Holly Winters is a quirky Youtuber who runs the holiday shop located beside her grumpy nemesis Declan’s hardware store. Their increasing hostility towards each other ends up starting an epic prank war. But when Holly desperately needs help setting-up her Christmas lights display, she is forced to hire Declan, the only handyman available on such short notice. Forced proximity, because of working together and being in Holly’s sister’s wedding party together, causes the pair to form a truce and develop a temporary “enemies with benefits” agreement. But the pair starts to doubt the temporary status of their arrangement when real feelings start to emerge.
Along Came Holly is the third installment of Hall’s Mistletoe Romance series; I highly recommend reading the three books in order as Nick and Noel’s (Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist) and Merry and Clark’s (There’s Something about Merry) stories continue in Along Came Holly. Along Came Holly is a contemporary Christmas romantic comedy featuring the “enemies to lovers”, forced proximity, and grumpy with sunshine tropes. Themes and topics present include family roles, marriage and divorce, Alzheimer’s, social media, privacy, growing up, miscommunication, appearance versus reality, as well as loneliness and isolation. I would recommend Along Came Holly to fans of Christmasy rom coms like Jingle Wars by R. Holmes and Veronica Eden, The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox, Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison, and Booked for the Holidays by Chelsea Curto. Along Came Holly was fairly lighthearted and very Christmasy; Holly had an Elf-like vibe whereas Declan’s vibe was more like The Grinch, which made for a humorous read. The prank wars definitely added a touch of comedy to Holly and Declan’s story, and I liked their spicy “will they, won’t they” relationship. In my opinion, it would be the perfect book to read by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate during your Christmas vacation or to listen to via audiobook whilst doing your holiday wrapping or baking. On the downside, for some reason I just didn’t feel as connected to and invested in Holly and Declan’s story, especially in comparison to the other two stories in Hall’s Mistletoe Romance series. As a result, I found that Along Came Holly kind of dragged at moments and didn’t really grab my attention overall. Furthermore, this book was very much a slow burn, which isn’t my favourite, and I personally found the ending to be a little cheesy for my tastes. Overall, Along Came Holly was a fun and humorous slow burn romance that’s perfect for the upcoming holiday season!
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Whilst temporarily home from her traveling photography gigs, Kate Wilmot is forced to interact with her childhood neighbour and nemesis, Christopher, who is still close with Kate’s friends and family. After the Wilmot family pleads with Christopher to call a truce, Christopher learns that Kate acts hostile towards him because she wrongly believes that he hates her. Determined to turn over a new leaf, Christopher’s attempts to smooth things over with Kate end in a passionate kiss that forces the pair to reexamine their relationship. Better Hate than Never is a contemporary Shakespeare retelling featuring the forced proximity and “enemies to lovers” tropes. I would recommend it to fans of “enemies to lovers” romances like The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, You, with a View by Jessica Joyce, Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez, Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood, Twisted Hate by Ana Huang, and The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Themes present include family and found family, mental health, change versus tradition, order versus chaos, escapism, communication, meddling, loneliness and isolation, love, death and loss, secrets and lies, travel, world news, and working-class struggles. The obvious moral of Kate and Christopher’s story is that love is better late than never. Firstly, I want to advise readers who aren’t fans of Shakespeare to not be off put by the fact that this book is a Taming of the Shrew retelling; Better Hate than Never is a contemporary rom com that just so happens to use some of the same themes and names as Taming of the Shrew (much like how the movie She’s the Man subtly retells the story of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night). Better Hate than Never is the second installment of the Wilmot Sisters series but can be read as a standalone; I highly recommend reading the first book in the series as well, Two Wrongs Make a Right, as it’s also very good. Better Hate than Never is a “must add” to your fall TBR lists; it has a lot of cozy fall vibes and Kate loves all things fall-flavoured (especially donuts)! I enjoyed how less-common topics like ADHD and migraines were very much present in this book as this made Better Hate than Never more unique and memorable. I loved how Christopher and Kate learned to communicate and I appreciated that there wasn’t a pesky third act break-up. My favourite moment in Better Hate than Never was an epic paintball battle, featuring Christopher, Kate, and friends against some annoying misogynists, that turns spicy. I enjoyed seeing lots of Bea and Jamie, the main characters from Two Wrongs Make a Right, and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a real page-turner! I highly recommend it to fans of contemporary rom coms and spicy “enemies to lovers” romances.
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February 2024
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