agreement. However, the main conflict arises because both of them seem to have forgotten this agreement that they worked up! This is the main reason why I didn't rate Decked With Holly higher. For whatever reason they have a fight because Holly gets upset that he kissed her in front of the paparazzi, even though she agreed to PDAs, and cries that he was just using her and didn't really care for her. Well...that was the whole idea. And Dominic calls her a fame whore after she calls off the deal because he believes that she got her five minutes of fame that she can now brag about at school, even though she told him at the beginning that she wanted a little popularity boost. None of this made any sense at all, and I felt like it was just a way to have a conflict that separates them before they finally meet again and admit their true feelings.

There is one other thing about Decked With Holly that really bothered me and I think could have been left out: the twins from Hell. Holly's cousins are awful, terrible, evil girls. Unfortunately, that's all they are. They're caricatures. I imagined them twirling their imaginary mustaches whenever they planned to do something mean to Holly. They do try to blackmail her and this is a constant conflict within the plot, but it ultimately doesn't amount to anything.

Decked With Holly is undeniable adorable and a fun read despite my complaints. The conflict may have been totally lame, but I did enjoy the book as a whole. There's no insta-love or undying devotion here! In fact, Holly and Dominic don't even like each other for a good portion of the book. I would have liked to have seen more of them growing to like each other though. It seemed very rushed at the end in order to get their happy ending in as few pages as possible.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.