Book Review - The Secret Santa Project by Tracy Bloom

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Title: The Secret Santa Project

Author: Tracy Bloom

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 10th October 2024

Rating: 5 Stars

A name drawn from a hat

Someone you barely know

A Christmas you’ll never forget

___________________________________

This December, Jolene can’t wait for the office Secret Santa moment — the festive present-swapping exercise made up of unlikely pairings and inappropriate gifts.

But this year, her colleagues are in need of more than a novelty wine glass and a box of Celebrations to get their tinsel twinkling.

So Jolene’s a woman on a mission, and she’s hatched a secret plan to make this their best Christmas ever…

Hilarious from start to finish! 

This was Tracy Bloom at her comedic very best! But in amongst the humour there is a heartwarming story about a group of people that work in a council accounts department, who have been tasked with trying to work out the real value of Christmas and whether they can cancel it the next year. 

Jolene is excited for her first ever job in the adult world of work, only to get to the office on her first day and it not really being anything like she imagined. Not only that she is my sort of person being a Disney and Christmas loving adult - something her new colleagues weren't as sure about. 

But Jolene does come up with a great concept for the office - a secret santa project where her idea is for them to all do one good deed for their chosen person to help make their Christmas, and to spend no money doing so. 

We get chapters from all of the characters points of view, and get to really know all of them quite well, and it was interesting to see how their lives connect away from the office in ways they aren't even aware of. 

I really enjoyed seeing all of these characters develop over the course of the story and I was totally invested in all of their lives. 

A fabulous assortment of down to earth, relatable characters, set to a backdrop of Christmas, and the possibility of Christmas magic.  

Good seasonal fun that I totally adored. 

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.