Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - A Holly Jolly Ever After

(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.

Content Warnings

sami_leigh's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

Sometimes I just had to remember I was supposed to be in character, but I guess that wasn’t so bad when my character was falling harder than a Jenga tower, because I was too.

It didn’t matter that he was sexy and silly and warmhearted, or that when I was with him, all the ideas of Old Winnie and New Winnie melted away, and there was only Now Winnie and she was enough.

I grew up thinking purity was this binary thing that you had or you didn’t, and once it was marred even the tiniest amount, there was no going back.

“You really got it bad for her?” “She’s my person,”

🎄 Dual POV (Prologue & Epilogue in third POV)
🎄 Workplace romance; on set of a (steamy) Christmas movie!
🎄 Forced proximity
🎄 Conservative wholesome-movie star & Pop Star with a sex tape
🎄 He helps her ‘research’ for their steamy scenes on screen 😏
🎄 He falls first; long time crush
🎄 Well established secondary characters; Sunny, Bee & Nolan (Book 1), Topher, Tamara, Teddy, Steph, Jack, Addison, Isaac.
🎄 MC growth: Trust, reliability, family trauma, self worth, risking a relationship.
🎄 Spicy 🥵
🎄 Sex Positivity & Consent Culture
🎄 Body respect
🎄 Representation of diverse sexualities
🎄 Representation of the impact of purity culture & finding balance in faith
🎄 Banter!

Available in audiobook, paperback, & ebook. KU.

⚠️ Infidelity (by ex-husband), gaslighting/toxic relationship (ex-husband, parents), infertility, pregnancy, medical trauma (minor).

Content Warnings

mbzoller's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was fun, surprisingly deep and a moderately xmas-ey.

I loved the male MC but there was less excitement, less holiday feels, and less healthy communication in this one than the first so it didn't hit as well.

Also, I had to rate it lower for the jump scare pregnancy.

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hannahmichele5's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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rachminick's review

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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

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cover2covertx's review

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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.

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reemoony's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

3.0

i got exactly what i expected out of a holiday romance novel. (nothing btw).

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