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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
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:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
lighthearted
fast-paced
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was frustrating at best. Annoying characters, horrible plot, hardly any Christmas spirit. This was not the book I was looking for!
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If you liked The Holiday (movie), you'll enjoy this book!
Holly and Ivy are best friends, and when Holly's fiance cancels their wedding the night before to go explore a relationship with his coworker, they decide to switch vacations. Holly gets Ivy's wintery artist retreat in an off-the-grid cabin, while Ivy gets Holly's honeymoon trip to Hawaii.
I found this was an easy, fun read. It's a bit insta-lovey, as the relationships develop over the course of a week, but I appreciated the warm holiday vibes of it. We get to celebrate Christmas with the MCs and see how they fit within the little found families they quickly build.
I haven't read Marissa Stapley before, but based on her repertoire, I was surprised by the writing in this book. The prose was often repetitive (I get it, she's a Senior Graphic Designer at a magazine), the dialogue a bit clunky at times (the amount of disappointment I had in those confrontations), the epilogue was dialogue that would never exist in real life ("we did this, we did that," but they're saying it to each other when they well know what they've done and why). The writing felt rough and gave the book an unrealistic sheen that would take me out of the world at times. That, mixed with the insta-love, had me raising an eyebrow.
As a whole, a fun holiday book, but not something I'll probably think of again after this review.
TW: alcohol, infidelity; mentions sexual content
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 3/5
Finished copy gifted by Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.
Holly and Ivy are best friends, and when Holly's fiance cancels their wedding the night before to go explore a relationship with his coworker, they decide to switch vacations. Holly gets Ivy's wintery artist retreat in an off-the-grid cabin, while Ivy gets Holly's honeymoon trip to Hawaii.
I found this was an easy, fun read. It's a bit insta-lovey, as the relationships develop over the course of a week, but I appreciated the warm holiday vibes of it. We get to celebrate Christmas with the MCs and see how they fit within the little found families they quickly build.
I haven't read Marissa Stapley before, but based on her repertoire, I was surprised by the writing in this book. The prose was often repetitive (I get it, she's a Senior Graphic Designer at a magazine), the dialogue a bit clunky at times (the amount of disappointment I had in those confrontations), the epilogue was dialogue that would never exist in real life ("we did this, we did that," but they're saying it to each other when they well know what they've done and why). The writing felt rough and gave the book an unrealistic sheen that would take me out of the world at times. That, mixed with the insta-love, had me raising an eyebrow.
As a whole, a fun holiday book, but not something I'll probably think of again after this review.
TW: alcohol, infidelity; mentions sexual content
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 3/5
Finished copy gifted by Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Holiday meets Forgetting Sarah Marshall!
Holly Beech and Ivy Casey are doppelgänger best friends and even though this is a book about taking chances, new beginnings, and finding love in unexpected places, it is also about the kind of friendship that makes you think the term *soulmates* shouldn’t be restricted to romantic partners.
Holly and Ivy swap Christmas vacations after Holly is left by her fiancé the night before their wedding. Ivy is set to stay in their Hawaiian honeymoon suite for a 2-week art retreat and Holly is set to hibernate and heal in a Hudson Valley, NY eco-cabin. When Ivy arrives to find Holly’s ex-fiancé and his new girlfriend already checked into her suite, she pivots with the help of the hot hotel bartender, Oliver. Holly gets a surprise of her own when she learns her Airbnb host is her high school rival who had harbored secret feelings for her… and who now looks like Henry Cavill/eco-Superman.
I liked how the author started with the meet-cute for these best friends and really developed their connection before the trips started so that I felt invested in their friendship. I’ve never read a double romance and I was rooting for them both and honestly couldn’t say one friend had it better than the other. The pacing was good, if a little insta-lovey, but *sigh* I wouldn’t mind switching places with either of them!
There is more to Ollie than meets the eye and I liked how he and Ivy connected on an artistic level. It was easy to see how the little found family he invited her into made paradise feel like home. I WISH I could’ve seen Ivy’s drawings/paintings and Ollie’s photographs - I think it would’ve been really special to feature artwork within the book to bring the story to life outside of a reader’s own imagination.
As for Aiden… I found him to be a unicorn who could only exist on paper, but who I thoroughly enjoyed daydreaming about. He seemed like the more realistic love interest, yet he was so interesting and smart and compassionate and attractive that he couldn’t ever be real. A generous, romantic, family-oriented, wealthy, do-gooding, environmentally-conscious genius who had been pining for Holly since he slipped an anonymous note in her locker… I ate that up and might go back for seconds.
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
About friendship, romance, and getting into the Christmas spirit. It was a like a warm hug.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This was a cute, holiday romance, but also a story about friendship. I liked the alternating POV chapters and the contrast in settings - beachy Hawaii vs. snowy small town. This book was pitched as The Holiday meets The Unhoneymooners which I think is accurate, but set my expectations way too high. It was a cute story, but the writing style wasn't my favorite and I was irritated that it took Ivy wayyyyy too long to confront Matt and Abby and she wasn't even that mean about it.
Thank you G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes