Holiday Romance

Pretty cute, like People We Meet On Vacation but better and Christmassy 🥰

I love Christmas romances this time of year, and this was a very sweet one.
I think the holiday version of grumpy/sunshine is Grinch/Buddy The Elf. All I'm asking for is a holiday rom-com where both people are obsessed with Christmas. Is that too much to ask? I'm also not big on the miscommunication trope, or the travel catastrophes. Other than this gripes, I enjoyed it.

Such a lovely friends to lovers holiday romance ❤️The ending felt a little rushed for me, but loved the past - present way of writing.

I loved this - it is one of the best romance books that I have read in a long time.

Molly and Andrew were great main characters - they had great banter, lots of laugh out loud moments but also lots of affection and warmth towards each other which felt refreshing.

I was instantly drawn into this book and couldn't put it down - the writing flowed perfectly and never felt disjointed even when looking back in time.

Overall an amazing heartwarming book.

Perfect cute christmas romcom story, exactly what I was looking for. I thought the main characters were very lovable, their friendship/relationship is very cute and the side characters were great. I really like the relationship progression, they were clearly great friends and and we got to see both the growing of (their realisation of) their feelings and some time of them as a couple (I'm always a little disappointed when a story cuts of right as the characters get together), wouldn't have minded more, but I'm just a sucker for these kinds of stories

2023 was... not a good year. Not even reading-wise. So, as one of the last books in 2023 I wanted to read something holiday'ish, funny and emotional. Thankfully, this novel worked out very well: Andrew and Molly are kind, empathetic and relatable people...»“I'm honestly okay.” Only now that I've opened the floodgates, hell if I know how to close them again. Oh God, did I break something inside? Is this just who I am now?I'm going to be so dehydrated.«Both have been flying home for Christmas for nine consecutive years and although they predictably became friends soon, things have been shifting between them. Now, on their tenth journey together, pretty much everything goes wrong. Yes, it's all very predictable but the chemistry between Molly and Andrew is a formula for success and their banter - both in the present and in the interspersed flashbacks to earlier years - is both heartfelt and, very often, hilarious. At times, I actually laughed out loud (something I rarely ever do while reading).I found myself hoping the author and her heroes wouldn't mess up - and they didn't: Yes, there's a kind of “shock moment” (not a third-act breakup, though) shortly before the end but it's plausible and intelligently handled.I also really enjoyed that once both Molly and Andrew come to understand their respective feelings and challenges, they actually talk to each other. Miscommunication can be so annoying and here, a lot of that is avoided:»Andrew frowns, draping the towel against the back of a chair. “What's up?”“I want to decide what this is before Christmas,” I say. “I don't want to wait until we get back to Chicago. That's too long. You said you're not going anywhere, but I need to know where we stand or I'll just go crazy.” I pause, sliding my hands down my thighs. “Does that make sense?”“Of course it does.”«Of course, not everything is perfect: The protagonists each struggle with a few problems, which the author isn't always capable of addressing with the desirable sensitivity.The holiday atmosphere was wonderfully consistent and I read a lot of this book in an extremely comfortable armchair, between the illuminated Christmas tree and a quietly spinning Christmas pyramid, next to my wife of 24 years (minus one day at the time of writing).»I could get used to this.Going to bed with him, waking up with him, repeating it over and over again until it stops being special. Until I can take him for granted.Not in that bad way, but a comfortable one. Knowing that he'll be there. Just like he's always been.«After having done just that for more than 8700 nights, I know what Molly means and here's to hoping for more of the same! Four stars out of five.Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

I enjoy Catherine Walsh's writing and characters, but I just don't find friend-to-lovers an interesting enough premise for an entire book.