A review by effy
Corporate Mandated Holiday Romance by Nellie Wilson

5.0

 

Brooklyn Peters has spent her working life in corporate marketing jobs but her real dream is to work for environmental causes so it seems like a dream come true when she lands a job with ConservTech. Brooklyn is surprised and disheartened when she starts her job to discover than the CEO is a rude, aggressive, lech and that’s not all, as she starts working on projects she notices that the company’s work doesn’t seem to match with their supposed mission. Enter Max Matuschansky, the brother of Brooklyn’s roommate’s ex-girlfriend and also a journalist. A passing comment he made alluding to the truth behind the facade at ConservTech leads Brooklyn to contact him when she first spots the irregularities. They decide to work together to discover if there is a story to break it but in order to gain more access to the company, they agree to fake date so Max can accompany Brooklyn to the many, many corporate mandated holiday events.

I picked this book up because who doesn’t want to read a Christmas / Holiday romance with eat the rich energy! This book was really excellent, no notes. Well, no notes isn’t quite accurate as there were a number of references I didn’t get but I think that might be a cultural divide as I get the impression that they are staples to American culture. Not getting these references didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story.

I really enjoyed the way that it was so clear that Brooklyn and Max were falling for one another but needed to set clear boundaries in their relationship. Their romance practically sizzled off the page and I think having to set boundaries and not give into their feelings made it more delicious as we got a whole heap of yearning and almost touches. Whilst it is clearly the bare minimum, I really loved the way that both characters went out of their way to educate themselves on the things that were important to the other and it really established a foundation of mutual respect that is crucial to a functional and healthy relationship. I also love that Brooklyn is not immediately perfect and makes missteps whilst approaching Max’s Judaism and it is very clear that intent doesn’t equal impact and just because she doesn’t think she means anything negative doesn’t mean that she isn’t causing harm. 

This book just filled me with so much joy and laugh out loud moments and I am so glad to have picked it up.