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Each week Stephanie, Lillian and I will be featuring a SUMMER OF LOVE review on our blogs.  Stephanie’s post for yesterday may come later in the week (life gets in the way, you know?), but watch Once Upon a Chapter for it.  And look for Lillian’s review this Thursday at Mom With a Reading Problem.

Welcome to my fifth review for the SUMMER OF LOVE!  As I mentioned in week one, I actually already read a lot of contemporary romance, but there’s just something about summer reading that screams contemp for me.  And I’m using these 12 weeks to showcase books in different categories.  The fifth category is:

Christmas

What can I say, Christmas in July is a thing.

Recommendations:

• Once Upon a Royal Christmas by Robin Bielman
• Dance All Night by Alexis Daria
• Solstice Miracle by Alexis Daria
• Jayda’s Christmas Wish by Amy Sparling
• Wrapped Up in You by Jill Shalvis
• In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

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Title: Stranded in the Woods
Author: Noelle Adams
Series: Holiday Acres #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: November 13, 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 123
Genres: Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Monthly Key Word Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

A surprise snowstorm. A grumpy recluse. One very hot night.

When Penny Holiday gets stranded during a snowstorm, she has to seek refuge with Kent Matheson, a childhood friend who lives like a hermit and has never forgiven her family. Kent is everything she shouldn't want, but feelings are awakened in his cabin in the woods that don't disappear when the snow finally melts.

My Review:

3.5 stars — This one definitely pulled me in more than Stranded on the Beach, and it had a bit more depth…but still not as much as I wanted I guess.  Maybe because it was shorter, I accepted it a bit more.

Penny was pretty easy to love — mind kind of all over the place, fairly sweet and kind, easy to forgive/forget, some insecurities, but they didn’t overwhelm.  I appreciated that she was more happy in her body, even if she still had some body issues from the past.

Kent was a bit harder to understand.  I kind of got him, but maybe not to the level of his disfunction you know?  Like his fear of becoming his father played SUCH a huge role, so I kind of wanted something more there…or something.

They had an interesting connection.  I kind of loved that they were friends first (even if there was a long hiatus in the middle), and that they were comfortable being quiet with one another.  I definitely felt their chemistry.  And while the steamy scenes were definitely better than book 1, they still were a bit stilted at times.

All in all it was a solid holiday novella (though not as holiday as others).

Title: Stranded for Christmas
Author: Noelle Adams
Series: Holiday Acres #4
Published by: Indie
Release Date: December 4, 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 178
Genres: Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Finishing the Series Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

A snowstorm. Her much older business partner. One very hot night.

Laura Holiday doesn't believe in romance. Her life revolves around her work and her six-year-old son. The last thing she wants is a fling with her friend and business partner, Russ Matheson, who is emotionally unavailable and thirteen years older than her. But one night in a snowstorm changes their relationship forever.

My Review:

4 stars — Yay!  It’s like they got better as they went along (though, I remember liking book 2 as well).  This one was pretty easy to get into and read.  It could have been even higher rated if it weren’t for Laura’s insecurities sabotaging things.

I wasn’t anticipating connecting with Laura as much, and while that’s true to a degree, I did enjoy her more than I was expecting.  She was unsurprisingly damaged by quite a few past relationships that made her see a pattern that wasn’t there.  She surprised me with her willingness to explore at times, so that was nice.

Russ totally surprised me!  I loved that we got to see that vulnerable side, and the story from his childhood that perfectly illustrates why he is the carefully controlled man he is today.  He was so much sweeter and marshmallow-y center than I was expecting.  I really loved that he saw so much of Laura, and appreciated it.

They were pretty steamy together, for those moments when they got outside their heads.  And, to be fair, they were both equally boneheaded in their lack of communication.  Not my favourite trope for sure, but I guess I enjoyed other parts of the story enough to make up for it.