I totally understand why this is so widely loved. I loved the representation, romance and magical pieces. This made me happy and felt like sunshine and then it broke my heart and got heavy when it needed to be. It was also funny and a little bit mysterious. Yadriel and Julian are chefs kiss. Even from the beginning I was blushing hard because c'mon, absolutely adorable.

While this was a quick read, it was super frustrating and I didn't fall in love with it like I wanted to. I just really didn't understand Ellie. Her parents are awful to her and I couldn't understand why she was worked so hard to win their approval and then isolated her friends. I wasn't a fan of Ellie and Cam's insta love either, like I felt no sparks there. Their lack of communication made me want to pull out my hair.

This was cute and heartwarming but also creepy and gave me the ick countless times. I loved reading about this weird little family and their extra normal daughter and how they came together to save their neighbors. I think Kate Alice Marshall did a great job making this paranormal/supernatural story seem unique and captivating. The Almost People were absolutely horrifying like no thank you. Miss Sinister was iconic.

This book made me feel so many things. It was lyrical, eerily beautiful, captivating, clever and stunning. The world building was astounding, the gothic dark academia vibes were impeccable and our cast of characters hold a very special place in my heart. Ava Reid hasn't failed me yet.

Merged review:

This book made me feel so many things. It was lyrical, eerily beautiful, captivating, clever and stunning. The world building was astounding, the gothic dark academia vibes were impeccable and our cast of characters hold a very special place in my heart. Ava Reid hasn't failed me yet.

Merged review:

This book made me feel so many things. It was lyrical, eerily beautiful, captivating, clever and stunning. The world building was astounding, the gothic dark academia vibes were impeccable and our cast of characters hold a very special place in my heart. Ava Reid hasn't failed me yet.

This was a nice beginning to a series. I thought the premise was interesting and I loved the magical and otherworldliness of the story. The characters were fun and refreshing as well. My main issues are that at times the writing seemed to change from beautiful prose to pretentious and that could be because editing could be better or a stylistic choice. If you can look past that, it is a captivating tale.

Eh, I think this was definitely just okay. The best parts of this were the yumminess of the sweets and the whimsical holiday feel but that's about it. I found Mel to be super annoying and I guessed the culprit super early on. The mystery just felt a bit bland and basic but it was fun I guess.

I finally gave in and read this and...it was fine. Nothing super impressive. It was definitely cute, Nate's golden retriever energy was a blast and Stassie's ability to spitfire was immaculate. It was swoony and a fun read but I did have a few personal issues. First, the amount of side characters. It was a bit much. Second, I did not like the spicy scenes and usually I'm perfectly fine with them. It just felt like a lot for a college couple, y'know? And lastly, this is definitely a personal thing but if you know you know, I wasn't a fan of the epilogue.

Literally the only thing I liked was Been and the plus size inclusivity. Bee was an absolute queen and a refreshing lead for a holiday story. Everything else absolutely sucked. Nolan was so fucking punchable. His inner dialogue was so gross, like sir, get a fucking grip. The other characters grated my nerves endlessly. The holiday town was cringe and the spicy scenes felt off for me, like disjointed and clunky.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This was a lot better than I expected. I thought the author did a fantastic job with how they wrote the friendships here, I fell in love with all the characters. I also love how the author writes fantasy, it feels unique. I will say it felt like the plot took a backseat here and I wasn't sure how to feel about that.

I wonder if Wendy Webb knows there are other ways to write a story. I wanted a spooky, haunting small town like I got in Daughters of The Lake. I don't care about Tess and Wyatt's romance, in fact, why does there always have to be a romance with her stories? Wharton is magical in the winter time, you don't have to tell us this for the 17384993349x in the same book. I wanted a ghost story and got lifetime movie with recipes, some random ghost knocking and EVPs, and then half baked murder mystery. I won't be reading this author again, as her books have gone downhill.