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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This book didn’t really have an idea of what it wanted to do. At first it was about a girl starting to unlearn purity culture, and a guy learning to grow up and be a better partner. Then in turned into Surprise Baby ™️, then not one but two break ups. And if I had to read the main characters full names one more time I was going to scream. Just use the first name!!! It dragged toward the end. It was steamy though but the book was just a little too long.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one just wasn’t for me. The dialogue was cringy, and the pregnancy trope is my least favorite romance trope. I’ve liked the other books in this series so far, but this one didn’t work for me.
I adored Winnie & Kallum! This is the second in this series (if you don’t count the novella Snow Place Like LA), & I definitely enjoyed it too! Maybe not as much as the first, but it had it’s fantastic points too!
Bless Winnie, I feel like those of us who grew up in church can relate to her upbringing & how she viewed sex/intimacy as well as herself. Loved her journey & Kallum for teaching her
Bless Winnie, I feel like those of us who grew up in church can relate to her upbringing & how she viewed sex/intimacy as well as herself. Loved her journey & Kallum for teaching her
medium-paced
I wanted to love this as our main character is trying to overcome purity culture and that is something I very much relate to but then we had the miscommunication trope along with a surprise pregnancy trope and an MMC whose personality completely changes in the second half.
medium-paced
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this…
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Nice follow up.
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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:
Complicated
Winnie Baker is the innocent, fallen from grace child star that is scrambling to figure out who she is now. Post-divorce, post-purity-culture, post-controlling-af-parents… Winnie just knows she is made for something new & exciting. God help her, she’s living in her friend’s pool house (I personally would be happy to live in my best friends pool house, but I digress). So when Steph, Nolan Shaw’s agent (from Christmas Notch #1) comes along & has a movie offer for Winnie… well… she decides to go for something different.
Kallum Lieberman, the big bearded teddy bear from INK (see also Nolan Shaw from Christmas Notch #1) is starring as Santa in the new sexy, Hope After Dark, softcore movie as a young Santa sowing his wild oats be fore taking over for his dad as the Santa Claus. He’s tired of banging bridesmaids & never getting the girl, & hopes this movie will bring him something new… when he finds out he’s co-starring with Winnie Baker?
Well, you’ll have to read to find out the details from there! I really enjoyed Winnie’s breakaway from purity culture & learning how to love herself despite the years of being taught to hate herself (disguised as being a “good Christian”) — her journey was one that you could tell one of the writers must have gone through themselves as they wrote about the experience so well. Winnie’s character finding her voice was a joy to read about & I loved every second of Winnie Baker’s confidence building.
Kallum was a goofball. I thought that they wrote his character well, as he could have easily been over the top & annoying but I didn’t think that he was either of those things. It was nice to watch his thought process grow & change throughout the book. I love a big, bearded man & he was no exception.
Overall — I really enjoyed this book, but I wouldn’t say it was just the most amazing thing ever so that’s why 4 stars instead of 5 stars. I will absolutely read more from these two ladies!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Pregnancy