The Upside Down Christmas: An Audible Original Novella

by Kate Forster

Marlo is a living her best life in sunny Sydney and avoiding thinking about her past at all costs. Avoiding thinking about the quaint village life she left behind in Britain. Avoiding thinking about that fateful Christmas Day.

When Marlo is unceremoniously ghosted by her part-time lover, she decides she’ll need to avoid the whole Christmas season. That is actually pretty easy in this country, because it’s so hot and so far away from anything that means Christmas to her. But Marlo’s flatmate Alex is determined to lift her out of her grinch slump and convince her that Christmas Down Under may be unfamiliar, but exactly what she needs to start her life on a new course. Alex, with his calm order and terrible Dad jokes. Alex, with his sparkling Christmas cocktails, his chiseled jaw and washboard abs. Alex, who’s going to turn Marlo’s Christmas wish list upside down.

©2022 Kate Forster (P)2022 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

Genres: Audiobook, Romance, Christmas, Holiday, Fiction, Novella, Friends To Lovers

Audible Audio

First published December 1, 2022

About the author

Novelist.

Reviews

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Upside Down Christmas" by Kate Forster is Mixture of Romance and Holiday Fiction!

Marlo is living in Sydney, Australia and has fond memories of the Christmas' spent back home in Britain. It never feels like Christmas in Sydney to Marlo. It's too darn hot.

Marlo's current boyfriend has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared without a word. She's decided to avoid Christmas entirely this year.

Her flatmate, Alex, is determined to prove to Marlo that Christmas Down Under is just what she needs to distract her from Jack's ghosting and he intends to prove to her that celebrating Christmas in Australia is no different than anywhere else.

Marlo soon realizes it's not what Alex is doing that's distracting her. It's actually Alex himself! It's Alex's calm demeanor, his kindness, his humor, and his looks! Marlo is extremely distracted...

This is not so much Holiday Fiction as it's Romance Fiction that takes place in December. The best part of this story is the setting of Sydney, Australia and the many ideas Alex comes up with for celebrating Christmas Down Under. I loved listening to my mother's stories of Christmas spent at the beach in Australia. For my many Aussie relatives, this remains a family tradition.

This is a 3H 28M Audible audiobook, narrated by Rachael Tidd, who does a great job with both gender voicing and voice inflections through this short listen. This is a free offering to Audible Plus members.

I like this one but I don't love it. If you're looking for a romance story with a completely closed door and touches of Christmas, this could be a great option for you!

[Nina (ninjasbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another short listen from the included selection from audible. The book was like every other romance novel where you know what will happen. There were some lovely moments that stood out; For example the things Alex did for the main character. But other than that there’s not much to remember or tell it apart from other novels with the same theme.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick Christmas read, set in Australia. 👍

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not for me. I didn't care for the lead character, found the idea that she and this 'perfect man' couldn't manage to communicate on even the most basic level irritating, and both the past and future love interests felt more like types than people - - the ex being 'bad', the crush being 'nice'. This is fine if well crafted, but they lacked personality, which made it hard to invest in them.

Also the lead character is apparently intelligent - but we only really know this because she is told she is, not because she ever displays any sign of intelligence. I was honestly surprised when people referred to her in these glowing terms, because they didn't seem to fit with the character at all. I had assumed she was supposed to be a bit ditzy, and probably she was, but the smarter elements never came through. And she continuously misunderstands such blatantly obvious situations, which again, didn't make her seem on to it in any way.

The lead up to the declaration of love was a bit dull, and the few chapters after even more so.

Probably not a bad book, but not my thing. I don't read romance often, but I think that the friends to lovers trope is not one I care for! Still it passed the time as I did some pre-Christmas tidying.

[exploraDora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this is a friends to lovers romance (my favorite trope), it felt rushed to me and the chemistry between the two MCs was not believable.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tepid

Alex is a great book boyfriend EXCEPT he had a girlfriend for the majority of this novella. Friends to lovers can be cute and cosy but it’s hard to like a guy who’s making the heroine feel special, enjoy Christmas with fun dates and jewelry when he’s literally with another woman. And that part was such an unnecessary thing it didn’t even need to be there at all.

Authors make weird choices sometimes.

Other than that this was your basic miscommunication, sad girl away from home at Christmas, trope. Bonus that it was set in Australia and included some of their Christmas traditions, and didn’t rely on the usual snowy backdrop.
Some of these holiday books are just so predictable, which would be fine if they weren’t also boring.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m on a festive romance roll, so luckily Audible has a bunch of freebies in their collection. The Upside Down Christmas is a sweet little novella. 3.5 stars rounded up because of Alex who deserved all the stars. 🎄❤️

[Sammie Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy freaking book boyfriend, Alex is a DREAM BOAT!!! I loved this sweet book, it was so lovely! Gah…get it together, girl. Okay. Marlow moved to Australia after her mom died when Marlow was 22, devastating her. It happened at Christmas, her formerly favorite holiday, and Marlow has run from Christmas, and England, ever since. She’s living a good life in Sydney, with her best friend, her boyfriend, and her awesome roommate, Alex.

Her boyfriend hates Alex, but that becomes a moot point when she catches the dirty scoundrel cheating on her! Really, she ought to have known because he wasn’t exactly boyfriend material. In swoops Alex, wanting to distract her from heartbreak by bringing her Christmas cheer. He’s determined to change her Grinchy ways and get her to love Christmas as much as he does. He comes up with all sorts of thoughtful activities from them and completely stole my, err, I mean HER heart.

There were lots of lovable characters aside from Alex of course, her boss and best friend being especially notable, but Alex takes the cake. Sweet, feminist, incredibly earnest and thoughtful and just good to the bones, he’s the sunshine to her grumpy and the ultimate Australian cinnamon roll. This was a wonderful and heartwarming, albeit clean, holiday romance!

[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
I loved this one even more than The Best Worst Christmas! Kate Forster's writing is beautiful, full of emotion and fun!

Alex was a sweetheart and my heart warmed with all the fun Christmas activities he dreamed up for Marlo. It was obvious they were so right for each other. Marlo was a heroine to root for and I loved her friend Simone as well.

Another excellent audio performance from Rachael Tidd! Listened at my usual 1.5-1.7x normal speed.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas used to be Marlo's favorite holiday. But a few years ago, her mother died on Christmas day, leaving a large hole in Marlo's heart. At loose ends, she moved across the world to Australia to try to go on with her life. Margo likes to vacation during the holidays in order to forget the past. But her holiday in Thailand is cancelled when she learns that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Marlo's roommate, Alex, tries to cheer her up. He convinces her to stick around Sydney for the holiday. He wants to show her she can love Christmas just as much as he does.

This is an Audible Original that I picked up for free. It was a decent story with a slow-burn romance set during the Christmas holiday. Alex is an incredible book-boyfriend. I wish we had more heroes just like him. Rachel Tidd narrated the audiobook. She did a great job with this story. My rating: 3.5 Stars.

[BernLuvsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ - A short but cute holiday novella. Christmas down under, loss of parent, friends to lovers romance.

[Lidia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very warmly romance between roommates in the time of the Holydays .

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story of how people celebrate Christmas in Australia! Of course, the story about Marlo's life was relatable and interesting.

[Lauren Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartbreak during the holidays in Australia. Cute Christmas friends to lovers romance. Predicable but still feel good. Super short & sweet.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

Audible Review

Overall 3 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 3 out of 5 stars

Sweet friends to lovers holiday read.
3.5*
This was a sweet little friends to lovers holiday read.
I would have liked to have seen things through Alex's point of view, not just Marlo's, as I think that might have added a little more depth to the story.
But all in all, it was an entertaining listen while I did some Christmasy crafting!

Rachael Tidd is a new to me narrator and I enjoyed her performance.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute but forgettable Christmas novella (I'm sensing a theme), about a woman who has an eversion to Christmas after her mother died and the flatmate who's determined to show her all the fun of an Australian Christmas. I wasn't keen on the miscommunication trope, and I also don't really like friends to lovers so this wasn't as really to my taste, but it was cute enough.

[Danielle McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, hallmark Xmas read (listen).
Totally predictable and if you like that kind of Xmas read, totally enjoyable.

Actual rating - 3.5 stars

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don’t think this was a Christmas story except as an accident of timing. It’s actually the tale of a woman who is humiliated by her boyfriend and then tricked into noticing that a longtime friend is better suited to her and deeply in love with her. Honestly, it took them both a little too long to get to that “I love you” stage, but it works out in the end. There’s also a very nice subplot involving an ill friend that really lets them see each other shine that probably was the best part of the story.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute. It had more substance than I thought it would. It was better at the beginning of the story. Marlo got a bit tiresome. Law school should break her of that.

Fin.

The reader was quite good.

[Sydney (sydneysshelves) West]

DNF'd halfway thru. Cheating.

[Claire Ingram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute holiday romance, Marlo is living in Australia and unsure what to do about The holidays (Christmas) newly single and hoping to avoid her step mum and therefore her father in England and with her trip to Thailand now no longer likely she struggles until her Incredible roommate Alex decides that she must experience the full joys of an Australian Christmas
It was a hallmark film in a book well narrated and cheesy good story

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forster seems to be making a living out of writing Christmas novellas. The two I've read are pretty similar and predictable. I suppose, though, to give her credit, they have also been sweet and inoffensive.

I did find the plot point of someone who had lived in Australia for five years not knowing how Australians spend Christmas (in the heat, as opposed to most of the world wearing ugly sweaters and dreaming of snow) a bit unbelievable.

Although these types of books always suffer due to their length, I thought this one actually went on too long. The entire ending was pretty unnecessary.

Okay for a freebie.

2 1/2 out of 5

[Ashley Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a reason this is called The Upside Down Christmas, and I really enjoyed that unique twist. Alex is everything you want in a boyfriend, truly an “if he wanted to, he would” MMC. This felt like a cozy Hallmark-style Christmas romance, especially on audio. Sweet, festive, and easy to listen to, even if it didn’t fully stand out for me.

[Elizabeth]

Dude is dating someone else for most of the book.

[Gem - The Tasty Chapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - a romance book that actually didn’t make me cringe!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Experienced my first Australian Christmas. I dont understand their tree concept yet. Else, this book is no different from Audible's offerings that I have been enjoying. New plot, intrigung conflict and Alex is a dream book boyfriend and the magic of Christmas made reading a breeze.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely predictable but sweet Christmas romance.

[Baleigh's Bookends · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh I was so surprised by this. It was SO cute!!! This is an audio book on audible that’s an audible original and it was available to listen for free with an audible membership!! It was a super sweet story and the narrator was wonderful too. Loved it sm and highly recommend.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick festive story that has all the feels!!! I’m not big on contemporary romance but loving these short festive audios that while predictable are heartwarming like the cheesy hallmark movies I love at this time of year. This one has some terrible dad jokes included that were so bad they made me giggle

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this Audible original Xmas m/f romance. Marlo, a British transplant to Sydney, planned to spend the holidays in Thailand with her boyfriend Jack. But he’s a cheating tool. Her sweet housemate Alex and her best friend Simone do their best to cheer her up.

Marlo has avoided celebrating Xmas for years—her beloved mum died of a heart attack on Xmas right around while she was a university student and her dad got married too quickly to a snobby woman Marlo calls “Posh Penny,” so family holidays are strained. Alex makes it his mission to show Marlo how fun Xmas can be in Australia. Feelings ensue.

Alex is casually dating someone in the beginning of the story, so Marlo is very conflicted about her growing feelings. Happily, Alex and his girlfriend have a mutual parting of ways, so there’s no cheating.

Alex is an absolutely lovely love interest—he’s an ER nurse who worries about the take out delivery delivery guys riding scooters, is thoughtful, respectful, honorable, fun and shares and appreciation of “dad” jokes with Marlo.

Marlo also had a strong mentorly friendship with an elderly lawyer at the firm she works for. Their friendship was one of my favorite parts of the book.

There’s a lot of good stuff about dealing with grief, the importance of friends, giving yourself credit for your accomplishments and being open to new experiences.

This was a sweet RomCom and the narration was excellent.