The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison Book Review – Rival Neighbours Light Up the Highlands
Why The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison Deserves Your Attention
The Christmas Competition has one of those romantic-comedy premises that explains itself in a single image: two neighbouring houses, far too many lights, two wounded people pretending they are only competing for a trophy, and an entire Highland town watching. Released on 20 October 2026, Zoe Allison’s 384-page holiday romance takes enemies-to-lovers energy and gives it a genuinely festive arena. It is cosy, spicy and built around a rivalry that has more emotional weight than the decorations initially suggest.
Nisa Ansari enters the decorating competition while dealing with the very public collapse of her marriage. Her neighbour Kerr Murdoch has his own reason to resent the romantic disaster connecting their households: Nisa’s ex-husband left her for Kerr’s girlfriend. Their rivalry is funny on the surface but rooted in the same humiliation, which immediately gives the conflict more depth than a simple grumpy-neighbour setup.
That emotional symmetry is what makes the book promising beyond the Christmas lights. Nisa and Kerr are not enemies because of an invented misunderstanding; they are two people hit by the same betrayal who have chosen each other as convenient targets. The decorating contest gives them permission to fight until proximity makes it harder to ignore how much they understand one another.
The Story at the Heart of The Christmas Competition
Nisa is newly single in a small Highland town where privacy is almost impossible. The local rumour mill has turned her marriage into community knowledge, and entering the Christmas house-decorating competition offers something concrete to focus on. Beating Kerr would be satisfying for reasons that have very little to do with tasteful wreath placement.
Kerr initially seems like the perfect rival. He is introverted, emotionally contained and frustratingly difficult for Nisa to read, which makes it easy for her to blame him for everything adjacent to her ex-husband’s betrayal. Yet his own former girlfriend is part of the same affair, meaning he has lost a relationship too.
The competition escalates when their decorating plans collide and neither is willing to retreat. Lights, wreaths, reindeer and public one-upmanship become the comic vocabulary of a relationship neither is prepared to name. Beneath that spectacle is Kerr’s quieter connection to Christmas traditions and memory, which gives the contest emotional importance rather than making it pure slapstick.
Nisa’s emotional journey is about learning that choosing a new relationship is not the same thing as surrendering herself again. She has spent years accommodating a marriage that failed, and the last thing she wants is to interpret attraction as another demand. Kerr’s challenge is the opposite: he has to let somebody see the feeling behind his quietness.
How Zoe Allison Brings This Story to Life
Allison writes with dry humour rather than relentless gag-writing, which suits the Scottish setting and Kerr’s reserved personality. The dual-POV structure is especially useful because a hero this introverted could otherwise seem emotionally unavailable. Seeing both sides lets the book distinguish silence from indifference.
The seasonal atmosphere is strong without becoming decorative wallpaper. Snow, lights, hot-chocolate dates, animals and village attention all feed directly into the romance. The audiobook, narrated by Nikki Massoud and Will M. Watt, reinforces the dual perspective and runs for roughly eleven hours.
The Themes That Make The Christmas Competition More Than Its Premise
The central theme is how people redirect hurt. Nisa and Kerr have both been betrayed, yet blaming one another is easier than sitting with what their former partners chose. The rivalry begins as emotional displacement and becomes useful only when it forces them to recognise the other person as wounded rather than responsible.
Grief and memory also sit quietly beneath the Christmas spectacle. Kerr’s connection to decorating is personal, which gives the competition meaning beyond bragging rights. Traditions can be comforting because they repeat, but repetition can also carry absence.
What The Christmas Competition Gets Absolutely Right
The premise is visually irresistible and emotionally coherent. Every new decoration can be both a joke and a declaration of war, while every private conversation undercuts the public rivalry. The book understands that enemies-to-lovers needs repetition: the leads must keep colliding until the reasons for collision change.
Nisa is another strength because her anger is not treated as something the hero must cure. She is allowed to be embarrassed, competitive and imperfect after the end of her marriage. Kerr’s gentler qualities—his work as a vet, his love of animals and his relationship with Christmas memory—give the pairing a convincing opposites-attract balance.
The Scottish setting gives the romance a strong identity as well. Rather than using Christmas as generic decoration, the book builds a community where everyone notices the competition and where local attention increases the pressure on both characters. That sense of place makes the romance feel warmer and more specific.
Where The Christmas Competition Could Have Gone Further
Readers who consume a lot of holiday romance will recognise the basic path from rivalry to attraction, and the book does not reinvent every beat of that journey. The joy comes from execution rather than surprise. A few secondary-town dynamics could also have carried more weight given how important public gossip is to Nisa’s starting position.
The festive competition occasionally risks becoming more memorable than the relationship underneath it. Fortunately, the dual POV and shared betrayal keep pulling the focus back to character, but readers who want a romance with very unpredictable plotting may find the structure comfortably familiar.
Books to Read If You Loved The Christmas Competition
The Ex-Mas Holidays by Zoe Allison is the obvious next read if the Scottish setting and festive humour are your favourite elements. It offers another winter romance shaped by past relationships, community and the possibility that Christmas can force old feelings into the open.
Who Will Love The Christmas Competition the Most?
This is for adult romance readers who enjoy enemies to lovers, neighbour rivalry, cosy Scottish settings, spicy chemistry and Christmas books with an actual comic engine. Fans of Catherine Walsh, B.K. Borison and Lindsey Kelk are a particularly natural audience, matching the way the UK publisher positions the novel.
Content Warnings: infidelity by former partners, divorce and relationship breakdown, grief connected to a parent, family and community gossip, and explicit adult romantic content. Animal lovers should also know Kerr’s veterinary work and several pets are part of the book’s appeal.
How The Christmas Competition Stayed With Me
The most effective idea is that Nisa and Kerr are mirrors before they are lovers. Both know what it feels like to be the person left behind, but pride makes it easier to turn that shared pain into competition. The romance becomes satisfying when the thing they have in common stops being a reason to fight.
There is also something emotionally true about using Christmas decorations as armour. The brighter the houses become, the harder both characters work to look fine. Allison’s best move is letting the lights stay fun while gradually revealing what each person is trying not to say.
Final Verdict: Is The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison Worth Reading?
The Christmas Competition is a warm, sexy and well-constructed holiday rom-com that knows exactly why its central trope works. Nisa and Kerr have a believable reason to resent the world around them, and their rivalry gives that resentment somewhere funny to go before it becomes intimacy.
The plot is familiar, but familiarity is not a problem when the chemistry, setting and emotional logic are this clear. If rival neighbours, Scottish snow, Christmas lights, animals and two wounded adults slowly realising they are on the same side sound appealing, this is an easy festive recommendation.
About Zoe Allison
Zoe Allison is a Scottish-based romance author who grew up in a mixed-race family in Yorkshire and trained as a doctor before turning seriously to fiction. Her previous books include The Ex-Mas Holidays and The Wedding Engagement, and her work often centres heroines who are equal partners in both competence and emotional complexity. Her stated goal is to write heroes who admire women, connect with them emotionally and meet them as equals.
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Frequently Asked Questions About The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison
What is The Christmas Competition about?
Nisa Ansari and Kerr Murdoch are rival neighbours whose former partners have left them for each other. Their resentment explodes into a Christmas house-decorating competition, even as attraction begins complicating the rivalry.
When was The Christmas Competition released?
The book was released on 20 October 2026. Berkley publishes the US edition, with Pellerin handling UK and Commonwealth rights.
How many pages is The Christmas Competition?
The Berkley paperback is listed at 384 pages. The audiobook runs for approximately eleven hours.
Where is The Christmas Competition set?
It is set in a small town in the Scottish Highlands. The community atmosphere, snow and festive decorating are central to the book’s mood and conflict.
Who are the main characters in The Christmas Competition?
The central couple are Nisa Ansari and Kerr Murdoch. Nisa is rebuilding after the breakdown of her marriage, while Kerr is her introverted veterinarian neighbour dealing with his own romantic betrayal.
Is The Christmas Competition enemies to lovers?
Yes. It is explicitly built around rival neighbours whose Christmas competition intensifies before their relationship changes. The shared betrayal gives the hostility more emotional grounding than a simple personality clash.
Is The Christmas Competition spicy?
Yes. The UK publisher describes it as a spicy holiday rom-com, so readers should expect explicit adult romantic content alongside the festive comedy.
Does The Christmas Competition have an audiobook?
Yes. The audiobook is narrated by Nikki Massoud and Will M. Watt and was released on 20 October 2026.
Is The Christmas Competition part of a series?
It is not presented as a numbered sequel, although it fits naturally alongside Zoe Allison’s other Scottish festive romances. Readers can start with this book without needing a previous novel.
Who should read The Christmas Competition?
It is best for adult readers who love Scottish settings, enemies to lovers, neighbours to lovers, festive competitions and romance with humour and heat.
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