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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
What’s not to love?! Grumpy and sunshine. Book store. A little competition. Sports. Quirky friends. I really enjoyed and loved how Jonathan remembered the little things Gabriella loved. It was very sweet. Great book!!
An enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, steamy winter-themed holiday romance? Say no more.
Bailey's Bookshop is an indie bookshop where the holiday decorations are handmade, the floors gleam bright, and wood bookshelves fill the store. It's the kind of bookstore I wish I could go to in person - but getting to read about it in Chloe Liese's The Mistletoe Motive was almost as good ;)
Gabrielle Di Natale and Jonathan Frost are co-workers at Bailey's. Gabby's been working there forever and she didn't like when Jonathan came on staff about a year ago, ruining her displays and the coziness of her beloved bookshop and just generally irritating her nonstop. Plus, he hates Christmas and is a grump in general, while she's a sunshine personality who drinks peppermint hot chocolate and delights in making paper snowflakes for the shop. When the two of them learn that Bailey's is going through a financial crisis spurred on by the big box store around the corner, they fear Bailey's will have the budget to keep only one of them on staff.
So they devise a plan: whoever sells the most books over the next month gets to stay. The other employee will leave. Gabby thinks she's got this in the bag: she's charming, she knows their customer base, and Bailey's is her home. She'll do anything to save it. But so, it turns out, will Jonathan.
I really loved this book for the workplace romance, the own-voices demisexuality rep (so good) and own-voices autism representation, as well as diabetes representation. Oh, and there's a budding online relationship a la You've Got Mail. The Mistletoe Motive is the perfect read for this winter season and I so appreciate how carefully Chloe crafts her characters with love and attention like they deserve.
The book is available on Kobo. If you don't have a Kobo eReader, you can download the free Kobo reading app onto your phone, tablet/iPad, or computer, just like the Kindle App.
Thank you to Chloe Liese, Valentine PR, and Net Galley for the early copy of this book!
Bailey's Bookshop is an indie bookshop where the holiday decorations are handmade, the floors gleam bright, and wood bookshelves fill the store. It's the kind of bookstore I wish I could go to in person - but getting to read about it in Chloe Liese's The Mistletoe Motive was almost as good ;)
Gabrielle Di Natale and Jonathan Frost are co-workers at Bailey's. Gabby's been working there forever and she didn't like when Jonathan came on staff about a year ago, ruining her displays and the coziness of her beloved bookshop and just generally irritating her nonstop. Plus, he hates Christmas and is a grump in general, while she's a sunshine personality who drinks peppermint hot chocolate and delights in making paper snowflakes for the shop. When the two of them learn that Bailey's is going through a financial crisis spurred on by the big box store around the corner, they fear Bailey's will have the budget to keep only one of them on staff.
So they devise a plan: whoever sells the most books over the next month gets to stay. The other employee will leave. Gabby thinks she's got this in the bag: she's charming, she knows their customer base, and Bailey's is her home. She'll do anything to save it. But so, it turns out, will Jonathan.
I really loved this book for the workplace romance, the own-voices demisexuality rep (so good) and own-voices autism representation, as well as diabetes representation. Oh, and there's a budding online relationship a la You've Got Mail. The Mistletoe Motive is the perfect read for this winter season and I so appreciate how carefully Chloe crafts her characters with love and attention like they deserve.
The book is available on Kobo. If you don't have a Kobo eReader, you can download the free Kobo reading app onto your phone, tablet/iPad, or computer, just like the Kindle App.
Thank you to Chloe Liese, Valentine PR, and Net Galley for the early copy of this book!
Not a fan of how cheesy the epilogue was buuut everything else was fun and constantly reminded me of one of my own ships
I enjoyed this, It was just what I needed.
It was short and sweet.
I liked both of the main characters, they felt like real people.
I liked the plot, it was very much a You’ve Got Mail meets The Hating Game plot, two characters work together but “hate” each other and then it turns out they’ve been secretly writing to each other online and have fallen for each other both online and in person.
It was just what I needed when I’ve been in a reading slump for the past month and a half.
It was short and sweet.
I liked both of the main characters, they felt like real people.
I liked the plot, it was very much a You’ve Got Mail meets The Hating Game plot, two characters work together but “hate” each other and then it turns out they’ve been secretly writing to each other online and have fallen for each other both online and in person.
It was just what I needed when I’ve been in a reading slump for the past month and a half.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
N/A
I don't tend to read romance novels, never mind Christmas romance novels. However, since I spent this Christmas in self-isolation and I am a sucker for the so-bad-they're-good Christmas movies, I thought I would give this a go.
This has been described across Bookstagram as an enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, and while the latter part of the description is accurate, I wouldn't describe this as an enemies-to-lovers book. If anything, the 'hate' the two characters are supposed to feel towards one another was laid on thick and felt very forced. However, foreseeing that plot twist made the book more enjoyable since I knew it was coming.
I appreciate that this was a novella so there may have been less room to really develop the characters, but some character development would have made the book more enjoyable. I felt that we are told a lot of the things rather than allowed to experience them with the characters. For example, Gabby tells readers that she's a demisexual and explains to readers that for her to feel attracted to a character, there needs to be some sort of connection. We then know, from very early on in the book, that Gabby has a very vivid sexual dream involving Jonathan despite her 'hatred' towards him, therefore she must have some connection with him. Yet this emotional connection is never demonstrated throughout the book.
I think allowing readers to experience things from the character's perspective, rather than being told how they experience things, would have been so impactful given that this is an own-voices book with a neuro-divergent character. We experience some of the barriers that Gabby experiences, particularly in terms of the silent conversations that her friends have by use of facial expressions, but that's the extent of it. Gabby often talks about how diverging away from routine unsettles her or how loud noises affect her, but, I think, it would have been impactful to have had those experiences described to the reader. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and I don't know whether this is due to the fact that this is a novella with a limited word count or if it's the author's usual style.
With all of that said, I love Christmas movies because they're cheesy, predictable, and heart-warming. True, I'd have liked for a slightly more slow-burn romance (because this is anything but slow-burn) and a more genuine enemies-to-lovers, but it was an enjoyable read and left me with the same warm and fuzzy feeling I would get from a so-bad-it's-good Christmas movie. Am I suddenly converted to reading more Christmas Romance books? The jury's still out, but I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy Christmas read.
This has been described across Bookstagram as an enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, and while the latter part of the description is accurate, I wouldn't describe this as an enemies-to-lovers book. If anything, the 'hate' the two characters are supposed to feel towards one another was laid on thick and felt very forced.
Spoiler
Additionally, it was evident from very early on in the book that Jonathan was pining after Gabriella and that he was Mr Reddit. Seriously, as soon as Mr Reddit was mentioned, I knew where the plot was headed.I appreciate that this was a novella so there may have been less room to really develop the characters, but some character development would have made the book more enjoyable. I felt that we are told a lot of the things rather than allowed to experience them with the characters. For example, Gabby tells readers that she's a demisexual and explains to readers that for her to feel attracted to a character, there needs to be some sort of connection. We then know, from very early on in the book, that Gabby has a very vivid sexual dream involving Jonathan despite her 'hatred' towards him, therefore she must have some connection with him. Yet this emotional connection is never demonstrated throughout the book.
I think allowing readers to experience things from the character's perspective, rather than being told how they experience things, would have been so impactful given that this is an own-voices book with a neuro-divergent character. We experience some of the barriers that Gabby experiences, particularly in terms of the silent conversations that her friends have by use of facial expressions, but that's the extent of it. Gabby often talks about how diverging away from routine unsettles her or how loud noises affect her, but, I think, it would have been impactful to have had those experiences described to the reader. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and I don't know whether this is due to the fact that this is a novella with a limited word count or if it's the author's usual style.
With all of that said, I love Christmas movies because they're cheesy, predictable, and heart-warming. True, I'd have liked for a slightly more slow-burn romance (because this is anything but slow-burn) and a more genuine enemies-to-lovers, but it was an enjoyable read and left me with the same warm and fuzzy feeling I would get from a so-bad-it's-good Christmas movie. Am I suddenly converted to reading more Christmas Romance books? The jury's still out, but I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy Christmas read.
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
lighthearted
