An Ex for Christmas

An Ex for Christmas is Lauren Layne’s 2018 holiday novel and the first book in her Love Unexpectedly series, the contemporary romance project that paired her with several other holiday themed novels. The premise is built around a Christmas Eve psychic reading. Kelly Byrne is told by a fortune teller that one of her past relationships will turn out to be the love of her life, and that she will see him again before Christmas. Skeptical but curious, Kelly decides to track down the four exes she has had in her life and figure out which one might be the man the fortune was talking about.

The project gets complicated quickly. Kelly’s college best friend Mark Blakely, who has been her platonic friend for years and who is now also single in Manhattan, gets pulled into helping her with the ex hunting expedition. As the two of them work through the list of Kelly’s old boyfriends, the obvious thing happens. Mark, who has been quietly in love with Kelly for years without admitting it to himself, slowly recognizes what is going on. Kelly, who has been so focused on the fortune that she has not been paying attention to the man right next to her, takes longer to figure it out. The pleasure of the book is in the slow, satisfying inevitability of two best friends recognizing each other.

Lauren Layne writes contemporary romance the way some people make pasta. The ingredients are simple and traditional but the execution makes the difference. Her dialogue snaps. Her chemistry is built through pages of actual conversation rather than just attraction at first sight. Her characters tend to have real careers and real concerns about those careers, and the work scenes feel researched rather than fudged. The Christmas setting gives the novel its seasonal warmth without becoming cloying, and Mark and Kelly’s friendship is rendered with the kind of detail that makes the eventual transition to romance feel earned.

For longtime Lauren Layne fans, An Ex for Christmas is a comfortable holiday read that delivers what her readers come to her for. For new readers, it is a strong introduction to her work and to the friends to lovers trope at its best.