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allierose2's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
Sometimes your holiday holds don’t come through til January and that’s ok….
This was good at times but tbh I feel like it’s irresponsible not to list TW at the front of a book like this that contains some pretty triggering non-sexual content, likeaccidental pregnancy and near-miscarriage can be really rough for some people and it seems irresponsible to not acknowledge that going in.
This was good at times but tbh I feel like it’s irresponsible not to list TW at the front of a book like this that contains some pretty triggering non-sexual content, like
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage
downsophialane's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A mid-book surprise baby is always going to get a lot of people offside, and I'm sure the authors wre aware of this (Sierra Simone in particular famously prefers to polarise her readers rather than play it safe). I thought this twist worked quite well for the heroine's post-purity culture journey. Winnie's subsequent distance and, yes, the miscommunication throughout stems logically from her purity culture trauma and Kallum's established flaws as a man who had never needed to step up and grow up. I understand miscommunication can be frustrating for some readers but honestly this seems like a good example of that trope to me... They're not just stupid, it comes from their own misconceptions and backstories... Exactly as miscommunication happens in real life!
I was a little disappointed that apart from one fleeting mention that she still has a "connection" with God, there is no mention of Winnie's relationship to her faith (beyond the purity culture imposed upon her) but that's a me thing; this isn't another Priest so I won't review it like it was trying to be.
Can I say, these epilogues from Teddy's POV are a stroke of genious because all I want is more from him!
I was a little disappointed that apart from one fleeting mention that she still has a "connection" with God, there is no mention of Winnie's relationship to her faith (beyond the purity culture imposed upon her) but that's a me thing; this isn't another Priest so I won't review it like it was trying to be.
Can I say, these epilogues from Teddy's POV are a stroke of genious because all I want is more from him!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol and Blood
Minor: Miscarriage and Body shaming
dangcrystal's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage and Vomit
chanzlyn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's honestly such a toss up where this book really is for me??
Overall I LOVED the book, it hit the Hallmark Spice Movie levels for me and then some. Truly some of the best spice I think between the two series (Kallum had some nice dom vibes).
I don't love the accidental-pregnancy trope but it works for this world because it's a contemporary hallmark romance. Like I genuinely hate accidental-pregnancies but it felt alright for this tbh.
Also they brought up how Winnie has narcolepsy and mention it a lot in this book only to ultimately do nothing with it. It felt unnecessary and just like filler to make the book longer for some reason. I'm ALL for representation of people's disabilities and the like but I feel like if you're going to mention it as much as they did in this book and to not do anything with it just felt so weird.
But on the other hand, some of the writing was a bit odd.
Spoilers ahead, not detailed:
I thought it was odd that half way through the book the two were basically in love and happy and it was ONLY half way?? I'm not a slowburn kind of person so it's not that I wish that they had held out longer but it's more like the plot after they got together felt a bit jarring.
I hate third-act breakups but they don't just break up once, but TWICE! And it's because of a miscommunication/lack of communication!!! LIKE YALL ARE 30, TALK TO EACH OTHER. I get some of the traumas that Winnie has, absolutely, but her inability to talk to the one person she was trusting and was making unilateral decisions for both of them was so bizarre.
I honestly kind of wanted the first half and just the last third of the last half to be the story. Like after the first break up, just skip to Kallum giving her space and just doing his LA thing to setup for the baby.
But all-in-all, this was a cute silly hallmark spiced story.
Winnie was fun and brought up interesting discussions about the purity culture but I think it was too much. I understand she was recovering from it and trauma heals differently for everyone but it felt too much of a focus for this book. Kallum, what a dream guy - lumber jack, dad bod, kind of man that's a dom but also respectful?? Loooved him. He definitely had a bit of a childish personality but I feel like they showed how he was well rounded in that he can be serious when it was necessary.
Overall I LOVED the book, it hit the Hallmark Spice Movie levels for me and then some. Truly some of the best spice I think between the two series (Kallum had some nice dom vibes).
I don't love the accidental-pregnancy trope but it works for this world because it's a contemporary hallmark romance. Like I genuinely hate accidental-pregnancies but it felt alright for this tbh.
Also they brought up how Winnie has narcolepsy and mention it a lot in this book only to ultimately do nothing with it. It felt unnecessary and just like filler to make the book longer for some reason. I'm ALL for representation of people's disabilities and the like but I feel like if you're going to mention it as much as they did in this book and to not do anything with it just felt so weird.
But on the other hand, some of the writing was a bit odd.
Spoilers ahead, not detailed:
I thought it was odd that half way through the book the two were basically in love and happy and it was ONLY half way?? I'm not a slowburn kind of person so it's not that I wish that they had held out longer but it's more like the plot after they got together felt a bit jarring.
I hate third-act breakups but they don't just break up once, but TWICE! And it's because of a miscommunication/lack of communication!!! LIKE YALL ARE 30, TALK TO EACH OTHER. I get some of the traumas that Winnie has, absolutely, but her inability to talk to the one person she was trusting and was making unilateral decisions for both of them was so bizarre.
I honestly kind of wanted the first half and just the last third of the last half to be the story. Like after the first break up, just skip to Kallum giving her space and just doing his LA thing to setup for the baby.
But all-in-all, this was a cute silly hallmark spiced story.
Winnie was fun and brought up interesting discussions about the purity culture but I think it was too much. I understand she was recovering from it and trauma heals differently for everyone but it felt too much of a focus for this book. Kallum, what a dream guy - lumber jack, dad bod, kind of man that's a dom but also respectful?? Loooved him. He definitely had a bit of a childish personality but I feel like they showed how he was well rounded in that he can be serious when it was necessary.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
maggiemccoy13's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy and Miscarriage
onkenzisshelf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I enjoyed this book a lot, overall, but there were a few things that kept me from rating it higher than a 3:
- Winnie had narcolepsy, which is not a representation you often see, yet it was barely mentioned. She and Kallum never talked about it and it was instead just mentioned in passing throughout the book. It felt more like a gimmick than anything.
- The cheesiness was almost cringey. You always expect a holiday book to be cringey, but this was almost too much.
This is probably because I am currently pregnant and very in tune with this kind of thing, but the timeline was SO wonky with her pregnancy that I couldn't handle it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage
daffodill37's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
(Audio)
This book starts off fun and sweet and sexy but takes a surprisingly dark and (emotionally) scary turn a little over halfway through. I will say it does have a really lovely HEA but there really ought to be some warnings on this book. I'm going to include them below so, FYI, spoilers ahead.
I'd also like to note that the characters were lovable and fun and it's nice to see some familiar characters sort of in the background. I think the writing is fine and the setting/characters are all just fine but the storyline was far from fun and fancy free like previous installments.
Now, to the warnings/spoilers here.
There is an unexpected pregnancy with physical complications that is used as the main plot driver for the second half of the book. At one point we are set up to reasonably believe that the characters could potentially lose the (very much wanted) pregnancy.
While we're talking about warnings let's go ahead and mention that we have a very awful, overbearing and unsupportive set of parents. This story also revolves around the character's previous life of religion and purity culture (which is actively challenged by this character as well as many others).
This is honestly not the book I expected to read and wouldn't recommended it to anyone due to the themes it works with.
This book starts off fun and sweet and sexy but takes a surprisingly dark and (emotionally) scary turn a little over halfway through. I will say it does have a really lovely HEA but there really ought to be some warnings on this book. I'm going to include them below so, FYI, spoilers ahead.
I'd also like to note that the characters were lovable and fun and it's nice to see some familiar characters sort of in the background. I think the writing is fine and the setting/characters are all just fine but the storyline was far from fun and fancy free like previous installments.
Now, to the warnings/spoilers here.
There is an unexpected pregnancy with physical complications that is used as the main plot driver for the second half of the book. At one point we are set up to reasonably believe that the characters could potentially lose the (very much wanted) pregnancy.
While we're talking about warnings let's go ahead and mention that we have a very awful, overbearing and unsupportive set of parents. This story also revolves around the character's previous life of religion and purity culture (which is actively challenged by this character as well as many others).
This is honestly not the book I expected to read and wouldn't recommended it to anyone due to the themes it works with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
rachminick's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage and Infertility
Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
thepunkmystic's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
Immediate 1 star review for the fake out, the premise of the book is a lighthearted one and it's ruined by the reveal. Drags after that. Bummer
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
cover2covertx's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think the authors wanted to put too many themes and plots into one story arc. It just made things kind of messy in the second half. Also, no trigger warnings was a bad move for this one especially. And miscarriage should never be used as a casual plot device and the way it was handled absolutely felt like that I’ll definitely be reading the third in the series whenever it comes out but this book didn’t fit with the vibe of the Christmas Notch books all because of that second half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Infertility, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
Religious trauma Purity culture