A review by justmevictoria
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake

4.0

When spending Christmas with your ex wasn't in the plan… 

 

Christmas has always been somewhat cursed time for Charlotte Donovan, especially since she was left at the alter five years ago. And this year is no different. With her string quartet about to head on a European tour in the new year, she doesn’t want the curse to strike and ruin this big moment. Her plan is to just have a quiet Christmas by herself, but when her friend and fellow quartet member Sloane learns of her plans, she invites Charlotte, as well as the rest of the quartet, to her family home in Colorado for the holidays. With the promise that the quartet will still rehearse over the holiday period, Charlotte agrees despite her Christmas curse anxiety. And she has every right to be anxious when she finds that Sloane's sister Adele has brought along a friend as well - Charlotte's ex-fiancee Brighton Fairbrook. Charlotte is still heartbroken about being left at the alter and Brighton is still guilty about hurting the love of her life the way she did. Forced together for Christmas events and snowstorms, they finally face the heartbreak and issues that lead to Brighton's decision. There's still a spark between them, but the issues that drove them apart are still issues, and the only hope is that five years have given them new perspectives on their relationship. 

 

We're starting on the Christmas reads because there are SO many books I want to read for the holidays! 

 

Literally had no idea what this book was about when I went into it - all I needed to know was that it was another, hopefully fabulous, sapphic read from Ashley Herring Blake! So I was like 'omg I bet they're both the exes!' as I read the first few chapters as I hadn't read a single word of the synopsis, which was honestly a fun way to dive into the book. As expected, Ashley delivered another fun and swoony sapphic romance, with all the magic of Christmas and a fun group of characters. 

 

Ashley was able to weave so much history into this story when it came to Charlotte and Brighton, and you could instantly feel how deep their bond and connection was, even with the five years of heartbreak before their surprise reconnection. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Charlotte and Brighton, and was definitely rooting for their second chance, although for the longest time I couldn't see how they could resolve the issues that led to their breakup the first time, but Ashley managed to pull it all together in the end with a really sweet ending. 

 

I found it a little harder to connect with Charlotte compared to Brighton - the nature of Charlotte's character is that she's very closed-off and in her head, which was lowkey relatable, but meant that I found it hard to connect with her and the way she communicated with Brighton in particular. Brighton on the other hard was a much more outgoing and charismatic character who had lots of great banter with all characters. They're very much opposites-attract and balance each other out. 

 

As I said, there's a fun group of characters in this one, and I loved how easily the two friend groups came together to create a super fun dynamic. Throw in Sloane and Adele's mother, and the friendship dynamics and banter throughout the holiday shenanigans were just as enjoyable as the romance between Charlotte and Brighton. I don't think Ashley has any plans to write more books with these characters, but I wouldn't be opposed to getting to see more of them in a future book or two! 

 

This was definitely a good way to kickstart my holiday reading, and I'm already counting down the days until Ashley's next release - I CANNOT get enough of her writing and her characters, and I already know I'm going to love what's next just as much as I've loved what's already come! If you can't resist a good queer romance, and even better a good queer holiday romance, this needs to be your next read!