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Verdict: A short, cozy Christmas return to Alex and Molly that gives fans the extra time with the couple they wanted, undercut by a conflict built entirely on two people who have been together three years keeping secrets from each other.
Best for: Readers who loved She Gets the Girl and want a one-sitting holiday visit with its couple, and who can forgive a miscommunication plot that most readers saw coming from the blurb.
Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 — behind closed doors)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.4/5 — a 3.65 Goodreads average, with the secrets plot named in roughly half the low-star reviews)
Tropes: Established couple, holiday romance, matchmaking, secrets and miscommunication, Christmas small town, dual POV, friend group, college seniors, returning characters.
Joy to the Girls — published in the UK as She Gets the Girl at Christmas — is the 176-page holiday novella that sits between Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick’s bestselling She Gets the Girl and whatever comes next, a traditionally published contemporary sapphic romance from Simon & Schuster that sends Alex and Molly, three years into their relationship, to a Christmas-obsessed small town to play matchmaker for a friend while each of them sits on a secret about life after graduation.
It holds a 3.65 average across 2,477 Goodreads ratings, a Kirkus review and a School Library Journal review that both treat it as light holiday fun, and a 1% did-not-finish rate on StoryGraph. It also sits roughly four-tenths of a star below the book it follows, and the reason is unusually easy to name. Both halves of that picture are worth understanding before you start.
What Is Joy to the Girls About?
Joy to the Girls is a holiday novella and a sequel-in-miniature, which shapes everything about it. Publishers file it as young adult — Amazon lists a reading age of 14 and up — but the leads are college seniors in their early twenties, so it reads closer to new adult in situation and YA in tone. It is a Christmas-town story in the Hallmark mould — snow, skating, a friend group on a weekend away — short enough to read in an evening.
Alex Blackwood and Molly Parker are no longer the mismatched pair from book one; they are the settled couple everyone else measures themselves against. That is the novella’s problem and its premise. With the getting-together already done, the story needs friction, and it finds it by giving each of them a plan for after graduation that they have not shared. Like the original, it alternates first-person chapters between Alex and Molly, so the reader knows both secrets while neither girl does — which is either delicious dramatic irony or an exercise in frustration, depending on your patience for the trope.
What Makes This Sapphic YA Holiday Romance Work
- Getting more Alex and Molly: This is close to the whole case in the positive reviews. Readers who loved She Gets the Girl describe the novella as the update they wanted on a couple whose first book ended almost the moment they got together.
- The holiday setting: “Cozy,” “cute” and “festive” recur across the three- to five-star reviews, and School Library Journal reached for the same comparison readers do, calling it a Hallmark-style Christmas story.
- A light, fast read: StoryGraph readers tag it lighthearted at 90% and funny at 53%, and 69% call the pace fast. Almost nobody quits it — the did-not-finish rate is 1%.
- The friend group and matchmaking: The subplot of helping Cora win over her crush gets warm notices from readers who enjoyed the ensemble, and a handful single out the friendships as the best part.
- Easter eggs for completists: The town is Barnwich, the setting of the duo’s Make My Wish Come True, and several readers enjoyed the cross-references to that book’s places and people.
Book Synopsis
Three years after a freshman-year scheme turned into the real thing, Alex and Molly are the couple their friends roll their eyes at — the ones who make it look easy. Senior year is half done, winter break has arrived, and the whole group is heading out of Pittsburgh for a few days in Barnwich, a little town that takes Christmas more seriously than most places take anything.
The trip comes with a mission. Their friend Cora has fallen for a girl named May, and Cora is hopeless at the part where you actually say so. Alex and Molly, who once built an entire relationship out of a strategy document, appoint themselves her coaches. There are skating rinks and festive traditions to deploy, and an audience of friends with opinions about all of it.
What neither of them says out loud is that graduation is coming, and each has quietly made a decision about what happens after it — one the other has not been told about. Every cozy evening in Barnwich makes the conversation harder to start. The longer the weekend runs, the more the question shifts from whether Cora gets her girl to whether two people who already got theirs know how to keep her.
My Review
The best thing about Joy to the Girls is that it exists for a real reason. She Gets the Girl ended on the confession, with no epilogue and no time for the couple to simply be a couple, and that was the main complaint our review of it recorded. This novella answers it directly: Alex and Molly together, three years on, in a Christmas-card setting with their friends around them. If what you wanted from book one was more of these two, the opening chapters deliver it with obvious affection.
The second strength is how little it asks of you. It is short, quick and good-humoured, and the dual POV keeps the voices distinct — Alex’s chaos against Molly’s planning, the same engine that made the first book fun. The Barnwich setting does real atmospheric work, and the matchmaking subplot gives the friend group something to do besides orbit the leads. StoryGraph’s 1% did-not-finish rate tells you nobody finds it a slog.
Where it struggles is the conflict, and this is not my pet peeve — it is the single most repeated criticism in the reviews. Of thirty two-star Goodreads reviews I read, about half name the miscommunication or the secrets outright, and among thirty three-star reviews it was seventeen. The objection is specific: these are 21- and 22-year-olds three years into a relationship, and the plot depends on both of them hiding life-changing plans for weeks or months. Several readers said this made the couple feel less mature than they were in book one, and the novella’s length gives the secrets no room to be anything but the plot. Behind that sit the secondary complaints: a smaller group felt the novella adds nothing the first book needed, and two readers wanted more of Cora and May and less of the secrets.
One expectation to reset: the marketing promises a cozy holiday novella, and the cozy is real, but at least two low-star readers say it leans harder on withheld truths than on holiday magic. Notably, neither trade review mentions the secrets at all — Kirkus files it as easy wintry fun. If cozy is what drew you, you will get it, with an argument in the middle. If miscommunication is what you avoid, know that it is not a subplot here; it is the story.
My honest note: A sweet fan-service visit held together by a conflict most readers find hard to believe. If you loved Alex and Molly and have an evening free in December, it will do exactly what you want. If lies of omission between a long-term couple make you throw books, skip it and reread the original instead.
| Element | In Joy to the Girls |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Alex Blackwood & Molly Parker — an established couple, three years in, college seniors |
| Core tropes | Established couple, holiday romance, matchmaking, secrets and miscommunication, dual POV, friend group |
| Setting | Barnwich, a Christmas-obsessed small town, over winter break of senior year |
| Heat level | 2/5 — behind closed doors |
| Series | She Gets the Girl #1.5 — a holiday novella set three years after book one; ends with the couple together |
| Content notes | Relationship secrets and lies of omission, abandonment fears (raised by one reader), closed-door intimacy |
How Spicy Is Joy to the Girls?
A 2/5. romance.io rates the steam level “behind closed doors,” based on a small pool of 18 ratings, and nothing in the reader reviews contradicts it — not one reviewer I found discusses on-page sex, and the publisher’s 14-and-up age range points the same way. That is a notch above She Gets the Girl, which we scored 1/5 for glimpses and kisses, and it fits a couple who are now adults in a long-term relationship.
There is nothing specific to flag in advance beyond the emotional content: the tension here is about honesty, not intimacy, and one reader raises Alex’s abandonment fears as the reason the secrets land so hard. If you want other low-heat holiday reads, Humbug is fully closed-door, and A Swedish Christmas Fairy Tale fades to black at a similar level.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you finished She Gets the Girl wanting to see Alex and Molly as a couple, you want a short Christmas read you can finish in one sitting, you prefer low heat, and you enjoy friend-group matchmaking.
You may want to skip it if: you have not read book one and want a standalone holiday romance, you need more than a novella’s worth of plot, you prefer some heat on the page, or miscommunication between a long-term couple drives you up the wall.
In short: a warm epilogue for fans, built on the one trope that most divides them.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)
This book is not finding readers through any viral moment. A web search turned up no TikTok coverage worth reporting, and I could not reach Reddit for this sweep, so I cannot tell you whether it has a thread there. What it has is a built-in audience: She Gets the Girl is a New York Times bestseller with tens of thousands of ratings, and this novella’s 2,477 Goodreads ratings and 1,057 StoryGraph reviews come overwhelmingly from that readership, alongside a visible batch of publisher advance copies. It also made Autostraddle’s winter list of sapphic holiday romances. Both titles share one Goodreads record and one Amazon review pool (4.2 stars from 138 ratings), so there are no separate US ratings to look for. Simon & Schuster Audio released the audiobook the same day as print, narrated by Natalie Naudus and Valentina Ortiz — the same pair who voiced book one — and it runs 3 hours 15 minutes.
Prefer audio? Listen to Joy to the Girls on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Alex and Molly, first and almost exclusively. The five-star reviews are less about the plot than about the relief of seeing the couple again, and “cozy” and “cute” are the recurring words further down the scale too. Readers praise the festive setting, the fast read and the friendships, and a few especially enjoyed the cross-references to Make My Wish Come True. Alex gets particular affection — at least one two-star reviewer kept a star on the board for her alone. Professional readers liked it more than the crowd: Kirkus called it “sweet and easy wintry fun,” and the YA Books Central staff reviewer scored it 4.3.
What readers argue about and complain about: The secrets, above everything. Roughly half the two-star reviews and more than half the three-star ones I read name the miscommunication, and the mechanism is consistent: a couple three years in would talk, so the plot only works if both of them behave out of character. One reviewer’s entire verdict is “Oh yay more miscommunication.” The second theme, smaller but real, is that the novella adds little — around five two-star reviewers said book one was enough, and a 3/5 blog review called it pleasant but predictable. Third, a few readers felt the dialogue and decisions read younger than college seniors. Beyond that, single voices want more of Cora and May or deeper side characters, and two felt the Christmas vibe was thinner than the cover. Opinions genuinely split on the conflict: some four-star readers accepted it as the price of a sequel, and many who disliked it still finished, which is why the DNF rate stays at 1%.
The series question everyone should ask first: do you need book one, and will this spoil it? Yes on both, in practice. The novella is set three years after She Gets the Girl, and its premise — Alex and Molly together — is book one’s ending, which even the blurb gives away. One reader says it is not strictly necessary to read the original first but “certainly beneficial,” and the emotional payoff depends on knowing who these people were. Book one sits around 4.07 on Goodreads against this novella’s 3.65, so start there. Make My Wish Come True (3.82 across 7,034 ratings) is optional background for the Barnwich references, not required reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Joy to the Girls the same book as She Gets the Girl at Christmas?
Yes. Joy to the Girls is the US title from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, and She Gets the Girl at Christmas is the UK title from Simon & Schuster Children’s UK. Both came out on 30 September 2025, run 176 pages, and share one Goodreads record.
Do you need to read She Gets the Girl before Joy to the Girls?
Effectively, yes. The novella is set three years after book one and its premise gives away how book one ends. You can follow it cold, but most of its appeal is seeing a couple you already know.
How spicy is Joy to the Girls?
A 2/5. romance.io rates it “behind closed doors,” and no reviewer reports on-page sex. The publisher lists it for ages 14 and up.
Does Joy to the Girls have a happy ending?
Yes. Alex and Molly end the novella together, with no cliffhanger, and the matchmaking plot resolves. Readers who comment on the ending mostly call it predictable rather than unsatisfying.
Is there a Joy to the Girls audiobook?
Yes. Simon & Schuster Audio published it on 30 September 2025, narrated by Natalie Naudus and Valentina Ortiz, who also narrated She Gets the Girl. It runs 3 hours 15 minutes.
If You Loved Joy to the Girls, Read These Next
If you have somehow come to the novella first, go back to She Gets the Girl, the better-rated book and the one this depends on. For the same voice in a Christmas setting, the duo’s Make My Wish Come True is the fake-dating Barnwich novel these characters visit — we have not reviewed it yet, but it is on our sapphic holiday romance favorites list. For another funny, low-heat sapphic YA romance about two girls staging their own love story, try The Falling in Love Montage. And if you want an adult holiday romance with the same closed-door warmth, Humbug is the cozier bet.
For more in this register, browse our full sapphic holiday romance list or the complete Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Joy to the Girls sets out to give a beloved couple the time together their first book never did. The Christmas-town setting is cozy, the read is fast and good-humoured, and Alex and Molly are as likeable as fans remember. It is also built on a pair of secrets most readers find hard to believe of a couple this settled, too short to make that conflict feel earned, and slight enough that a real share of readers wish it had stayed unwritten. For a fan of the original with a winter evening to spend, that trade is easily worth it; for anyone else, start with book one. Check Joy to the Girls on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Joy to the Girls ranks as a pleasant fan-service holiday novella from a bestselling sapphic YA duo — cozy and quick, held back by a secrets plot readers find hard to believe, and best approached as an epilogue to She Gets the Girl rather than a standalone romance.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ 3.65 average across 2,477 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ Only 1% did-not-finish on StoryGraph
- ✓ Kirkus and SLJ both reviewed it warmly
- ✓ Secrets plot dominates the low-star reviews
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ Established couple, not a meet-cute
- ✓ Fans wanted exactly this couple time
- ✓ Matchmaking subplot adds a second romance
- ✓ Conflict rests on hard-to-believe secrets
Characters ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ 90% call the characters loveable on StoryGraph
- ✓ Alex singled out even by critics
- ✓ Friend group gets real page time
- ✓ Some find them younger than 21
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Tagged lighthearted by 90% of readers
- ✓ Fast pace for 69% on StoryGraph
- ✓ Dual POV keeps the voices distinct
- ✓ A few find the dialogue unreal
Emotional Impact ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ Graduation stakes give it a spine
- ✓ One reader flags Alex’s abandonment fears
- ✓ Only 31% tag it emotional
- ✓ Too short for the angst to land
Heat Level ★★☆☆☆ 2/5
- ✓ romance.io: behind closed doors
- ✓ No reviewer reports on-page sex
- ✓ Publisher age range 14 and up
- ✓ Steam band rests on 18 ratings
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Couple ends together, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Matchmaking plot resolves cleanly
- ✓ Fans call it satisfying closure
- ✓ Predictable from the first chapter
Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ One-evening length suits a yearly reread
- ✓ 3h15 audiobook with book one’s narrators
- ✓ Sends readers back to book one
- ✓ Secrets plot sours a second pass
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