His By Christmas was the first Christmas book to make its way to me this holiday season, and I’ve decided to take that as a good omen. Each December I have fun immersing myself in all things Christmas-y, including romance novels. Sometimes this means I spend a month reading cutesy books where everything from the characters to the setting is just a little too perfect and magical. His By Christmas, happily, avoided falling into that category and has proved to be a satisfying start to my holiday season.

Yvette Hamilton is the youngest of five beautiful and outgoing sisters. As such, she has always felt the need to amaze people—at the very least she must live up to the examples set by her sisters, ideally she will outdo them and shine on her own. This competitive nature is most apparent as Yvette looks for a husband. All of the other girls have romantic stories of how their husbands swept them off their feet—tales Yvette has sighed over and dreamt about for some time. Her plans for her future have always included finding a husband as romantic as her sisters’.

Now, however, Yvette is twenty and without a dashing hero in sight. No passionate love has swept her off her feet, and she’s beginning to doubt one will. In coming to terms with this, Yvette sets herself a new goal—snag a duke. At least this way she can outdo her sisters in the status department. William Weatherly, heir to the Duke of Lansdowne, is the perfect candidate.

Jeffrey Eddington has been a friend of the Hamilton family for a long time. He’s like an older brother to Yvette and her sisters, so it’s not odd in the slightest when he’s asked by Yvette’s brothers-in-law to keep an eye on her toward the end of the Season. Yvette has chosen to stay in town with just her mother in order to continue pursuing her duke, and the men of the family want to make sure she’s looked after. Jeffrey agrees to keep an eye on her—he’s always liked Yvette.

Neither Jeffrey nor Yvette is prepared to fall in love. Jeffrey is the illegitimate (but acknowledged) son of a duke, who hasn’t thought much about marriage because of the circumstances of his birth. Yvette has given up on romance and plunged herself into the quest for a duke. However, as the weeks drag on and the two are thrown together, they begin to realize that there’s more to their relationship than just friendship.

This romance is really sweet. It develops smoothly and realistically as Jeffrey and Yvette begin to spend more and more time together. Both Jeffrey and Yvette are likeable characters who sound like actual people—I could easily see myself bumping into 21st Century versions of them while walking down the street tomorrow. I really did like this story, except for one thing…

The bet. It didn’t shape up to be as important as I thought it might, which was good. Unfortunately, the fact is that toward the beginning of the book, Jeffrey bets his cousin James, who is the actual heir to his father’s dukedom, that he can get Yvette to toss over her duke for him. Jeffrey’s point is that romance trumps a title, which is a fine thing to point out. However, I don’t see the need to make a bet about it. All that bet did was cause a split second of misery toward the end—a Medium-to-Small Misunderstanding—which felt pointless and annoying.

Happily, though, this bet had little effect on the rest of the book, so I’m still able to recommend His By Christmas. It’s a lovely Christmas tale to start off the season.