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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
fast-paced
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book sounded cute in theory but wasn’t. The plot was slow and boring. The secondary characters didn’t have enough backstory to them. I didn’t like how she was forced into staying for a year before they could consider selling the company. The romance was basic and expected tbh
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this! Emily Stone always balances the holidays with heartbreak, growth, and finding your own warmth in a cold season of life. I usually love her works, so I was excited for this, but unfortunately was not my fav of hers. Lexie is grieving and processing the death of her estranged father while also in the typically beloved enemies to lovers trope. I ADORE this trope, but felt like this one was missing something unfortunately. Lexie showed personal growth in her own journey which was relatable and real, but feel this book was missing something to make it amazing.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia
** I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **
Another Netgalley backlog read - book publication date: Oct 2024
This book is a hard one for me to rate. The FMC, Lexie, inherits half of her father's travel agency after he passes away. The problem is... she was estranged from her father for many years and doesn't want to have anything to do with running the business, especially since she'll have to share those ownership responsibilities with Theo, her father's annoying exec.
Lexie definitely has her own issues of feeling abandoned since her dad walked out on her and her mother years ago. And while this has a bit of "enemies to lovers" aspect, I never really understood why they were enemies and the "lovers" seemed like of forced and I never really felt any chemistry between Lexie and Theo. Throw in the "miscommunication trope" towards the end and I was ready to DNF the book with only about 10% left to go.
Things I liked:
- the trips and itineraries for the travel agency. I could picture myself in France and Madrid. Listening to the descriptions of food, buildings, and the local people really made me miss my time spent in Europe. When Theo described a recon trip to Bruges, I could almost smell the waffles and chocolate that are seriously unlike anything anywhere else.
- Lexie developing a friendship with her half-sister, Rachel. I liked seeing their relationship as half-sisters slowly turn into a friendship, but I just wish we ended up with more of the two of them together
Another Netgalley backlog read - book publication date: Oct 2024
This book is a hard one for me to rate. The FMC, Lexie, inherits half of her father's travel agency after he passes away. The problem is... she was estranged from her father for many years and doesn't want to have anything to do with running the business, especially since she'll have to share those ownership responsibilities with Theo, her father's annoying exec.
Lexie definitely has her own issues of feeling abandoned since her dad walked out on her and her mother years ago. And while this has a bit of "enemies to lovers" aspect, I never really understood why they were enemies and the "lovers" seemed like of forced and I never really felt any chemistry between Lexie and Theo. Throw in the "miscommunication trope" towards the end and I was ready to DNF the book with only about 10% left to go.
Things I liked:
- the trips and itineraries for the travel agency. I could picture myself in France and Madrid. Listening to the descriptions of food, buildings, and the local people really made me miss my time spent in Europe. When Theo described a recon trip to Bruges, I could almost smell the waffles and chocolate that are seriously unlike anything anywhere else.
- Lexie developing a friendship with her half-sister, Rachel. I liked seeing their relationship as half-sisters slowly turn into a friendship, but I just wish we ended up with more of the two of them together
Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I could not connect with the characters or become invested in the storyline. I tried so hard, but it was very lagging for me when reading.
This was just okay. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. The main characters were kind of meh and I didn’t really buy into the romance. The ending was sweet though.
The hatred, the tension, the push pull, the misconceptions, the judgment…it was all there for a perfect enemies to lovers but it was missing something…
Lexi’s estranged dad Richard just passed away and when she returns for the funeral she finds out that he passed along his travel business, R&L travel, to her and his co-worker, the infuriating and good looking, Theo. Per the stipulations in the will, they must both work at the company for one year and if they make a profit, then they can sell but if they don't make a profit they are stuck together for another 5 years. What is it with crazy clauses in Wills? Every book with a Will reading scene has some insane stipulation that drives the plot and I kinda like it.
Lexi doesn't want to be a part of the company, she resents her dad for leaving when she was seven and for letting her down time and time again her entire childhood and into her adult life, while he was the perfect father for his new family and her half sister, Rachel.
Theo judges Lexi from the start and thinks she is snotty and spoiled for not answering her fathers phone calls when he reached out to her. He only knows Richard as a great business person and mentor to him and cannot fathom why Lexi dislikes her father so much and is being a brat about the company.
With a little meddling from the company's assistant, Theo and Lexi find themselves on different R&L travel trips for the company to see if they can work together to make this company turn a profit. The jabs keep coming but when all the fighting leads to some passion, can Lexi and Theo keep it professional, especially since they dislike each other so much?
The banter when they were hating each other was so good and then when it turned into flirting, it lost its luster. It was a little blah and disjointed. I didn't really feel the connection between the two main characters. Her emotions would turn on a dime and then she always felt guilty about how she felt. I wanted a little more gusto. He held a grudge for no reason and when she called him out he just apologized and everything was washed away. Like he got a fresh start for being awful. I wanted more groveling and him fighting to get into her good graces to prove he was a good person, not the judgmental one he started out as.
The most exciting thing about this book was the traveling and locations they visited. I wanted to go on these trips and be a part of the adventure they were on. They sounded amazing! Madrid, France, Ireland- sign me up. Unfortunately this meant I wasn't as invested in their romance as much.
Overall, this book was still cute and enjoyable and dealt with some heavier themes. It's a nice weekend read over the holidays.
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
Lexi’s estranged dad Richard just passed away and when she returns for the funeral she finds out that he passed along his travel business, R&L travel, to her and his co-worker, the infuriating and good looking, Theo. Per the stipulations in the will, they must both work at the company for one year and if they make a profit, then they can sell but if they don't make a profit they are stuck together for another 5 years. What is it with crazy clauses in Wills? Every book with a Will reading scene has some insane stipulation that drives the plot and I kinda like it.
Lexi doesn't want to be a part of the company, she resents her dad for leaving when she was seven and for letting her down time and time again her entire childhood and into her adult life, while he was the perfect father for his new family and her half sister, Rachel.
Theo judges Lexi from the start and thinks she is snotty and spoiled for not answering her fathers phone calls when he reached out to her. He only knows Richard as a great business person and mentor to him and cannot fathom why Lexi dislikes her father so much and is being a brat about the company.
With a little meddling from the company's assistant, Theo and Lexi find themselves on different R&L travel trips for the company to see if they can work together to make this company turn a profit. The jabs keep coming but when all the fighting leads to some passion, can Lexi and Theo keep it professional, especially since they dislike each other so much?
The banter when they were hating each other was so good and then when it turned into flirting, it lost its luster. It was a little blah and disjointed. I didn't really feel the connection between the two main characters. Her emotions would turn on a dime and then she always felt guilty about how she felt. I wanted a little more gusto. He held a grudge for no reason and when she called him out he just apologized and everything was washed away. Like he got a fresh start for being awful. I wanted more groveling and him fighting to get into her good graces to prove he was a good person, not the judgmental one he started out as.
The most exciting thing about this book was the traveling and locations they visited. I wanted to go on these trips and be a part of the adventure they were on. They sounded amazing! Madrid, France, Ireland- sign me up. Unfortunately this meant I wasn't as invested in their romance as much.
Overall, this book was still cute and enjoyable and dealt with some heavier themes. It's a nice weekend read over the holidays.
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
medium-paced