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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
This was such a great book, and I literally read it in a couple of hours! I do wish the main lead had more of a backbone, but she gets there at the very end, and I do mean the very end of the book. But other than that, it really is a laugh out loud book.
Gracie let everyone walk over her and treat her like servant (which made me furious). Only at the end did she grow some backbone.
Hudson was a huge jerk at the beginning but later he became quite sweet.
One thing I didn't like about this book was how Kelly never got punished for her shitty behaviour and how everyone in her family turned blind eye to it.
Hudson was a huge jerk at the beginning but later he became quite sweet.
One thing I didn't like about this book was how Kelly never got punished for her shitty behaviour and how everyone in her family turned blind eye to it.
The main characters in this Christmas themed story are Gracie, who loves everything to do with Christmas and allows her family to walk all over her, as she tries to be the good girl, and then Christmas hating Hudson, who has been hired to find out the dirt on her family’s company and will use her to do so. Gracie was supposed to be marrying her fiancé James at Christmas, until she caught him having sex with her younger sister Kelly, under the family Christmas tree! Her sister, James and even her extended family blamed her not satisfying him and when Kelly and James announce their engagement the next morning, on Christmas Eve, she has to grin and bear it, or James will tell everyone her secret! She is even pulled into organising absolutely everything for her own sister and ex-fiance’s wedding planning, even having to pay out for goods as her sister takes every single idea she had for her own Christmas wedding, and decides to use it for her wedding to James the following Christmas. James is also Gracie’s boss at the family business her father started, only he has not a clue about how to run the company and it is again, Gracie who does just about everything. Her father has allowed Kelly and lots of the extended family to be on the books as employed with the company, but none actually show up to do anything for more than a day or so a year! The last straw is when Kelly cuts up their great grandmother’s wedding dress, which Gracie was supposed to wear for her wedding, making a completely hack of it and telling Gracie to fix it.
The only member of the extended family she does work with is her cousin Dakota and she is pretty much her only friend. Together they plan how they can ruin James and Kelly’s wedding and paying them back with some of their own medicine. James drives the company car back to her family home weeks before the holidays, leaving Gracie to struggle with the bus and also leaves her a list of things to pick up at the shops on her way home, and not to be late. As she is expected to cook, serve and clean up after her whole extended family! The only seat on the bus is near the back and this is where she meets the handsome but annoying Hudson, the perfect image of a bad boy and she hires him to pretend to be her boyfriend and get her sister to sleep with him. They will need to be caught in the act by James hopefully, or some of the rest of the family and she will enjoy watching Kelly’s stealing of her fiancé implode! Kelly was and still is a wild child who prefers to go out clubbing and sleeping around, always being naughty, but somehow being the perfect daughter, that Gracie is told she should be! Lots of family angst and past hang-ups for both Gracie and Hudson to overcome. Hudson came from the wrong side of town, and has a sister Elsa and four brothers, who he has working for him in the security company he set up. Their childhood was a hard one once their father died, with an alcoholic mother and a string of boyfriends, with Hudson sent to prison for something he didn’t do and his siblings going into care, until he could reunite them all. Hudson has his current client getting on at him to find the dirt by December 23rd, or lose the contract, the huge payout and any chance of any other work from him! This job is a huge one for Hudson’s family company and he will do pretty much anything to win.
But, as he gets to know Gracie better and sees exactly how much she does for everyone else, without ever taking any tie for herself, he wonders whether he can actually sleep with her to make the ruse believable, especially when new information comes to light near the end! He is a breath of fresh air and totally rocks the bad boy attitude in front of her family, inviting himself along to a family dinner when she doesn’t contact him soon enough. His rude banter is even better than the two warring grannies from her parent’s sides of the family, one who carries a sword hidden within her walking stick! He talks up her sexual prowess to make James and Kelly jealous and get Kelly’s attention, having stolen both Gracie’s previous boyfriends and now her fiancé, there is no doubt she will try to take Hudson. He makes very inappropriate comments and grabs her in front of everyone, letting them get an earful of what they have been getting up to supposedly. Gracie needs to grow a backbone when it comes ot her family and the business and it seems Hudson is the man to help her. She finds her falling for him, even though she knows this is all just pretend and why would he ever want someone as dull as her, but Hudson finds himself unable to leave her alone either. At first he convinces himself, it is so he can what he needs and access the company’s computers, needing her to take him to the office, so he can get what his client wants, and having to be around her so he is there when that opportunity occurs. His siblings laugh at the photos being posted of him taking part in Christmas activities, since he doesn’t allow any decorations at their business, nor his home. A naughty photo gets spread far wider than just her family, to sell the story he and Gracie are playing at. But it seems it is maybe not quite as much of a con as at first thought, as each gets tangled up with the other. Until the truth comes out and the con becomes a little too close to the edge for either to really handle. There are so many laughs in this story, with Gracie’s extended family, especially her parents, the grans and her evil sister, bringing the biggest comedy to the tale, with James being a sad and easily led man who would never keep a woman, with Gracie and Hudson being made for each other. They are total opposites at first meeting, but I loved the Gracie at the end, a take charge character, who has clearly learnt from Hudson just how to exert herself within her family and in business, as new opportunities arrive. A great ending but almost not, as doubts creep in. All her single female cousins want one of Hudson’s brothers to fall for them, but I was hoping Dakota might find her match, so long as it wasn’t with his youngest brother Jake! A laugh a minute and the chaos of family gathering for the holidays being taken to the extremes. I loved it! I can’t wait to read some more of the author’s books now. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
5+ stars
The only member of the extended family she does work with is her cousin Dakota and she is pretty much her only friend. Together they plan how they can ruin James and Kelly’s wedding and paying them back with some of their own medicine. James drives the company car back to her family home weeks before the holidays, leaving Gracie to struggle with the bus and also leaves her a list of things to pick up at the shops on her way home, and not to be late. As she is expected to cook, serve and clean up after her whole extended family! The only seat on the bus is near the back and this is where she meets the handsome but annoying Hudson, the perfect image of a bad boy and she hires him to pretend to be her boyfriend and get her sister to sleep with him. They will need to be caught in the act by James hopefully, or some of the rest of the family and she will enjoy watching Kelly’s stealing of her fiancé implode! Kelly was and still is a wild child who prefers to go out clubbing and sleeping around, always being naughty, but somehow being the perfect daughter, that Gracie is told she should be! Lots of family angst and past hang-ups for both Gracie and Hudson to overcome. Hudson came from the wrong side of town, and has a sister Elsa and four brothers, who he has working for him in the security company he set up. Their childhood was a hard one once their father died, with an alcoholic mother and a string of boyfriends, with Hudson sent to prison for something he didn’t do and his siblings going into care, until he could reunite them all. Hudson has his current client getting on at him to find the dirt by December 23rd, or lose the contract, the huge payout and any chance of any other work from him! This job is a huge one for Hudson’s family company and he will do pretty much anything to win.
But, as he gets to know Gracie better and sees exactly how much she does for everyone else, without ever taking any tie for herself, he wonders whether he can actually sleep with her to make the ruse believable, especially when new information comes to light near the end! He is a breath of fresh air and totally rocks the bad boy attitude in front of her family, inviting himself along to a family dinner when she doesn’t contact him soon enough. His rude banter is even better than the two warring grannies from her parent’s sides of the family, one who carries a sword hidden within her walking stick! He talks up her sexual prowess to make James and Kelly jealous and get Kelly’s attention, having stolen both Gracie’s previous boyfriends and now her fiancé, there is no doubt she will try to take Hudson. He makes very inappropriate comments and grabs her in front of everyone, letting them get an earful of what they have been getting up to supposedly. Gracie needs to grow a backbone when it comes ot her family and the business and it seems Hudson is the man to help her. She finds her falling for him, even though she knows this is all just pretend and why would he ever want someone as dull as her, but Hudson finds himself unable to leave her alone either. At first he convinces himself, it is so he can what he needs and access the company’s computers, needing her to take him to the office, so he can get what his client wants, and having to be around her so he is there when that opportunity occurs. His siblings laugh at the photos being posted of him taking part in Christmas activities, since he doesn’t allow any decorations at their business, nor his home. A naughty photo gets spread far wider than just her family, to sell the story he and Gracie are playing at. But it seems it is maybe not quite as much of a con as at first thought, as each gets tangled up with the other. Until the truth comes out and the con becomes a little too close to the edge for either to really handle. There are so many laughs in this story, with Gracie’s extended family, especially her parents, the grans and her evil sister, bringing the biggest comedy to the tale, with James being a sad and easily led man who would never keep a woman, with Gracie and Hudson being made for each other. They are total opposites at first meeting, but I loved the Gracie at the end, a take charge character, who has clearly learnt from Hudson just how to exert herself within her family and in business, as new opportunities arrive. A great ending but almost not, as doubts creep in. All her single female cousins want one of Hudson’s brothers to fall for them, but I was hoping Dakota might find her match, so long as it wasn’t with his youngest brother Jake! A laugh a minute and the chaos of family gathering for the holidays being taken to the extremes. I loved it! I can’t wait to read some more of the author’s books now. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
5+ stars
This was just what I needed.
I loved this book, it was fun, crazy and entertaining. Hudson sounds like everyone’s sexy book boyfriend and Gracie is awesome!
I loved this book, it was fun, crazy and entertaining. Hudson sounds like everyone’s sexy book boyfriend and Gracie is awesome!
This one seems to be a spinoff of the Great Christmas Bake-off books, and they are mentioned a few times.
Gracie is so insecure and timid. A girl who lets her family walk all over her. They even take her sister's side when she's caught with Gracie's fiance the night before the wedding! She also works for the company where her family is involved and doing some shady shit. Not to mention, the ex-fiance is her direct supervisor.
A solution to the problem? Find a fake boyfriend to bring home to her sister's wedding a year later.
But he's a dick, like a huge a-hole. Hudson is just a grade-A, infuriating piece of garbage.
There is some humor here, and when Gracie finally DOES stand up for herself, it's nice to see. I really liked the book, another good one from Alina Jacobs.
Solid 4-stars.
Gracie is so insecure and timid. A girl who lets her family walk all over her. They even take her sister's side when she's caught with Gracie's fiance the night before the wedding! She also works for the company where her family is involved and doing some shady shit. Not to mention, the ex-fiance is her direct supervisor.
A solution to the problem? Find a fake boyfriend to bring home to her sister's wedding a year later.
But he's a dick, like a huge a-hole. Hudson is just a grade-A, infuriating piece of garbage.
There is some humor here, and when Gracie finally DOES stand up for herself, it's nice to see. I really liked the book, another good one from Alina Jacobs.
Solid 4-stars.
Gracie loves Christmas, her favorite holiday with great memories, but it is starting out interesting this year. Her grandma is funny, and her taste in holiday movies may make you gasp. It was the worst Christmas Eve ever, and her family is a piece of work.
Oh, but that was just the prologue. We time jump back two weeks. Gracie may be a sweetheart, but she acts like a doormat for her ridiculous family members. I feel bad for her.
Hudson is a bad boy; he is rough, challenging, and bad-mannered, but he is perfect for her plans. His ulterior motives have been announced. However, this guy will make an epic disaster for this family.
This book doesn't romance the holiday traditions; instead, it turns them on their heads and knocks them around a little. Gracie's family is dysfunctional at best. Hudson has his own side agenda, and of course, the hormones ramp up on this fake relationship as well. But it certainly has lots of holiday vibes, and Christmas feels.
The story lives up to the comedy part with outlandish things that you can't help but chuckle at. This book gets swizzling hot as this fake relationship progresses into not-so-fake. Gracie is a hot mess, but she finally gets that backbone, and man, is she stubborn.
Of course, everything all blows up on Christmas, but it is pretty epic. I love the groveling, bad boy on his knees for his girl. This book ends sweet and a hot disaster. But Gracie's and Hudson's story is a beautiful, sizzling, hot holiday romance.
Oh, but that was just the prologue. We time jump back two weeks. Gracie may be a sweetheart, but she acts like a doormat for her ridiculous family members. I feel bad for her.
Hudson is a bad boy; he is rough, challenging, and bad-mannered, but he is perfect for her plans. His ulterior motives have been announced. However, this guy will make an epic disaster for this family.
This book doesn't romance the holiday traditions; instead, it turns them on their heads and knocks them around a little. Gracie's family is dysfunctional at best. Hudson has his own side agenda, and of course, the hormones ramp up on this fake relationship as well. But it certainly has lots of holiday vibes, and Christmas feels.
The story lives up to the comedy part with outlandish things that you can't help but chuckle at. This book gets swizzling hot as this fake relationship progresses into not-so-fake. Gracie is a hot mess, but she finally gets that backbone, and man, is she stubborn.
Of course, everything all blows up on Christmas, but it is pretty epic. I love the groveling, bad boy on his knees for his girl. This book ends sweet and a hot disaster. But Gracie's and Hudson's story is a beautiful, sizzling, hot holiday romance.
I was going to DNF this book and I'm so glad I didn't. Gracie was the biggest doormat but once I separated what she should do from what she was doing I really enjoyed the book. Gracie wasn’t supposed to be strong and smart and she was written as a great doormat. The grandmother was not funny, it was borderline harassment and was annoying. Especially with taking them to that bar. She was a drunk old lady who did too much in my opinion.
Gravie did so much work for free I don’t even know how she paid her bills. I would have helped Hudson bring the company down if everybody was getting paid but me when I did all the work. She was really the maid, the cook, and the wedding planner all for free while everyone disrespected her. Everyone in her family treated her horribly they all sat around and did the bare minimum even if they tried to help. In the end, it would have definitely ended with cutting my family off, at least the mom, dad, and sister because they were the worst in my opinion.
This was a painful read mainly because she was a pushover but at least the dialogue was good; annoying characters plus bad writing I would have really dnfed the book but this book was written well. Once I got over on everybody walking the fmc like a dog it was a very interesting plot that had me hooked and the spice scenes were great and not too much. Always referencing TikTok was kind of annoying though but this was a 4.5 stars for me and was a great Christmas read.
Gravie did so much work for free I don’t even know how she paid her bills. I would have helped Hudson bring the company down if everybody was getting paid but me when I did all the work. She was really the maid, the cook, and the wedding planner all for free while everyone disrespected her. Everyone in her family treated her horribly they all sat around and did the bare minimum even if they tried to help. In the end, it would have definitely ended with cutting my family off, at least the mom, dad, and sister because they were the worst in my opinion.
This was a painful read mainly because she was a pushover but at least the dialogue was good; annoying characters plus bad writing I would have really dnfed the book but this book was written well. Once I got over on everybody walking the fmc like a dog it was a very interesting plot that had me hooked and the spice scenes were great and not too much. Always referencing TikTok was kind of annoying though but this was a 4.5 stars for me and was a great Christmas read.
This is the worst book I have ever read, and I read a lot of self-published! I totally regret reading it! Why was it number one on Amazon in RomCom?!?!
The book was so painful and disgusting. I was angry the whole time I was reading. It was like a car crash you couldn't look away from (but really wanted to). At 35ish% I didn't think I could go on, but had to see if it got any better for Gracie (FMC). Then at 60% I did give up after hearing that it gets even worse from there.
All of Gracie's family are extremely toxic (except one or two) and she just lets them walk all over her. She gets treated like a giant doormat. One that is made from coconut fiber that you can really grind the mud into. AND SHE LETS THEM.
The MMC is horribly rude and degrading to the FMC the whole time - in front of her family and in private. Made me hate him. He went way past bad boy into pure arsehole. He looked hot, but everything else about him was a huge turnoff.
If you couldn't guess yet, I DO NOT RECOMMEND.
The book was so painful and disgusting. I was angry the whole time I was reading. It was like a car crash you couldn't look away from (but really wanted to). At 35ish% I didn't think I could go on, but had to see if it got any better for Gracie (FMC). Then at 60% I did give up after hearing that it gets even worse from there.
All of Gracie's family are extremely toxic (except one or two) and she just lets them walk all over her. She gets treated like a giant doormat. One that is made from coconut fiber that you can really grind the mud into. AND SHE LETS THEM.
The MMC is horribly rude and degrading to the FMC the whole time - in front of her family and in private. Made me hate him. He went way past bad boy into pure arsehole. He looked hot, but everything else about him was a huge turnoff.
If you couldn't guess yet, I DO NOT RECOMMEND.
WHAT IN THE WORLD DID I JUST READ! I have never read a FMC that I wanted to slap so hard. Gracie was a total chump, doormat, weakling.
The steamy scenes were hot but sometimes felt too vulgar for this type of book. I felt like one minute the author was trying to do romcom with slight camp, and then all of a sudden, it was filthy, raunchy, vulgar sex. I can absolutely handle romcom with raunchy sex but it has to be done right and there needs to still be some elements of comedic relief but it didn't work in this book at all.
The only reason I'm giving this book two stars is because Grandma Murray was hilarious.
The steamy scenes were hot but sometimes felt too vulgar for this type of book. I felt like one minute the author was trying to do romcom with slight camp, and then all of a sudden, it was filthy, raunchy, vulgar sex. I can absolutely handle romcom with raunchy sex but it has to be done right and there needs to still be some elements of comedic relief but it didn't work in this book at all.
The only reason I'm giving this book two stars is because Grandma Murray was hilarious.