Even if a woman says she doesn't want to get married and have kids, a man will come along and change her mind because romance soulmates Christmas blah blah blah. Thanks, I hate it.

I LOVED it!! Christmas rom com for the win!

A cute Christmas oriented friends to lovers romance with fake dating seeds, with lots of chosen/found family. Nick and Noel have been friends forever and it’s no surprise that romance is on the horizon. While Nick has just returned from 8 years in the military, Noel has been living back in Mistletoe working as a nurse. Noel is still trying to deal with the loss of her parents when she was 16 and her struggles with grief and the fear of losing more of her loved ones is a constant in her life that has a huge negative impact on her budding relationship with Nick.
While I enjoyed Nick and Noel together, and Noel’s growth throughout the story, it was just an okay read overall. Enjoyable but not memorable.
And knowing that this will be a series about the Winters’ kids, I’m not sure I want to read more because the supporting characters were rather undeveloped with the exception of having one major identifying characteristic (Holly’s store, Gabby’s wedding, Amber being awful, Pike and his odd style, etc.).

At what point will we, as a society, progress past the need for every romance novel to include a cartoonishly bitchy ex girlfriend?

4 Stars

Friends to Lovers, Christmas romance and a smidge of fake dating.

I really loved this - it was very heartfelt and romantic and I shipped Nick and Noel from the very beginning. Noel’s hang ups about her future because of what happened to her parents could have used some therapy but I found I related to her a lot.

Nick and Noel's Christmas Playlist was a pretty good book. My biggest issue with holiday themed books (mostly, my only issue) is when everything is named after Christmas. Nick and Noel, Mary, Holly... like really? The names I can work with but I hate when they have to name the town a Christmas name too. Mistletoe? Really? Please just choose one or the other. Christmas names for the people and a normal town name or vice versa.

Nick Winter's Christmas at home is going nothing like he planned. His long time girlfriend cheated on him while he was away. His best friend, Noel, takes him out for a fun night to forget about his ex. They kiss and it feels so right.

Nick and Noel are both fighting a battle they know they won't win, falling for each other. With Nick's ex constantly getting in the way, the book keeps you guessing to see if their new relationship will last. This book has a couple different tropes. One, friends to lovers and two, fake dating. However, if fake dating is up your alley, it's pretty short lived in the book. This was definitely an easy read, and it had some heartbreak along the way. I can't decide if I liked all the song dropping the characters did throughout the storyline. (The title warns you about this) Not 100% what I want in a holiday romcom, but it was still pretty good.

I listened to all 3 in the mistletoe series on audible, and I miss it already. I find myself reaching for my headphones because I just love this small town so much and I'm sad there's no more content! I want a book for EVERY CHARACTER in Mistletoe even if it's not a holiday book, PLEASE Codi Hall!!!!

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Friends to lovers isn't my fav trope but this one was enjoyable! I devoured the audiobook in 1 day while doing chores. There was a bit of fake dating which I adore. With an annoying meddlesome ex-gf, and sometimes too much of the will they-won't they, it got a teeny bit repetitive.

The unexpected mvp for me was the male narrator (I wish he was the male narrator on all 3 books, I don't care if that doesn't make sense with 3 different male characters). And a shoutout to the adorable audible cover artwork!

Overall I though this was the perfect blend of cute & spice, and would recommend this to all my friends!