By David Valdes
Star rating: ★★★☆☆
Blurb
Single All the Way meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this festive romcom about Cam, who’s trying to find the “the one” and also trying to find himself—while spending winter break working at a hectic Santa’s Village.
Escaping to NYU for college didn’t turn out the way Cameron planned—he’s flunking his theater classes, about to lose his scholarship, and he still hasn’t found anyone he can call his “people.” When he gets home for winter break, he’s so desperate to avoid a Conversation with his dad that he takes the first acting job he can get—as a mall elf. Despite how Scroogey he feels, the plus side is that there’s a cash prize for the most festive of Santa’s helpers.
But the competition is fierce—especially from fellow elf Marco. Christmas spirit oozes out of his veins. At first Cam is determined to see him as nothing but a rival, but as they spend more time together, Cam starts to second-guess himself. What if he’s finally found his people here—in the fakest consumerist nightmare place on Earth, where he least expected it?
Genre: Holiday Young Adult
Read if you Like:
🎁 MM romance
🎁 Christmas story
🎁 Coming of age story
🎁 Competitions
My Thoughts:
I picked up Finding my Elf because I was very intrigued by the idea of a romcom set in a mall Santaland and the Elfmas competition truly is very fun! I loved the idea of a community coming together to vote on something like this!
Finding My Elf is less focused on romance than I expected and more about figuring out who you are once you leave home. Cam has just come back from his first semester at NYU and he is struggling to fit in. The theater program isn't what he expected.
I felt like I should really have connected to this storyline as I also went to college in the northeast to study theater and ended up realizing I missed things about my home I had looked down on but I didn't. I think it was because Cam was a pretty self-centered character. Now I know most 18-year-olds are self-centered and I did feel like he made progress but I felt so bad for his Dad who was already working so hard to pay for his college.
I also didn't find the romance in this book particularly compelling. I liked Marco but I felt like even once Cam realized he liked him we didn't get to know him very well. I didn't understand why he would like Cam who had spent most of the book being annoying.
This story is really fun and if you are looking for a holiday read about finding yourself this one is a good choice. However, if you want something more focused on romance or are picky about the likeability of characters I'd give this one a pass.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Teen for providing me with a copy of this book in order to review. All opinions are my own.
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