Book Review: Holiday Hostilities (Cyclones Christmas #2) by Katie Bailey

January 11, 2025December 26, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Christmas Sports Romance
Length: 332 pages
Author: Katie Bailey
Publisher: Eleventh Avenue Publishing
Release Date: November 22nd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s the most hateful time of the year…

There’s only one thing Olivia Griswold hates more than her brother’s best friend, Aaron Marino.

The NHL’s favorite playboy has hordes of adoring fans, but to her, he’s still the cocky jerk she’s loathed since high school.

But when Aaron hears Olivia’s spending the holidays with her roommates from hell, he offers her a place to escape to.

His place, to be exact.

In return, all she has to do is be his date to his hockey team’s Christmas gala. It seems simple enough, but Olivia soon discovers that sleeping behind enemy lines is a dangerous game—especially when the enemy looks like that.

Olivia knows she’s playing with fire, but she won’t let herself get burned again.

And they do say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer…

Get ready for delicious enemies-to-lovers banter and tension with tons of festive cheer in this charming hockey rom com. Holiday Hostilities is a closed door/fade to black romance that includes mild language, innuendo, and suggestive humor.

DID YOU SURVIVE THAT KISS?

Everyone kept mentioning this one kissing scene in Holiday Hostilities and hot DANG. They were RIGHT. Deliver me a swoony, sexy (but not open door) kissing scene and I am a goner. Praise be.

ANYWAYS. This book was great. I loved it. I had such a great time with the dynamic and banter between Olivia and Aaron. Call me smitten. I loved all of the nuanced details that showcased just how gone these two were for each other and the passion speaks for itself.

There was a small sub plot involving an obsessed and delusional side chick that I didn’t love. Just not my cup of tea for the drama of choice buuut it didn’t ruin the book for me. I was a still a goner for these two. Plenty of hockey action, some good holiday moments and now I have become a Katie Bailey fan.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Christmas Sports Romance
Language: low
Romance: closed door

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Book Review: The Roommate Situation (Only in Atlanta #1) by Katie Bailey

April 25, 2022June 26, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 278 pages
Author: Katie Bailey
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: June 15th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Conor Brady is the hottest man I have ever laid eyes on. Ever. He’s also my new roommate. In the past few days, I became jobless, homeless, and boyfriendless.

So, I did what any 28-year-old woman with her life together would do: I ran. Far, far away from my life in New York and straight to my big brother’s house in Atlanta.

Only, it turns out that my brother is away on a business trip. And, he failed to tell me that a full-on, godlike hottie—who happens to be a premier house flipper—has taken up residence in the spare bedroom while his enormous new house is being renovated.

There’s a million reasons why I shouldn’t fall for Conor.

But our chemistry is undeniable.

Which means I have a teeny, tiny situation on my hands…

The Roommate Situation is a laugh-out-loud funny, swoony, closed door romantic comedy. Expect some mild language and suggestive jokes alongside sizzling hot chemistry and tension you could cut with a knife—all without the explicit scenes.

BLAND.

This book was too easy.

From the moment they met it was instant EVERYTHING. And I will acknowledge instant attraction can work, but it just didn’t do it for me here. I wanted to feel like there was some angst, some will they/won’t they. Conor and Jess were practically a couple from the get-go (and you can’t convince me otherwise). It led to a really boring plot that could have been great. It’s a brother’s best friend’s trope. THERE WAS SO MUCH TO WORK WITH.

If I was going to pick something I did enjoy, I liked the initial set-up. I’m all for a roommate situation and how it can build with some good ol’ forced proximity. The banter and conversations were fairly humorous and it was written well. So even though I didn’t click with much of this it could definitely be different for you.

I was looking for a lot more and I’ll wait to see about reading the next in the series (though that looks like an enemies to lovers story, so I’m hopeful).

Overall audience notes: