Now that we are well and truly into December and that Christmas is right around the corner, I thought it was about time to indulge in a festive, holiday themed book. It’s a phrase that is said every year, but I can’t believe how quick this year has gone! 

To think this possibly maybe the last book review of 2023. I say maybe because there’s always the chance I could see another book I want to squeeze in before the end of 2023 and I know I’m getting a kindle for Christmas *screams with excitement*, so it would be very rude if I didn’t read as soon as I got it, right? 

Tessa Bailey is an author I am very familiar with having read It Happened One Summer and Hook, Line and Sinker, both of which I throughly enjoyed - as well as other books of hers that are on my TBR list. Initially, I was intrigued to read Window Shopping, also by Tessa Bailey, but that quickly became signed to the letter W for my A-Z Reading Challenge. Then, I stumbled upon Wreck The Halls by Tessa which fitted the Christmas theme, so I was sold. 

Wreck The Halls follows Beat and Melody, the children of world wide famous band, The Steel Birds, in their attempt to reunite their mother’s band, who separated following a hateful breakup. 

Beat and Melody are first introduced to one another during an interaction when they are sixteen during an interview. Despite growing up with the impression that Beat is the product of the enemy, Melody is shocked of his kind and caring nature, the polar opposite to what had been drilled into her by her own mother. Not just an attractive face, Melody learns that Beat is fully understanding and sympathetic to the scrutiny she has received in the public eye for her looks, as opposed to him. After their interaction, Beat offers his number to Melody as they share the same history of living in the shadows of their famous mothers and the hardships that follow as a result. Only the pair never contact each other following their first interaction. 

The story skips to present day, 15 years later, where Beat is about to enter his surprise 30th birthday party - only Beat is held back from entering, as he received a phone call from an unknown number, which turns out to be his blackmailer. The blackmailer is demanding more money than the previous time and threatens to out his family secret if they don’t receive the money on Christmas Day, which leaves Beat out of options. After not having the money himself, Beat remembers an email he received from a producer, asking him to participate in an interview to do with his mother’s band, alongside fellow band members daughter, Melody. Beat realises this is the only way he will be able to pay off the blackmailer this time, so contacts the producer. 

Melody and Beat reunite after 14 years in a meeting with producer, Danielle who wants to reunite Beat and Melody’s mother’s band, The Steel Birds in a live reality show on Christmas Day. Despite being the one initially interested, Beat is apprehensive of the details of the live reality show, but is convinced by Melody. The reality tv show involves following Beat and Melody in their attempt to reunite their mother’s band. 

After agreeing to participate in the reunion of their mother’s rock band, the pair spend time together preparing for their confessionals, in which Beat begins realising the feelings he has for Melody and has done since the time they first met at 16. 

Together, the pair have their first interview for the reality show, in which they are asked a series of questions relating to the band that their mothers were apart of - questions centred around the last show of The Steel Birds and the breakup, which occurred whilst their mothers were pregnant. During the interview, Danielle asks about why they broke up and hints to the potential third act that resulted in the bands breakup - a male character. In the interview, Danielle details how the band released an album before embarking on a tour, whilst pregnant, which would result in a breakup. Melody states that everything was good between Melody’s mother Trina and Beat’s mother, Octavia until one day it wasn’t. 

After the interview, Beat and Melody attend a charity gala for his mother’s foundation with the attendance of the camera crew filming for the show. Melody is unable to hide the feelings she has had for Beat since they first met at 16 and forgets that they’re being filmed live to a huge audience - who begin trending the hashtag ‘Melodyisasimp’. Producer Danielle takes action and informs Melody of her actions that are being broadcasted, which makes her aware of why Beat’s actions changed so suddenly - he was aware of the publics comments on them, so therefore toned down his own actions and feelings towards Melody. After Melody is informed, she changes her behaviour towards Beat by withdrawing to avoid adding more fuel to the public’s opinion, but not without Beat noticing. This leads to an awkward conversation between Beat and Melody, to which she accidentally reveals her crush to Beat. The pair then have a conversation off camera and off mic about Melody’s feelings towards Beat, but just as Beat is explaining his reasons for why it can’t go anywhere, the pair are interrupted by the arrival of Beat’s mother, Octavia who makes a grand entrance on a throne. 

At the charity gala’s, it is tradition for Octavia to grant a wish, being in the form of her singing - only this time, it is cut short by the crowd chanting for a Steel Birds reunion. During this, Octavia and Melody meet for the first time, where Octavia states that a reunion will not happen. This prompts Melody to lie and say that it was her own mother, Trina who is requesting the reunion. This lie ends up persuading Octavia, who then agrees to a reunion. 

The day of the reunion arrives, Melody and Beat take to the stage to reintroduce their mothers. Afterwards Melody attempts to speak with Beat, but he continues walking off stage and out of the studio. The Steel Birds take to the stage, where Trina and Octavia reveal to the crowd the reason for their breakup - their drummer Fletcher. This prompts him to be booed off stage, but not before Octavia confronts him about his blackmail. 

Melody is torn between watching her mother reunite with her band member and going after Beat. Trina and Octavia pay tribute to the pair, displaying a montage of them which shows the development of their feelings for one another. This makes Melody realise her mistake in not trusting Beat, so she decides to go find him. 

Melody begins searching the streets of New York with the help of the fans who are invested in their relationship. After searching for ages, Melody begins to loose hope, but finds Beat sitting on a step and rushes to him. The pair rejoice and forgive one another. 

The story ends with Beat pulling out an engagement ring for Melody, in which she accepts. 

Something I always forget about Tessa Bailey’s writing style is that it’s written from a third person point of view. I read It Happened One Summer and Hook, Line and Sinker last year, so I can’t fully remember what my thoughts were about the third person POV. I do remember I liked the storyline of them both. 

I do prefer books written in first person with POV from both characters, but I didn’t not enjoy this book because it was in third person. I enjoyed it, because despite it being in a third person perspective, I was still able to understand the characters’ feelings and notice when Beat started having feelings for Melody. I was able to understand the inner thoughts of the characters, which is something I think is essential for a story. 

Although I didn’t not like third person writing style, I don’t think I was able to make an emotional connection to the story and the characters. When I read, I like to feel apart of the story and I think that is only successfully done when written in first person. I feel like I wasn’t emotionally invested in the story, so reading this book felt more like a chore than anything. That’s not to say I was anywhere near DNFing, I just wasn’t feeling it - I felt a bit meh. 

As always, I liked the side characters being the police officers as they were funny and the comments they made were important to the storyline. It made the whole reality show concept become two dimensional, rather than being just what Melody and Beat experienced. 

When Melody was introduced I immediately pictured her as Zoey Deschanel, I think it could be because she was described as having a fringe and glasses and I’ve been binge watching New Girl recently. Her personality and appearance really gave the Jess aesthetic. I really liked how Melody was described in the book and the personality she was given. I liked that she wasn’t just a door mat, she had character and personality - she was funny and snarky. 

When the third chair was pointed out during Melody and Beat’s morning interview, I predicted that it would be for Beat’s blackmailer. I did think that Fletcher would reveal Beat’s family secret on the show, but he didn’t. I also thought at one point, it would be revealed that Melody and Beat had the same father, as Melody’s father wasn’t mentioned and it was revealed that Fletcher went between Melody and Beat’s mothers, so I did think it was a possibility. 

I questioned my ability to read with this book as sometimes the grammar really threw me off. I came across two mistakes, which really had me questioning my ability to read and comprehend. 

“If the jail cell floor wasn’t stained with god knew what, Melody might have lain down on it” - shouldn’t it have been God knows what, as opposed to God knew what. 

I know it was a Christmas themed book, but the character names were questionable. Beat and Melody had me cringing, but I was able to move past it since their parents are from a musical background, but when Savelina was introduced I was baffled. 

I’m slightly disappointed as I had high hopes for reading a Christmas themed book. I read my first Christmas themed book last year, A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and was severely close to DNFing. I just couldn’t get into the story and it has made me apprehensive about reading other work by Julie Murphy. If I don’t overly enjoy the first book I read by an author, I won’t be overly eager to read other work by them, unless it comes my way on TikTok. 

I can’t say I loved this book or that I was emotionally invested in them to end up together and become engaged. I just seriously procrastinated this book and not having the motivation to read, made me not want to read it as much, but I had to power through. Hopefully next year, I’ll find a Christmas book that feels right. Although I did have window shopping by Tessa Bailey to read, so I’m slightly rethinking that now.