Book Review: Kiss the Girl by Melanie Jacobson

November 2, 2022December 29, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 277 pages
Author: Melanie Jacobson
Publisher: Four Petal Press
Release Date: November 3rd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Not even the hottest teacher in town can convince Grace to date a small-town guy.

At 26, Grace Winters must her promising career on pause to run her dad’s hardware store. She can’t wait to leave Creekville again, and she’ll keep everyone at arm’s length until she’s out of there. That especially means the new high school coach…no matter how cute and charming he is.

Noah Redmond knows Creekville is just a detour for Grace, the funniest—and sexiest—woman he’s ever met. He even joins forces with her to defeat the matchmaking schemes of . . . well, just about everyone trying to get them together. But when he and Grace must also tackle building a Christmas booth for the town’s biggest event of the year, he sees his chance for escape from the friend zone.

When Grace agrees to a fake relationship to convince Noah’s boss he’s ready for a promotion, the plan works perfectly until they share an unplanned kiss that changes everything. With the lines between friendship and romance blurred, is their undeniable chemistry worth risking their friendship when their future is anything but certain?

NOT MY FAVORITE.

I really wanted to love this, and I thought I might, but many things held me back.

What I did like was the fake dating trope. Always a good one that guarantees some forced proximity moments I’m not mad about. There’s a lot of holiday spirit to go around here and those vibes were alive and well too.

I almost hated the way the male love interest, Noah, was written. I cringed multiple times at how he described Grace and would have DNF based off of that alone if I wasn’t finishing this for a buddy read. Noah had a few good, sweet moments, but holy cow, he needed a major rewrite.

Grace was cool! I liked that she worked as an engineer and was well versed in wood working and other hardware based activities. She’s a pretty well rounded character and I enjoyed her much more than Noah.

There’s sweet moments between the two and some good swoony kisses. I liked how things worked out in the end for them. The plot made things way too easy at times and random scenes truly felt like filler rather than part of the flow of the story. Not to mention, Grace’s Mom and Sister drove me up a wall. Another holiday let down for me.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: make-outs
Trigger/Content Warnings: Noah is an orphan, loved one with a terminal illness

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Book Review: Lake Mistletoe: A Holly, Jolly, and Steamy Christmas Tale by Amber Kelly

October 26, 2022December 29, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 224 pages
Author: Amber Kelly
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: November 29th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Life in the fast lane is what I’ve been working toward for the last six years. My career was all planned out running one of the hottest hotels in Miami’s South Beach. That was until our playboy owner broke a few rules, and my perfect opportunity crumbled underneath my feet.

So here I am, headed to Lake Mistletoe, a quaint little valley town in Idaho of all places. My grandmother, and namesake, left her Inn to me, and I am now sentenced to the task of getting it prepared to sell at the end of this year’s holiday season. My memories of this Christmas oasis have long since faded, but I’m determined to use this experience to further my career and get back into the hospitality game.

When Keller Harris, Lake Mistletoe’s resident craftsman, and unofficial handyman, offers to help me with the neverending list of repairs and upgrades, it’s the perfect opportunity for me to get hands-on experience. He’s talented, driven, and sexy as sin, but he’s also a know-it-all and completely unimpressed by my business sense. I can learn a lot from him but his stubborn self can also learn a lot from me.

As walls start to fall, literally and figuratively, I begin to realize that success comes in many forms and passion can be found in unexpected places. Will I be able to turn this season into a stepping stone to an exciting new career in Belize?

Or will I discover that everything I ever wanted was tucked away in the Rocky Mountains?

IT WAS OKAY.

This didn’t really do anything for me. I struggle with holiday reads having a balance between steamy and hallmark. Why can’t I have something in the middle, ya know? This felt like it was trying to push more steam than the actual romance itself and left a lot to be desired for me.

There was too much focus on very random details of Willa’s day to day. Really small details that I was tired of reading about. I didn’t need to know such breakdowns that caused me to start skimming faster and faster to get to actual dialogue and momentum. Steam was thrown in without much lead-up and that felt off/random to me. I wasn’t connected to either of them by the time things started happening.

Christmas/Holiday-wise, this is alive and well in that department. I do love a small town romance and this provided well in that regard. I loved the names for the town’s hotels and all the fun things that were part of the spirit there.

I wish this was a better balance of the two sides. Oh well, another holiday romance that leaves me wanting.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: multiple open door scenes
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a loved one

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ARC Book Review: Merry Ex-Mas by Courtney Walsh

October 25, 2022October 23, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 322 pages
Author: Courtney Walsh
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: October 25th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

I haven’t been home for Christmas in eight years.

But that’s about to change. This year, I’m traveling to my small hometown to convince my producer to make me the permanent host of Good Day Denver.

The plan: Charm viewers by sharing my favorite family Christmas traditions, and in turn, get the likes, clicks and shares to land the job.

Not the plan: Running into my ex-boyfriend.

In my house.

For Christmas.

But here he is, a guest of my mother, who apparently had more trouble letting go of Max Weber than I did.

Unfortunately, he is as handsome and charming and talented and annoying and frustrating and flirty as ever.

Even more unfortunately, he seems to have a plan of his own—to convince me to give him a second chance.

Which is not happening.

There’s just one problem—my viewers love him. More than that, they love us. Me and Max. My ex.

The boy who broke my heart.

The boy I now have to fake flirt with to win over the hearts of my viewers.

But it’s not their hearts I’m worried about. . . it’s mine.

Merry Ex-Mas is a sweet, small town, second chance romance with a dash of not-so-fake flirting, a tiny bit of enemies to lovers and just enough forced proximity to make things sizzle.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

FINDING JOY.

I love Christmas books, and I love that I can easily add this to my recommendations list for the season.

We’ve got a really great set-up of lovers to enemies to lovers and I enjoyed the banter and rehashing of all the things that occurred then and what was happening in the present. And talk about Christmas CHEER. I LOVED the baking, decorating, picking out trees, walking the town, craft shows, alllllll the things that truly brought the entire spirit into this book. I feel so in the mood for everything holiday based, ’tis the season!

There’s plenty of family drama (but the good kind) and a lot of laugh out loud worthy awkwardness as Marin and Max clash a few times before realizing they love they once shared is still clearly there. I do think the change of heart came a bit late for me because Marin really held on to being stubborn about a tough situation. The resolutions afterwards led to some beautiful conversations that warmed my soul and made me love these characters.

Perfect for the season. Great swoony moments, hilarious banter and just a truly good time of a read.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents (from a car wreck, off page), grief and loss depiction, depression

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Book Review: Christmas As We Know It by Sarah Sutton

October 21, 2022December 29, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Contemporary romance
Length: 248 pages
Author: Sarah Sutton
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: December 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Christmas as I know it is blown away with the winter wind when my mom drops a bomb the size of the Rockefeller Tree—we’re going to Florida for winter break, AKA the land of no snow. And since this is the last Christmas season of my high school career, my last chance to spend the holidays with my friends before we all go off to college, the news is anything but merry and bright.

There is one silver lining, though. Bentley, the sweet and kind guy I’ve been crushing on for years, is in my volunteer group for the annual Winter Festival. And did I mention his love for Christmas just might rival my own? Even though I’ll be missing out on the Winter Festival, being paired with Bentley almost makes it worth it.

Until something happens with Jason, my best friend since elementary school. Something that may or may not involve an almost kiss. Jason’s the opposite of jolly, the Grinch to my Mrs. Claus, and though every year I have to drag him along for the Yuletide ride, this December, he’s grumpier than ever about the holidays.

But the closer I get to Bentley, and the more it looks like Jason and his ex are getting back together, the more unsure I am about who I want to ring in the new year with.

Maybe all I need is the magic of a mistletoe kiss to make up my mind. Or better yet, a Christmas miracle.

THIS WAS SWEET.

A good young adult holiday romance. It’s a super fast read and bingeable if you’re in the mood for it. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the main character at all, but gave her a chance for growth and it was well received. I thought Mimi was a quintessential teen that caused a few eye rolls, and gratefully a few cheers. I love character growth in books!

I struggled with the way the love triangle was handled. I’m not even sure it was necessary? Or at least to the extent it was drawn out (this is my second book by this author with a love triangle, is this a bad sign?). The friends to lovers was really sweet and I wanted all of the focus on those quiet moments between Mimi and Jason. Jason was a gem.

The Christmas season was in full swing and I love a good snow setting (that I don’t physically have to participate in). The side characters were charming and I love a good group of friends. Things get a bit dramatic at times. I’m not upset with this for a holiday romance though, it’d be one to consider for your TBR.

Overall audience notes: