Editorial note: I received a copy of All I Want Is You in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
All I Want Is You by Falon Ballard is an entertaining and charming holiday-themed rom-com about second chances.
Every year, I have plans to read lots of holiday-themed novels. But with how busy the holidays are, and an urge to look ahead to 2025 books, I haven’t read many holiday novels these past couple of years.
But I vowed 2024 will be different! And I’m happy I started my holiday reading season on the right note with All I Want Is You. BTW, I selected this novel and nine others for my 2024 Book Holiday List.
This is the first novel I’ve read by Falon Ballard and I’m a big fan of her writing style. She’s quite talented, and both the main characters felt real and distinct. She has several fun romance tropes: second chance romance, enemies-to-lovers, etc., but it never feels like a cliche or a repeat of what I’ve read before.
Coupled that with taking place over the holidays, and featuring two romance writers, I just thought this was such a fun and ideal read for this time of year.
What’s the Story About
Jessica is a small-time romance writer who dreams of her own happy ending. But she’s also juggling a lot with her writing career and working at a coffee shop. She also never quite got over the traumatic break-up with her ex Nick. He is also a romance writer but experiences all the big-time success that can come with it.
Professional obligations force the two exs back together to a remote inn a few days before Christmas. While both are peeved, things take a turn when they get trapped sharing a room during a snowstorm.
This forces the two to finally confront each other about the past, but also much more. Maybe a happy ending can be in store?
The Romance
Romance novels obviously make or break depending on how the romance is depicted. Something I enjoyed with this novel is the somewhat meta look at writing a romance novel, within experiencing the characters also experience romance. Both Jessica and Nick are working on their next novels, but are in a writing slump. However, being brought back together brings back the old spark and they even start working on a novel together.
Nick is a cynic who has seen huge success writing romance stories without the happy endings. This causes many in the romance writing community to feel he’s somewhat of a fraud as a romance typically means there’s a happy ending.
We learn why Nick is so jaded, and also the reasons he left Jessica heartbroken years before. Even though there’s a miscommunication element at play, there was also a selfish reasoning and I think that made it feel more realistic and while flawed, more human too.
Jessica still believes in happy endings, but she’s also quite hurt from her past with Nick. I really found their journey of reuniting, but also working through the past pain, to be quite compelling and engaging. Both characters are written well.
Holidays Romance Writers
I loved the holiday references! It’s not over the top, but there was plenty included to have this feel like a lovely, holiday-themed romance.
But is definitely not a Hallmark Christmas story as there’s quite a bit of spice. So just aheads up if that’s what you’re looking for, or if that’s not something you’re interested in.
There’s also some entertaining parts when Jessica and Nick are writing their own spicy scenes. The author gives insight into how hard those scenes can be to write, especially the editing part. Something we don’t think much about as readers!
I really enjoyed this look into the romance writing career field and all the various components that make up publishing, sales, promotion, etc. And it was interesting the dynamic between a male who experienced success for not writing true romances, and a woman who writes romances but hasn’t found a big audience yet.
Verdict
All I Want Is You is a wonderful pick for the holiday season. You have festive holiday vibes, a well-done romance, and a look at the career of professional authors. The two main characters initial romance, and second-chance romance, made sense and rang true.
All in all, a great read. For book clubs, check out my discussion questions here.
