lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

This book was a short and sweet holiday read, with some steamy bits though! I definitely had the hots for our firefighter bad boy. Both Pear and Brock have things in their past that make their actions and hesitations totally make sense. The two of them getting together through all the 12 days of after Christmas actually is a nice progression of stages as each little task or event brings them closer together. Both have things to work through, and for the most part they do.

There is a bit of a 3rd act breakup that made me a little irritated at first at what the lie was. Such a little thing that it seemed like they got overly upset about it. However the story redeemed that for me in how it was handled. It was definitely realistic for me, in that yeah, there was anger, but the way it was resolved, and realizing it truly wasn’t that bad of a lie, and that maybe the other person had tried to tell them at one point, all of it trickled down to a perfect make up and moving on. 

I’ve only read two of this books in this loosely connected series, but have enjoyed them both. And listening to this one was great because the narrators were wonderful. They totally made it come to life.

I have been waiting for Isaac Sylvester’s story for so long! And I was not let me down in my waiting, this fulfilled all that I’d hoped! Now I did start out not liking Isaac and the way he made some quick incorrect assumptions about Hannah. But of course if any author knows how to write a character so that you will fall in love with them despite this type of start, or that you can feel they’ve redeemed themselves, it is Penny Reid. 

We started out with Hannah’s retirement from the Pink Pony, or retiring from dancing, as she would be taking over running the club after Hank has moved on at the end of Folk Around and Find Out. Hank wasn’t completely gone though, he was there to help Hannah when she needed him, even at a bachelorette or hen party at the end, as a stripper! Hannah’s life had been rough. There was a reason she went became a stripper instead of going on to college as she’d planned. But now, she’d been able to get her college degree and was ready to put it to work running and hopefully making the Pink Pony even more successful.

Isaac Sylvester is a character I’ve wanted to know more about for so long. Since he is Jenn Sylvester’s brother, and only showed up in mysterious situations, or as “Twilight” one of the Iron Wraiths. He shows up on the night of Hannah’s retirement party and asks for 5 back to back private room lap dances. Hannah has no idea why, and since she’s always had a crush on him, she thinks maybe the other strippers got him for her as a gift. She’s always used him as her “stand-in”, that’s the person she imagines as she’s dancing or giving lap dances. 

Well of course Isaac is not there for that. His friend Tina didn’t do her part in setting up the meeting between them, and there are totally some misconceptions on Isaac’s part to start this whole thing out. His reaction and behavior made me not a fan of his! However as the story goes along, and he finds out/realizes how wrong he was, I definitely began to like him. 

We knew his family life had been rough just from what we learned of Jenn and her mother and how bad her dad had been. But the extent of what Isaac dealt with was unknown till we get his side in this story. I loved their developing relationship. There were parts that definitely had me feeling all the emotions for and with Hannah. And I loved how the got together at the end. I love that instead of a third act breakup, we had the dangerous thing happen to make us worry about them.

I have to mention that even though it is obvious something more has to happen with the bad guy, it wasn’t in the way or where I had actually expected it to happen. I love that even though Reid writes romance, which in a way has a pattern to follow, she knows how to keep the story fresh and unique every time we read a new one from her. 

More than the main couple, I enjoyed all the supporting characters as well. And time spent with Cletus Winston is never time wasted in my opinion, so that was like the cherry on top for this story! I don’t know that we have any more in this series coming, I think this was the last. I think I would love to see Tina’s story maybe in the future, but I can get that she is also happy where she is. I like how the author dealt with the dancers and did the best job she could with showing in the story what their lives are like and how hard it is for them to deal with people’s opinions that are not at all fair. Now I’m anxious for the author’s store to open so I can get the bearded cover to match the other two in the series. Although it’s possible I don’t have the first one somehow? Of course I love the new covers too, so I kind of want to own them all in both formats! 

I’ve wanted to read this author for awhile. So when a holiday romance popped up, I jumped at the chance to read and review! This was a very quick and easy read. It had fun holiday aspects, especially with the setting of a town that was basically dedicated to Christmas all year long! 

Definitely a grumpy/sunshine but also an enemies to lovers romance too. Once upon a time, Nicholas and Noelle (perfect names for this story) were best friends. And then Nicholas – our grump/Christmas hating hero – moved away and when he asked Noelle to come with, but she said no because she loved the town, he told her they were over. When he comes back because he’s been given ownership of the town, the two meet and fireworks explode! 

Nicholas is flirty and can’t seem to keep from offering her innuendos and telling her exactly how he feels about her. Noelle can’t believe he really likes her that way at first, because why in the world would he have left her like he did? Things quickly heat up between the two of them, and they do get together. This book had a lot of spicy bedroom scenes. 

It reminded me of when I first started reading more romance and I looked for the books like this, almost at times speeding through the story to get to the steamy scenes. However these days I tend to put more interest into the story itself, and in some ways this fell a little short for me because at times there seemed to be more of those scenes than story. I also felt there were a few instances where the story jumped or skipped over something, and I’d have to go back a few pages to see what I’d maybe missed, but this time I didn’t find anything missed.

Overall I did enjoy it, especially all the fun Christmas puns and innuendos the two of them tossed back and forth both in banter as well as during the sexy times. 

I have been a big fan of this author so when I heard she had a holiday book coming out, I was excited to read it! This was a fun and quick read. I really liked the setting and getting to learn about the area as well as the hotel business a little bit. I’m also excited that this is going to be a series, and I’m guessing each of the books may have a holiday theme like this one.

Rosie and Drew were the right couple at the wrong time when they first met. Both had interest in each other, but someone else came along before they could get together. Now they’re both single again, and both kind of need a significant other to deal with exes or pushy family. So you get your good old fake dating trope with this story. Fake dating turns into friends, then friends with benefits, then of course a misunderstanding or one is actually ready to give it a try as a real relationship, causing the big third act breakup.

I loved Rosie’s family, especially when she learned maybe they were there for her more than she thought and she just hadn’t let them in the way they wanted. I hated Drew’s parents, so mad at the way they treated him and his sister and how they caused Drew to have the issues he did. Rosie had some great friends she worked with, they called themselves the Duchess Damsels. All who I hope will have their own stories in this series. I adored them and their friendships, and look forward to the grumpy sunshine romance I think is coming next for a Valentine’s story.

While for me this wasn’t as perfect as the last series was for me, not sure why, something about it wasn’t the same, I still enjoyed it a lot for a good holiday read and as I said, will be waiting for the next one to come out!

It's not that it's not good, I could just tell I wasn't going to enjoy it. But I can totally see my sports fiction readers loving this one even from the little bit I read.

I have wanted to read something by this author duo for a while, and this one popped up for a review at a perfect time to fit it in! I have several freebies, so now I know I’ll have to get to them sooner! I also found two that are holiday and obviously go with this one because of the characters, but it’s not a series. They’re on Audible, so I’ll probably get them there!

So I really enjoyed this book! It had all the things you’d expect in a forced proximity, enemies to lovers, one bed, holiday read! I have found I enjoy books where the families or people engage in fun holiday competitions, even if I know I might not always be the type of person to do that. I loved the ones they did though. A cookie decorating contest, gingerbread house contest, tree decorating, and snowman building, those are the ones I would love to be a part of. This was a rom-com for sure with al the crazy things that happened during the competitions as well as with their family and friends. 

It was a quick read with some romantic times, some steamy times, and some good humor as I mentioned above. The misunderstandings for the most part were understandable, and how the characters went about fixing those things or realizing the truth was very realistic in my opinion, and not at all overly dramatic in a way I would have complained about. 

A quick fun holiday read that I definitely recommend, and I’ll be sure to read more by this author duo in the future!