It’s only September 6, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas with this week’s book releases. We’ve reviewed two books with different takes on holiday romance genre.
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
4/5
My new favorite Ali Hazelwood novel! A neuroscientist joins a NASA project only to discover her co-leader is the grad school student who absolutely hated her. Or did he? Yep, it’s got a similar sort of mistaken-enemies-to-lovers story to The Love Hypothesis, but other aspects were different enough that it doesn’t feel like the same story rewritten. Bee is a neuroscientist and Levi is an engineer working at NASA, where they’re creating a prototype for a helmet that will enhance astronaut brain function. It was a really fun and cute story– right up until the last 10%. At that point, right when you think it’s too late for the s*th to hit the proverbial fan, things get very stressful, very fast. I think those last few chapters probably took a year off my life. I’m not mad about it exactly, but it did come out of the blue in a way I wasn’t expecting! Otherwise, a really fun, predictable read.
I will admit I was hoping for some more ace / demi rep but no such luck. Still a really fun romance.
The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish
4/5
Take The Holiday and make it queer, and you’ve got The Holiday Trap. I think a two couple romance is tough to pull off, but I was so invested in both Greta and Truman’s story lines that I never minded when the POV switched, and I loved all the side characters. The holiday elements are a little more subtle than a lot of the more Hallmark inspired romances, with mentions of Chanukah and Christmas shopping dispersed occasionally throughout the book, but I still thought it was a wonderfully cozy holiday romance.
There’s Something About Merry by Codi Hall
3/5
A fun, very Christmas-y read. I liked the way the romance played out between Merry and Clark first over email, which helped explain why their relationship moved so fast once they got together. I think anyone who enjoys Hallmark movies or holiday romances will enjoy this.
The Decoy Girlfriend by Lillie Vale, Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore, and The Bachelor and the Bride by Sarah M. Eden are some of the other September 6 book releases we’re looking forward to checking out.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers of these ARCs for the books for review.