Spicy with lots of Holiday vibes

Atlas “Max” Maxheimer’s family owns a Christmas tree farm in a quirky small town. When Max’s parents go on a trip to Europe, Max is in charge of the farm. When he notices a new building on the plot next to his, he goes to investigate. That’s where he meets Betty. Or rather…meets a soda bottle to the face, hurled at him by Betty!

This story of rivalry and attraction starts off strong. I would describe it as lighthearted and festive. It’s written with humor and reads like a spicy Hallmark Christmas movie. The structure felt unique too, because a narrator addresses the reader in between chapters and occasionally characters even have a little conversation with the narrator. I hadn’t seen that in a book before, but it worked! It made it feel like a Christmas play, adding to the festive vibes.

There were some things I didn’t love. It was a little too shallow for my taste. The plot was kind of thin and Betty’s character is very inconsistent (going from bold and cocky to super shy and insecure a lot). And the MMC Max gave me the ick. He shared way too many details of his and Betty’s sex life with his friends. It felt weird, especially because he did it behind Betty’s back.

If you are looking for a lighthearted spicy Christmas story in a quirky town, this might be for you. It was just a tad too spice-focused for me without other strong points to hold it up.

The book is a part two in a series, but I had not read the first book and this one felt pretty stand-alone to me. There were some allusions to the story from book one and its characters are a part of this story too, but you can totally read this on its own.

The audiobook narration was great! I always love it when there is a full cast of narrators.

2.5

Thank you Hambright PR for sending me the audiobook ARC. I really appreciate it.