Book Review: Merry Kismet (Gift-Wrapped Romance) by Anneka R. Walker

December 25, 2023November 6, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 202 pages
Author: Anneka R. Walker
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: November 2nd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

BRIE

Things I should never have done:

Put my ex-boyfriend’s name on my Christmas wish list.
Grin dumbly at him when he shows up at my door.
Think it’s kismet that he’s staying on the other half of my duplex for the holidays and means we’re meant to be together. Because we’re not. He broke my heart in High School and never looked back.

ROCKWELL

Things I will never do:

Move back to Bearwood.
Repeat my parents’ mistakes by getting married.
Kiss Brie Holland under the mistletoe. I know how good her kisses are, and if I want to make sure number one and two don’t happen, I’m going to have to keep her safely in the friend zone until I’m out of Bearwood for good.

LACKED CHEMISTRY.

I did think some of this was sweet, but the first half was hard for me to wrap my head around. I couldn’t quite get behind some of the thought processes and choices that ultimately had me frustrated.

There was plenty of good Christmas spirit and the tiny dash of magical realism was charming. I liked the main characters in general and the second half was much better. It’s a sweet and simple holiday read that might work for you more than it did me.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: divorce

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Cabin Crush (Gift Wrapped Romance) by Kasey Stockton

December 24, 2023October 31, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 200 pages
Author: Kasey Stockton
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 27th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Can what happens at the Christmas cabin stay at the Christmas cabin?

Rachael
I’ve had a crush on my brother’s best friend my entire life. Once, in high school, I even got a taste of what it would be like to be with him thanks to some well-placed mistletoe: incredible and humiliating. We always spend Christmas with Max’s family at our cabin, and every year I have to suffer through a blissful week with him in a completely platonic way. His steady stream of girlfriends have made him off limits . . . until now.

It’s Christmas.

We’re at the cabin together.

And Max Dawson is single.

Max
I’ve never looked forward to Christmas less in my entire life. My parents’ holiday will be ruined after I tell them my news, and to make matters worse, I blabbed to Rachael on the drive out to the cabin. Now she has to keep my secret until I’m ready to share with my family.

Which is probably why she’s acting so weird. Watching me. Touching me. Flirting.

It would be terrible if I wasn’t enjoying it so much.

But her brother has made it clear she’s off limits. And besides, I kissed Rachael once, and we all know how that ended.

So we definitely shouldn’t do it again.

Right?

CHRISTMAS MAGIC.

Oh my gosh I adored this book. It’s a short and sweet holiday romance that was the perfect length. I loved watching Max and Rachael come together. They had some magnetic chemistry and the brother’s best friend trope was well crafted. I couldn’t get enough of the cozy cabin with the long time family friends doing all of the holiday traditions.

The romance was excellently swoony and sweet Max was oblivious and I loved it. There were plenty good forced proximity moments and I liked the growth for each character personally. For a short book (under 200 pages) I thought it packed everything needed for a complete story arc.

Definitely recommend for the holiday season!!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: brief sledding crash
Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of losing a sibling to cancer

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: The Holly Dates by Brittainy C. Cherry

December 18, 2023December 23, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Denise Williams
Publisher: Berkley Books
Release Date: September 6th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

All she wanted for Christmas was a boyfriend for the holidays…
All he wanted was for her to take her crappy first dates elsewhere…

Quirky Holly Jackson was unlucky in love, yet her romantic heart refused to give up her search for companionship—even after her fiancé left her at the altar on Christmas Eve.

Grumpy restaurant owner Kai Kane wanted nothing to do with love after his last relationship crashed and burned. Romance was the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately for him, when an eccentric Holly kept entering his restaurant nightly with a different first date, his annoyance grew.

When Kai volunteered to help Holly find a suitor it was for one reason only: to get her out of his restaurant and on to a second date with someone at a different location.

Once Kai became Holly’s dating coach, her confidence grew.

It was all going great until Kai became increasingly jealous of the connection Holly developed with another man. The more Holly fell for Kai’s pick for her, the more overprotective he became.

Kai quickly realized that all wasn’t fair when it came to love and the holidays.

He was going to have to step up his game if he wanted a shot at the ultimate prize—being Holly’s favorite date.

PRETTY SWEET.

I looooved the banter and sweet moments in this one. It was adorable and fiery in all the best ways. I was swooning left and right over Kai and his commitment to Holly. This gave me some He’s Just Not That Into You vibes and I love that movie.

What I struggled with was the balance of heavy and light. So much of this felt like it was supposed to be a light, rom-com-esque, holiday romance, but there were some sub plots that were without a doubt heavy and I didn’t know how I felt about the combination. I wish it leaned more one way or the other rather than trying to combine the two.

Aaaand the third act made me roll my eyes. I’ve seen it 100 times before, and I’ll still be upset over it 100 times more. One of those moments that you see coming and desperately hope that’s not how it’s going to play out.

I loved the holiday spirit. I LOVED Holly’s family and the fake dating scheme that went along with that. The feels were brought out anytime Kai started speaking and for the steam fans there’s a good dash here (and skippable for those like me who prefer to do that!).

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: multiple open; high explicit
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating, infidelity, side character with cancer, parental abandonment and emotional abuse

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Unleashed Holiday by Victoria Schade

December 9, 2023October 13, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Holiday Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Victoria Schade
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: September 26th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When an old rival reappears right before the holidays, a professional dog trainer must decide if the melting frost between them can make up for their ruff past, from the USA Today bestselling author of Dog Friendly .

Chelsea Higgins is doing just fine. She’s heading into the holidays at the helm of a thriving dog training business, and she’s got a mellow senior dog at home to keep her warm at the end of the day. What more could she need? Enter certified gym bro Andrew Chelsea’s former nemesis, and now the newest neighbor in her business complex, who also wants to expand into the vacant space Chelsea’s been eyeing for months. Who cares if it’s the season of joy? Let the turf war begin.

When an unfortunate (and literal) run-in with Andrew’s lawless dog leaves Chelsea with a bum wrist, the two strike a Andrew will help Chelsea rehab the injury if she’ll work with him to train his adorably uncivilized boxer.

Their typical bickering soon turns to bantering, and Chelsea finds herself inexplicably drawn to the man she thought she had nothing in common with. As she gets to know Andrew and his parents, she realizes she needs to refocus on her own family, especially with a milestone Christmas speeding toward them. But Chelsea can’t help wondering if she and Andrew are training for keeps, or if this unexpected Christmas gift is just too good to be true.

ALL THE DOGS.

It’s been a low state of affairs for trying to find some 2023 holiday romance releases, but this was a good one!!! I thought it was really charming, had a little bit of spice, all of the dog content and some good holiday cheer.

I liked the journey that Chelsea went on. She was holding on to a lot of pent up emotions surrounding her father and a lot of misconceptions about Andrew. I loved Andrew’s views on his career and thank heavens Chelsea started to realize how much she had missed. There’s some good second chance romance vibes too. The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was the text situation?? That seemed far fetched.

The dogs (and goats) were super cute. I liked the holiday aspects and it’s a quick audiobook. I’d recommend this for the holidays if you need something great to read by the fire.

Overall audience notes: