Booked for the Holidays by Erin Hawkins is live!
A spicy, brother’s-best-friend, sort-of-second chance romance, this Christmas novella is a fun read.
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Blurb
Last Christmas, I gave Liam Hargrove my heart…
Okay, maybe not my heart. But I was ready to give him something else—until he panicked and dropped me on my ass, bruising both my tailbone and my ego. Now I’d like to forget the whole mortifying mess ever happened.
This year, I’m moving on. I’ve traded my silly crush on my brother’s best friend for a dream come true: opening Blush & Binding, Cedar Hollow’s first romance-only bookstore. With a calendar full of holiday events, this Christmas is going to be my best one yet.
Until Liam shows up.
With my parents’ house overflowing and the local inn booked solid, my mom oh-so-generously offers up my guest room.
Now he’s in my space, helping with inventory, charming my customers just by existing, and reading my annotated romance novels like they’re a guidebook. He says he wants to make it up to me…starting by reenacting a few of my favorite scenes.
His gingerbread house building skills are impressive, so I just might let him.
But this time, I’m not falling so easily—or at least not without a fight.
Review
3 stars
A spicy, brother’s-best-friend, sort-of-second chance romance, this Christmas novella is a fun read.
Last Christmas, Juniper put her heart on the line by propositioning her brother’s best friend, they guy she’s loved for as long as she can remember. Though he initially seemed willing, Liam turned her down and left her humiliated. A year later, and he’s back in her small town for the holidays.
Juniper doesn’t realise yet, but Liam is back in town to make up for the biggest mistake of his life, when he rejected her the year previously. He wants to win her heart, and for some reason he feels he needs to prove himself to her before he declares himself, so he is determined to play the long game and win back her trust. And he has a battle on his hands, because Juniper has put a lot of effort into moving on. Her walls are high, and she has no intention of letting him get close again, so let the battle begin.
Well, fan-fucking-tastic. The man who humiliated me last Christmas is now sleeping down the hall. And I’m supposed to play nice? Pretend like nothing happened?
Ho, ho ho, hell no.
It’s flirty and fun, but also kind of frustrating. The whole ‘conflict’ could have been resolved with a simple conversation, but it’s drawn out, which admittedly gives us the snarky back-and-forth story, but Juniper just seems really freaking clueless when Noah is giving her smirks and little touches, teasing and flirting, and coming out with heartfelt, swoony declarations that she just seems to brush over.
“I came for what I left behind … you.”
It takes a while for them to find their way to each other, but they get there, with some steamy moments along the way… Liam literally takes notes from Juniper’s annotated romance novels so that he can make her happy in all the ways, and the dirty talking Brit absolutely delivers on her secret fantasies!
It ends in a good place, but I wish we got to see less build-up and a bit more emotion in the romance. Still a good read though.
3 stars.
Juniper is the sister of Jasper, whose enemies-to-lovers romance is Hostile for the Holidays. In this book we get to meet Liam’s hilarious brother, so I’m hoping we may see him next Christmas!
An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.
Erin Hawkins Christmas novellas
Hostile for the Holidays (Jasper & Stella)
Review
Buy: Amazon
Booked for the Holidays (Liam & Juniper)
Review
Buy: Amazon
About Erin
Erin Hawkins lives in Colorado with her husband and three young children. She enjoys reading, running, spending time in the mountains, and watching reality TV.
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