This was a darling holiday story. Is it extremely predictable of course. What really matters is the book worth the trip and yes it is. Stella runs a small Christmas tree farm and her business is in a bit of trouble. She enters a social media contests to get more publicity and possibly win a $10,000 prize. However, she lies on her application and says that her and her longtime boyfriend bought, and run the place together. However, Stella does not have a longtime boyfriend. She has a long time best friend who is a boy, but not a boyfriend. With some goading from her friends, she convinces Luca to play the part of her boyfriend for a month and a half while the competition is going on. But it turns out both of these people have been pining for each other for a long time. There are obstacles that have kept them from coming together as a couple, but also kept them as best friends. The story was sweet. It’s got a little bit of steam but not a lot of spice but it’s the perfect combination of romance and Christmas novel. This is full on Hallmark fun even though it’s not from Hallmark.  This book is just one of three in the series, but it was nice to start off with a Christmas story. I love this book so much that I can’t wait to read the next two.

This is fat phobic garbage. I made it 6% of the way through the audiobook, which is only 3 1/2 hours and decided I’m done. Our fat character is a guy and for the first however long I’ve listen to now 30 minutes 45 it’s just he’s so down on himself and his weight and he ends up twitching his back. his brothers a doctor. Who says the only way you’re going to get better is to lose weight. Physical therapy is fine but you have to lose 15 to 20 pounds.  Go see this personal trainer.  Our main character thinks how can I go see this personal trainer they’re just thin and beautiful and no one‘s gonna want to see me as I’m fat and ugly and I don’t wanna be seen in a gym like that and I just I’m done . I wanted to like this book because I was enjoying the narrator but as a fat individual I don’t need to hear a book with her down on themselves over and over and over again if it could’ve been hey you need to exercise for muscle, gain or tone but no you need to lose weight and I’m I’m done this is not a holiday book I feel like finishing.

I’m officially DN effing this book at 48%. I just can’t take it anymore. Our main gal Ivy is jealous, semi-conniving, selfish, and a few other adjectives I can’t think of. She’s a screenwriter who wanted to stay in LA. She had been dating Nick since they were in eighth grade. They went from best friends to boyfriends to lovers to broken up. She was planning on asking Nick to stay in California with her while she became a script writer but Nick had a family in a winery back where they both grew up in New York. So eventually after college they split. Ivy didn’t take it well, and wrote her first screen play when Mary met Joseph about the relationship. However, she killed off Joseph in her script. The real Nick didn’t die. He’s back at his winery. Now it’s five years later and Ivy, who is dating Drew the producer, is finally getting her film made.  It’s being made in her hometown. This sets out to be a fun summer but Christmasy romcom. They’re making a Christmas kind of movie in July but it just doesn’t work for me. Ivy really really annoys me. She’s dating Drew but tries to make Nick jealous by kissing Drew and just know thank you. She’s constantly comparing her current boyfriend Drew to Nick.  It’s just it’s annoying.  Nick’s character I don’t mind so much. Does he start dating the movie start playing ivy? I don’t know if you’d say dating but at least hanging out and the movie star is a little forward. There are times when things are supposed to seem steamy, and they come off more raunchy. In general I did not like this. I am not enjoying it. I’ve given it 50% and I just don’t want to listen to another 5 1/2 hours. That’s the other thing this story is long. Every character has to have a backstory with a love interest and get their own mini story within the story. I would’ve rather those all been short Novelas and this had been shortened up. It’s been over five hours And I love the village in the town and all the side characters but we don’t need so much about them. This book is too long the main characters atrocious and I’m not enjoying it so I’m not finishing it.

 I have read other Julie Murphy books and they did not prepare me for this one. This is about a porn star who tries to make it on standard side of acting and a former a bad boy boy bander trying to clean up his image. Both of them head to this Holiday movie set intent on keeping their secret, and to start something new. But of course, when they both have to be on their best behavior and fight their natural tendencies, those natural tendencies cause them to smack right into each other. That is meant both literally and figuratively. Is this book full of tropes? Absolutely. Is this book raunchy and spicy?  Absolutely! Is this book a fantastic ride that will have one grinning and smiling from beginning to end? Heck yes! I absolutely loved this book and I hope that Julie Murphy and Simone do more books together. The combining of the two authors writing makes for a lively and entertaining story. You felt the romance, you felt the sex and you felt the Christmas. The Christmas was very present and if I had to describe this this is a Hallmark movie, it’s a Hallmark movie meets SkinaMax and it works in all the best ways. 

 

When this book starts out, it’s almost like a holiday take on Schitts creek. Our main character, Matthew Prince is a New York socialite, who just bought an island with his parents money.  His punishment is to be shipped off to the country to stay with his grandparents who don’t come from money and won’t take it,  to keep his spending habits under wraps. Matthew Prince very much echoes David from Schitts creek: that rich preppy fish out of water type person. However, I like David!  Matthew Prince is really hard to like for the first half of this book. He has the spoiled rich kid complex, and it’s annoying. He also goes out of their way to point out that it’s his parents’ actions that have made him the way he is and all of his actions have been to get their attention. That may be the case, but it doesn’t mean it’s enjoyable to read. I really do like the love interest Hector in this male/male romance and I do think they make a cute couple. Once again, it feels resoundingly like shits creek. This doesn’t feel new or fresh. And while the title goes with the story, the Muppets Christmas, Carol comes up frequently. This does feel more like a retelling of a Christmas Carol then it does the Grinch. Matthew at one point in time does call himself the grinch but I guess you can see his heart growing or maybe it’s just his eyes are opened but… I just wanted to like this one more than I did. It’s very choppy. I love the town I love the grandparents. I love the side characters. I just really do not like Matthew prince. I do eventually feel for him and I’m happy for him, but he’s just so not for me. 

 

This is a love story, it does work, however, it feels extremely Y a. There is nothing wrong with YA romance. I happen to really like them but this does not feel right. Why a romance? I am glad the author repetitively reminded you that they are both in their early 20s because one’s graduating college and  the other one hasn’t been to school except for they the few months at New York University.  This book is steamy,  it’s not spicy.  I think if the author wants to write steam and spice, they need to read more of it. The action in this book was bland more like a humidifier than an actual steam. I give the author credit for trying, but they need a bit more practice. Overall, this was a fun book and maybe I would like it if Hallmark turned it into a movie but right now it feels more like a Netflix holiday movie then a Hallmark one.
 
 

 Narwhal and Jelly her back just in time for Halloween. Narwhal is so excited about the costume and the scary stuff and what he wants to be. He can’t decide should he be a ghost, a vampire, movie star, who knows! However, Jelly does not like the scary stuff and dreads Halloween. But when a monster threatens his friend, he’s going to put on his super cape and put his fears behind him. Just like all the Narwhal books, these are super fun.  They are for early readers, and they always make one laugh and smile. Their simplicity is what makes them memorable and a pleasure to read. 

 From the beginning, it is very obviously this book is about wanting time with family. Our main character has five Christmas wishes she will not share with anybody but Santa. We see her and her mom progressing about their day and mom gets a call from dad. Dad comes home from the military just in time for Christmas. As a former navy brat, I understand the sentiment behind this book. There were years we spent without my dad at Christmas and with and places with no family and only friends. In general, I like this book but I think it’s niche, it be great at a base library but at the same time for the kids that don’t get dad walking through the door on Christmas Day, it could be sad and heartbreaking. But because it’s one of the only books dealing with it subject, it will probably stay around for a while. 

 Sometimes you read books you never thought you would read and that is the case with Blue Pills. Based solely on the cover, I would never have gravitated to this title, but I am glad I found it and that I have read it. The reading challenge, Booked2022 challenged you to read a book where the protagonist is HIV positive or has aids. What I love about this book is it shows a romance between someone who is HIV positive and someone who is not, and how they change each other’s world. This is subtitled a positive love story and it is exactly that. It never looks at the downsides. It addresses them, but it’s not the main thing. It’s about the relationship, in finding the good things among the scary things. This book quietly screams of hope and joy and was not what I was expecting at all.  Even though it is 22 years old it’s still entirely relevant and a fantastic read whether you need to fill a reading challenge or just want to stretch your standard reading pile. 

 

This is a fun and cute read. It is a YA romcom. While it is set at Christmas, this book could be placed at any other time and the story would still be the same. I think selling it at Christmas is more of a marketing ploy, then integral to the story. This story is about two teenagers, whose families do not get along. It’s not quite a Hatfield and McCoy type thing, but there is a business deal gone wrong decades ago. These two teenagers have been raised very similarly. They have both been raised in the food court of the mall where both their parents’ run restaurants. However, malls are a thing of the past and many are closing down, disappearing, being torn down, etc. and this mall is no exception. However, these two teens are going to find a way to save the family business and save the mall. This book was a bit of a slow start. It sets out to make you think it’s going to be an enemies to lovers trope and it’s not. This book is one that many will read for the holiday cover and title, but it will be a flash in the pan that is not found on library shelves in a few years. Overall, I did like it, but I would’ve taken the Christmas out of it and set it at  a different time. Say the end of the school year. and in all honesty, On my Hallmark movie scale, this is pure Nickelodeon.