Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones is the festive rom-com that the bi community truly deserves. It’s easily one of the lightest, brightest, and funniest bi-centred books I’ve ever read, and it finally gives us the kind of joyful, sparkling holiday romance that has existed almost entirely for straight audiences.
Traditionally, festive comedies have been, well, a little too traditional. From films like Home Alone and Love, Actually, to classics such as A Christmas Carol, and even many modern holiday fantasies and romances, the stories that dominate the season tend to revolve around straight, heteronormative families.
But things have changed. Queer authors have finally begun claiming space in the holiday book market, and as readers demanded stories that reflect their lives, more bi writers stepped forward, determined to be part of the joyful, chaotic, messy magic of the season. Lizzie Huxley-Jones is one of them. As a bi, autistic, non-binary person who lacked representation growing up, they now center people like themselves in their writing.
Make You Mine This Christmas reads as a bright, warm letter to every bi person who ever wished for a festive rom-com that actually reflects their bisexuality — a story that treats bi relationships with joy, nuance, and realism instead of stereotypes.
The novel follows Haf Hughes, a young Welsh bi woman living in England, trying to navigate her complicated family situation and her equally complicated dating life — although at the start of the book, her dating life is more “non-existent” than “complicated”. Her last relationship ended painfully, leaving her alone for the holidays. And who wants to be alone on Christmas? Certainly not many of us and definitely not Haf. With her parents travelling, she has nowhere to go.
Everything shifts during a party when a charming stranger named Christopher Calloway flirts with her. They end up kissing — right in front of Christopher’s ex-girlfriend. To soothe his bruised ego and ease the awkwardness, Christopher impulsively declares that he and Haf are now dating. Moments later, he surprises Haf with an invitation: will she spend Christmas with him? His wealthy, demanding family expects him to appear with a partner and will shame him relentlessly if he arrives alone. Haf figures: why not help a stranger and, at the same time, avoid a lonely holiday?
But before heading to the Calloway estate, Haf has a brief, electric encounter in a bookshop with a pretty, brilliant, funny woman obsessed with queer literature. A crush sparks instantly, but the woman leaves too quickly — and Haf never gets her number.
The real chaos begins when Haf arrives at the Calloway home and discovers that Christopher has a sister named Kit. And Kit is not just any sister— she’s the woman from the bookshop. Suddenly, Haf and Kit are spending the holidays under the same roof, surrounded by Christopher’s eccentric family, forced into proximity, tension, and far too many opportunities for feelings to grow. And one of the universal rules of fake dating is obvious: don’t fall for your fake boyfriend’s sister. Except Haf already has.
The novel is full of hilarious and delightfully awkward moments: Haf attempting to rescue a baby reindeer, Haf and Kit constructing a gingerbread house that looks more like a murderous hunting lodge, and a long chain of chaotic holiday scenes that perfectly capture the experience of being trapped inside someone else’s family drama while falling hopelessly in love.
I won’t spoil all the twists, but I will say this: the story delivers a deeply satisfying happy ending. Haf and Kit choose to stay together, Christopher finds the strength to stand up to his controlling parents and quit a job he hates, and the Calloways ultimately learn to respect their children’s boundaries: embracing Haf and welcoming her as their daughter’s partner.
It was interesting how a simple rom-com is able to confront harmful stereotypes about being bi. Haf worries about being seen as promiscuous or “not serious” because she’s bi, even though her fears are not grounded in how others actually see her. She thinks about how difficult it can be to be recognised as queer when you’re bi, especially when strangers assume you’re straight. Christopher – a golden boy of his parents – is also bi, which he openly states by the end of the story. Even though we only see him date women on-page, it matters to him to claim his bisexuality aloud, and the book treats that as important.
Crucially, the characters are not bi in a vacuum. They live in a queer, messy, intersectional world: surrounded by gay, lesbian, straight, and other bi characters; navigating differences in class, disability, and culture. Haf is Welsh, Christopher is upper-class English, and Kit — who is a lesbian — is disabled. Just like in real life.
The most important thing about Make You Mine This Christmas is what it gives to bi readers, especially younger ones who rarely see themselves celebrated during the holidays. Many bi people grow up feeling invisible or misunderstood, and Christmas can make that feel even harder. This story shows that bi people can have love, family, belonging, and happy endings without having to hide who they are — and that being bi can be something joyful, not something to explain or erase.