This year I was intentionally seeking out more holiday romances to read during the holiday season. This one just so happened to land in my lap during a white elephant gift exchange, and with how short it appeared I was simply hoping to have a good, quick time. This book blew my expectations out of the water, and while I could see why this might not be the perfect holiday romance for every reader (it’s very niche), it ticked all my boxes and has become a new favorite. 

This holiday romance centers two romance writers (I told you it was niche) who met in a writers group. They got paired up as critique partners and their relationship evolved into something romantic (and spicy!!). We meet our FMC and MMC five years later, now both published writers under the same publishing house. They haven’t seen one another since he broke up with her, and now she’s being forced to give him an award at the publishers end of the year holiday party. 

This short but sweet story had everything I love in these types of romances: forced proximity, one bed, and out of control, off the page chemistry. These characters needle one another and get under their skin. They play tit for tat as if no time has passed, while it’s clear their wounds of the past are still alive and festering under the surface. This had just the right touch of holiday vibes, mixing flashbacks of their past Christmases together with their current holiday predicament. 

Despite being only 240 pages I cried three times while reading this book. I full on sobbed at one point, needing to put down the book and take off my glasses until I was able to compose myself and keep reading. This story is a mix of dream scenarios I have for myself, put into a blender and played out on the page by these two characters, fumbling their way back to one another. The heartache of their broken relationship, the heartache of the MMC being slightly estranged from his conservative family, and the heartache of unfulfilled dreams landed extremely close to home. 

While many mistakes were made, and finally discussed at length, this story does have a sweet HEA. I loved getting to see each character’s writing process, their thoughts on writer’s block, and the individual pressures they both felt from their agents and contracts. There was honestly not a single thing that I disliked about this book. It was the perfect sweet, spicy, yet emotional read that I need this time of year. I can’t wait to look into this author and read more of their work. This is one white elephant gift I won’t soon forget.