10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall
CW: Swearing, Injury, Blood, Dysfunctional Family, Loss of Family, Toxic Work Environment, Mentioned Homophobia, Toxic Relationship, Medical Content, Classism
4/5
This is the story of how I got tricked into reading a Christmas romance. Spotify, despite me never having read a book on there, knew my tastes exactly. Its algorithm showed me Alexis Hall's latest book, 10 Things That Never Happened. Seeing its cover, I immediately assumed it was the 3rd book in the Boyfriend Material series, also by Hall. Inspecting it closer, I realized it wasn't, but I trust Hall to be a good author, so I decided to read it anyhow. The provided blurb indicated that a lot was going on in the novel, messy characters and a good story. Nowhere in the blurb or the design of the cover, did it mention that it was a Christmas romance! Of course, I loved the book, but I wouldn't intentionally read a Christmas romance without a very good reason.
In 10 Things That Never Happened, Sam Becker is the manager at a bed-and-bath retailer that's a part of a chain owned by Jonathan Forest. He's a caring pushover while Jonathan is no-nonsense. Jonathan decides that Sam's branch is over budget and needs to cut some employees. Jonathan invites Sam down to London for a chat, but accidentally causes him to get into an accident. Sam, waking up in the hospital with a concussion, takes the opportunity to fake amnesia and buy his branch some time. Due to doctor's orders, Sam ends up staying with Jonathan for the Christmas season. Will the close quarters make the pair start seeing each other in a different way? Will Sam's scheme work?
I can't actually say with certainty that I like the couple of Sam and Jonathan, but I loved reading 10 Things That Never Happened anyhow. When I read the blurb, I was upset that Sam would do such a thing to Jonathan. Then, when I met Jonathan in the book, I thought he absolutely deserved it. I'm glad that Sam is the only POV character in this book, as I was rooting for him the whole time. I just wanted good things to happen to him. I did get excited when they kissed, but I have no idea if this couple will work in the long run. There's an element of Stockholm Syndrome, which is brought up by characters in the story, but Sam's life is made a lot brighter by the extended Forest Family. Overall, it's not the romance that makes this book great, it's Sam and his amnesia scheme.
Admittedly, Hall doesn't spend all that much time on diversity in 10 Things That Never Happened, not in any meaningful way. They do explore what it was like for Sam and Jonathan growing up being gay, though. Jonathan grew up in Sheffield, Sam in Liverpool. I don't wish to give spoilers, but they had different experiences from each other. It's important to be reminded that everyone had a different experience growing up. Determined by class, location, time, and more. If you choose to read the book, Jonathan's dad is the biggest example of this. I learned a lot when his backstory was revealed.
As previously mentioned, I essentially read this book because it's by Alexis Hall. While I haven't read all of their books yet, I am certainly drawn to all of them. There are several things that keep me coming back to this author. One is that the first review I put on this blog was one of their books, the previously linked Boyfriend Material. Another is that this is a queer author writing queer books, but that could be said of a lot of my repeat authors. Ultimately it's the use of tropes and the writing style. Main characters for Hall tend to be messy British queers that don't have their life together but are loveable. My favorite tropes of enemies-to-lovers and fake dating can be found in some of the books, and there are plenty of other tropes to get me excited. Hall's humor is potentially the biggest reason I keep coming back. I know I'm going to have a good laugh when I'm reading anything they've written.
Unless you can't handle the chance that you might not ship the love interests, I absolutely recommend 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall! The story is quite enjoyable and takes the reader all over England during wintertime! The book is filled with delightful side characters, commentary about capitalism in the UK, and silly moments that Sam and Jonathan bond over. Christmas may be over, but spoken as someone who doesn't celebrate anyway, it's not too late to enjoy this read!
A fan cover made by Clea Draw!
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