Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

21 reviews

sweetteaandfiction's review

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funny lighthearted 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

3.0

The Under the Mistletoe Collection features five romantic Christmas short stories with a dash of spice from Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Alexis Daria. While the Valentines counterparts were much less spicy, these holiday romances definitely heat things up with a strong spice level. 

This collection doesn’t come out as strong as the Improbable Meet-Cutes. 

Overall, I give these holiday romances 3/5 ⭐️’s 

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur is a painfully relatable tale of an accident prone girl (that is the relatable bit) finding romance with the fire fighter who catches her every time she falls. 

PROS: 
🍪Found family 
🎄Finding a home for the holidays 

CONS: 
🍪Sleeping with someone one time and choosing to uproot your whole life is a lot. 

 🔥🔥🔥 out of five Christmas cookie kitchen fires

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britwalsh16's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Such a cute quick read! Where’s my hot fireman to come rescue me? I’m just loving these short stories! Only one more to go & 1 more day till Christmas! 

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tguccione's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-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

4.0


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danimichelle's review

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1.0

What just happened?

This was going to be a 4 star read (and probably my favorite in this series) up until the 70% mark. I’ve never gone from 4 stars to 1 star in the blink of an eye like that.

Content warnings for the book and this review: near-dr*wning, description of dr*wning, grief, loss, fire 

I was really enjoying this until I got to the end of chapter three and was blindsided by not just a near dr*wning (which I could have moved past) but a description of what happens to dr*wning victims in the moment. I know this is a me thing—and this is really the only thing I try to avoid in media I consume— but I’m sorry, why was this necessary? I didn’t think I needed to check content warnings for a 50ish page holiday romcom, but I will in the future, I guess. 

The smut immediately afterwards just made my stomach turn and the ending was so abrupt, all I was left with was my feelings 🥲


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beebowbabe's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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manda_reads's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book follows Everleigh and Griffin. Griffin responds to a baking fire at Everleigh's grandma's house. The baking mishap is the first of a series of unfortunate events for Everleigh. Everleigh's mishaps lead her to find something much more valuable. Overall, this book was a cute read. The flirtatious banter between Everleigh and Griffin and the character development of Everleigh and Griffin were so smooth that the sex scenes didn't bother me However, the language in this book is strong.

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luna_98's review

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
very cutesy and steamy. not as christmassy as the others in my opinion but i did enjoy and added the author’s other books to my tbr!

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crystalisreading's review

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lighthearted relaxing

3.5

Another cute short story from the Amazon Christmas collection. This wasn't my favorite though.  It felt underdeveloped. Conflict that turned out to be nothing was not really worth including as part of the story.  Griffin could be sweet,  and I loved his job as a firefighter,  but he was also frequently very cocky and a little harsh with his humor. (And who asks to do doggy style the first time?!) And while he self identifie as bi/ pan, he came across as very stereotypically "masculine".  At least this was a short read.  I think I'll stick with Bellefleur's Sapphic romances instead.  

Also this is the second story in this collection that I've read that prominently features grief over the recent loss of a grandparent. Proceed accordingly.  

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isabelvegga's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

My favourite one!☺️

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beckyyreadss's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

When Amazon announced this short series of books by some of my favourite authors, I was all for it. This is the second book that I've read out of the five and this is by an author I've not read before. This is how a short festive story is supposed to be, all about Christmas and ends with smut and an ending that could be left alone or could be extended if the author wants to.  

This book is based on Everleigh Dangerfield, and she has had a baking disaster which resolves in her neighbour calling 9-1-1. Firefighter Griffin Brantley comes to save the day and douses the flames in the kitchen, but the ones he stokes in Everleigh are an entirely different story. Unfortunately, Everleigh’s only visiting and doesn’t do casual hookups, no matter how smoldering the temptation. But Everleigh’s holiday mishaps have just begun. And Griffin is seemingly always on call. If Everleigh is game for a change of plans, he can give her the merriest Christmas of her life.  

I liked that this one was surrounding Christmas, it started with a disaster from cooking and then she gets stuck trying to put up Christmas lights, all whilst dealing with her own grief at Christmas. It just reminded me of an episode of 9-1-1 and yes, I was thinking that Oliver Stark was Griffin Brantley. Just because it would be a season 1 Evan Buckley thing to do, fall in love with a woman on a case, not getting her details and then calling her trouble and then seeing her multiple times and calling it fate. I just loved that there was some chemistry then and it wasn't just all smut. 

Even though it was a short story, and I knew what I was getting into, I wanted more. This could have been a whole 200–300-page book and I probably would have devoured it. I wanted the background of the town. I wanted dual POV, I wanted to know more about Brantley and why he became a firefighter. I wanted to see more of the firehouse and Everleigh being there more often, maybe even learning how to cook so she brings more treats over. 

As stated, I liked that it could be left alone or that the author could carry this on. I am hoping that the author carries it on, even if it’s a case of the small-town and different members of the fire department because I would love to see Miller get his happy ending. This was my first time reading this author and I am going to make sure, it’s not the last time I read this author.  

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