Light Up My Life | Hate to Love Holiday Romance
Light Up My Life by Kasie West is a YA hate to love holiday romance set in a Colorado town known for its intense Christmas spirit.
Light Up My Life | Hate to Love Holiday Romance | YA Holiday Romance
Jasmine and Ryan live in Cherry Ridge, a town known for its over the top Christmas decorations and holiday traditions. This festive atmosphere brings lots of tourists into town, but also causes congestion and noise, plus some conflict that is not too neighborly (such as the fact that Ryan’s mom blasts Christmas carols 24/7, angering some of their neighbors.)
Jasmine’s and Ryan’s families have become mortal enemies who compete fiercely to decorate their homes in the town’s Christmas decorating contest. Ryan’s family spends a lot of money, while Jasmine, her siblings and her two moms prefer a more rustic approach.
The positives of this book? I liked the plotline of Jasmin’s sorrow about her older brother leaving for college. Because of this, she wants to make this Christmas his best ever.
The negative, for me, was that Christmas cheer and competition turned too toxic in this book.
I like a Tweet Cute style rivalry, but this one got too nasty for my taste, which included sabotage, lawsuits, and behavior that went way beyond friendly competition. For me, it put a damper on the book’s Christmas spirit.
This book had:
- Single POV narration
- A hate-to-love, Romeo and Juliet-style romance
- A small Colorado mountain town letting
- Lots of fun town traditions, like hunting for hidden mice (not real!)
- Publication date: October 20, 2026 by Scholastic. Thanks so much to them for the advance review copy.
This Book is Perfect For:
- Actual teens
- Fans of hate to love romance
- Those who are okay with Christmas NOT being picture-perfect and maybe getting a little dark.
My post on Top Rated Christmas Romance: what are the readers favorites in holiday romance? Did this book make the list?
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