Lauren Flynn: In My Heart

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240454700-in-my-heart

Book Blurb:

She didn’t sign up for snow-covered trees, twinkling lights, or falling for a Christmas tree farmer.

Sloan Sterling avoids Christmas every year like it’s her full-time job. So when a photography gig lands her in a small town that runs on nothing but holiday spirit, she’s already counting down the days until she can leave.

What’s worse? She’s staying at a charming Christmas tree farm, where the owner, Jonah Holly, is the living embodiment of seasonal cheer. He’s tall, ridiculously attractive, and always wearing the most obnoxious Christmas sweaters. Funny, warm-hearted, and infuriatingly hopeful, he’s everything she doesn’t believe in anymore.

Their mission is work together to bring in more customers to the farm before the season ends. But working alongside him has Sloan catching feelings she didn’t plan on... and Jonah falling hard for the grumpy girl behind the lens.

The only problem? Sloan isn’t staying. She’s only there until Christmas, and then she’s gone.

So, is this just a holiday fling wrapped in fairy lights, or something worth believing in?

Tropes:

*High Gravity Audio Books ALC *Holiday Romance *reverse grumpy x sunshine 

*Small town romance *saving the tree farm!  *Hallmark vibes  *strangers to more

*insta lust/love *Nickname *sweet MMC but spicy in the bedroom *novella

Thoughts:

Thank you to the author and High Gravity Productions for sending me this ALC!

To start with we have Sloan (FMC) she is a photographer and often works on projects that take her all over the world, but she usually takes a break for her least favorite time of the year... the christmas holiday season, she has her reasons but still just leave her alone and let her stew during this time.  

Unfortunately her friend had a job lined up but had an injury leaving her unable to go so "Sloan, can you please please do this for me?" ... Sloan agrees to do it but didn't fully understand what she was signing herself up for... now she has landed in the center of a hallmark movie (not really) but seriously the christmas all year long, small town holiday vibes are going to be a real problem for this grinch.

Jonah (MMC) is the owner of the christmas tree farm which he needs help bringing customers back to pick out their trees... lately business has been down due to people buying those fake trees.  Even with that hanging over his head he is delightfully cheerful at all times and his dog is too  (except when he is giving puppy dog eyes as needed), constantly wearing those awful holiday sweaters, and looking hot while cutting down trees... seriously why is that so hot?

As Sloan begins her time in this holiday haven she is at first reluctant to the charm... but the more she spends time among the residents and Jonah, she can't help but wonder if maybe Christmas time isn't so bad after all... maybe she could trust a man and settle in this cozy, holiday town?  

The reverse grumpy x sunshine vibes caused great tension throughout the book as Mr. Holiday charm himself helped Sloan work through some deep seated resentment fueled by her past and opening up to others at her own pace helped soothe her Holiday disliking heart.  

The story is told from Sloan's POV with the Epilogue in Jonah's POV and Autumn Mercer and John Maddaloni did a great job bringing this holiday story to life!  

This was a novella so it did have that insta love vibes, but I didn't fully mind it in this story it was a cute small town romance with lots of holiday charm.  If you enjoy those holiday hallmark romances and don't mind spice add this one to your tbr it's a fun quick read that will have you ready to visit a tree farm and open some presents. 

have you read this one?  what did you think?

Logan Chance: Oh, What Fun it is To Ride

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240103678-oh-what-fun-it-is-to-ride

Ivy Garland ends up in a charming town for the holiday season with a job to do she's a PR manager and she's been tasked with helping the town raise funds for the towns Snowflake Jubilee things are a bit of a disaster when she arrives since sponsors for the festival are threatening to pull out... does anyone even come to this tiny town?  

Ivy crashes into a sleigh upon arrival and the owner of said sleigh is of course a handsome, grumpy mountain man while his job is to cart people around in his horse drawn carriage his personality is closer to Grinch than Santa... and now his best sleigh is going to be out of commission for an unknown amount of time... is this even more devastating to the upcoming festival.  Luckily Rhett Ryder has a back up sleigh. 

Ivy over the next several days spends her next several days making content and charming everyone in town... even Mr. Frosty is starting to come out of his shell... which is good because Ivy is about to be spending a whole lot more time with him in close quarters when they get snowed in at his cabin up the mountain, what could they possibly do with their time together?  

Maybe Rhett isn't as big of a grump as Ivy originally thought, perhaps something bigger is going on...

This is a cute insta lust/love holiday rom-com with a lot of puns and hallmark vibes.  I love the small town aspect and the meddling townspeople help make the story more charming.  

I did feel that since it was a novella things had to progress faster but I always have a harder time believing that the characters could be in "love" in less than 2 weeks.  If you are looking for a cozy holiday rom-com that's a easy quick read with small town charm this might be the one for you.    

Have you read anything by this author?  What other books would you recommend?

ARC read 2026 booksirens; Holiday romance, grumpy/sunshine; Ex-military MMC; enemies to lovers; some spice; one room/forced proximity; instalust/love; novella; snowed in cabin; small town;  feel good/cozy read

PTSD, loss of loved one mentioned (in past) 

Rebecka Cole: Winterberry Inn

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/244622741-winterberry-inn

Holly is tired... tired of everyone wanting so much more from her than she's currently able to give, especially her own mom who has taken managing the holidays to a whole new level so when she's asked if she is bringing someone home for the holidays and told that there are going to be a festive awkward photo shoot in order to "boost" her online presence she decides to step out for some fresh air which involves getting in her car and driving far, far away from all of that nonsense... only on the drive away she ends up caught in a blizzard and quite possibly the most charming town she's ever seen in person... seriously did she land in a hallmark movie set?

Winterberry Inn is cozy, nearby and they have vacancy only not inside the Inn  (of course not) they do have a cottage in the back... great she'll take that thank you very much, except for Nick bursts in from the storm right when she's about to accept to attempt to stake a claim on the cottage that is rightfully hers... she did get there first.  

The storm getting worse and with no other place to sleep Holly comes to an agreement with this stranger (lets hope he isn't a serial killer)... they are 100% not sharing a bed though...

Nick is in this small town for work and while the town is charming he's a -->get in, do his job and leave kind of guy never stopping long enough to settle down or leave a lasting impression on any one place, he is under a lot of pressure from his boss to get the job done no matter the consequences and that's usually who he is but he just met someone to throw his whole world view off kilter and she's sharing his space for the duration of this storm and the more he spends time with her the more he feels like maybe his life isn't going in the direction he wants it to maybe he needs something more stable.  

This is a novella and usually the pacing can be hard since there is less time to tell the story but the author did a great job keeping the story line moving along and easy to follow.  You don't really get to know the characters really well but you get enough of an idea for the point of the story, I loved this feel good holiday romance it was a quick cozy read I was going to sit down and read a few chapters and ended up reading half the book in one sitting.  The lead characters are likeable and have you wanting to see them get a happy ending, I also enjoyed the side characters (like the meddling inn keeper).  

I loved the hallmark vibes and I found myself wishing I could visit this charming town myself the author did a great job creating the holiday magic in a small town charm which kept me turning page after page.  Looking forward to the next book from this author!  

*Novella *2025 read  *Holiday Read  *strangers -->  more  *forced proximity  *cozy read  

*hallmark vibes *small town *Grumpy(ish)/Sunshine *slow burn  *one room/one bed *banter

*Indie author  

Possible spoiler:

I do wish the epilogue was spaced a bit further in the future, it is set only about a week after the last chapter ends not giving much time for the couple to be together or for us to really see how things are going for them after leaving the small town.  

L.B. Dunbar: The Holiday Post

 Hideaway Harbor Book 4 - 2025

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241057938

To begin we have Lumi who is in her early 40's she's always been used to taking care of others first her younger sisters then working hard to take care of her son as a single mom and now she is facing her first holiday season as an empty nester since her adult son is out in the world living his life and has told her he can't make it home for Christmas so she has thrown herself into her work as the postmaster in town and working for her families auto shop. 

Saint (it's his nickname but it fits) is a silver fox Santa look alike anyways he is driving in his luxury vehicle heading home where he's needed most as it's a busy time of year for his families business when he gets caught in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere and runs into a sign (so he doesn't hit the town's dog... it's a thing his owner passed away so he just goes where he feels like in the town and the people take care of him).  Now he is stuck spending the night in his car with limited cell service the next morning in comes Lumi to pick up his car and bring it to her shop. 

Saint needs multiple expensive and hard to get parts to fix his car he is now in a place where he has to extend his stay unexpectedly but all the rooms at any local hotel/motel/Inn are full, working out a deal with Lumi is his best option... she reluctantly at first allows him to take her spare bedroom her son isn't coming home and he offers to pay very fairly for the room.  

There are hints throughout the book as to what Saint and his family do for work, but it's never actually 100% told to us as the readers leaving us to wonder is he or isn't he?  Our couple gets close quickly during Saint's extended stay leaving to it feeling like an insta lust/love situation towards the middle of the book.  A lot of repetition surrounds the topic of our couple really liking each other a lot but he is leaving soon and she has always wanted to travel but never had the opportunity being stuck in this town.  Can they make their relationship work long term when they know already there is an expiration date on his time in town?  Will she ever be able to take time for herself and let herself go on those amazing trips she always wanted to go on?  Could they go together?  

This is the second in this series that I was able to get as an ARC read and it didn't disappoint it's exactly what I want from a holiday romance warm, friendly, sometimes cheesy (it's part of the charm) with a little holiday magic mixed in it was a super sweet quick read! 

There are mentions of some other characters from other books in the series but you don't need to read the books in order as they are complete stand alones.  If you are looking for a book (s) to kick off your holiday reading make sure this series is on your list!  

Have you read any of the books in this series?  Which one was your favorite?  

*Netgalley ARC read  *Age Gap  *couple over 40  *Spice  *holiday magic  

*small town romance *forced proximity *2nd chance for romance  *single mom (adult son)/empty nest

*hallmark vibes  *cozy read  *rom com  *secret identity  *insta lust/love  

Other ARC read in this series blog post : https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2025/10/evie-alexander-holiday-fakers.html

*Possible spoiler

-->  I was hoping that the dog would end up going home with Saint  

Elina Scott: One Snowy Swedish Christmas

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242738968-one-snowy-swedish-christmas

I picked this holiday book up from Book Sirens and I appreciate being able to be part of so many different ARC teams through this site.  I enjoy a good holiday romance and I saw that there were only a few spots left so I wanted to grab one of the spots before it was no longer available and that was on me not on the author for not describing their book well enough, I had briefly scanned over the blurb and it sounded like it might be kind of interesting.

Anyways as far as the story goes Casey is from LA she has always felt kind of adrift around the holidays her mom and dad got divorced when she was a child her dad remarried and started a new family which she for reasons it didn't really go into didn't feel apart of... from the way the story sounded it felt like maybe her dad was "trying" but Casey felt left out since she wasn't there all the time and felt her dad had moved on without her and her mom with a new family... as far as I'm concerned she could have tried harder maybe (?)  the story doesn't really go too far into this but basically since she doesn't feel like she has a place with her dad and his new family she decides to stop going to visit and it's just her and her mom for the holidays and it's been like that until the last few years.

Casey's mom deciding she's old enough to be by herself (since she's like 23) goes on a vacation to Hawaii where she meets, falls in love with and decides to make a relationship work with a man from Sweden they have a whirlwind romance (mostly not talked about in the book) and get married a few months after meeting where the mom is now going to be moving to Sweden to live with her new husband.  Casey feeling all of this is too soon for their relationship and knowing her mom's track record with relationships ending badly (that go the same way as her own bad relationships) goes to the wedding to try to talk sense into her mom... only Erik is there to stop her from breaking off the wedding this is her mom's new step son... he is a smoking hot Swedish guy (naturally) and now her "step brother" kind of (?)  I mean they just met so it's not like they are actually related.

Casey is not able to stop the wedding from happening and her mom marries and then moves to Sweden as planned feeling that she missed her opportunity to stop this from happening in the first place when she is invited to celebrate Christmas with her mom in Sweden she views this as a second chance to talk sense into her mom get her to move back with her to LA and they can forget this whole situation happened... only once she gets there Erik has already arrived and he lives a few hours away so of course he's staying in the house in the room right next to hers in fact... this is a nightmare how is she ever going to get her mom alone to get her out of this situation when she has no actual time with her?

So maybe it's because I'm older (in my 40's) but I felt that the whole beginning of the book was Casey being selfish she shouldn't be jet setting all over the place to try to break up her mom's relationship with this new man when it's for once not a toxic relationship like the ones in the past she also brought up her feelings about being left by her dad and his new family and now her mom is starting a new family too she is trying to include you she invited you to Christmas... let your mom be happy girl say congratulations and enjoy the holidays!  I get that she had a past history with bad relationships and so did her mom but it's really not her place to keep throwing that in her mom's face especially during the holidays.  

There is the taboo/forbidden part of this story where Casey and Erik are drawn to each other and begin quickly developing feelings but Casey at that point doesn't want to tell her mom and ruin what she has going on with her new happy life, so at that point there is growth for Casey and I liked that eventually she did stop trying to actively talk to her mom about breaking up with her husband.  Will Erik and Casey be able to be together outside of this holiday vacation?  They do live on opposite sides of the world and their parents are married so that complicates matters even more.  

I think the relationship could have felt a bit more natural if the book was longer (I know it's a novella so everything has to happen in a shorter time frame but the lead FMC and MMC just met then everything is happening quicker than her mom and her new husbands whirlwind romance which Casey felt was happening too quick and I really didn't see how they could be anything more than physically attracted to one another in the few days they spent with each other with the story that was shown on the pages then the ending felt really rushed.    

*ARC read  *Novella  *Book Sirens  *Holiday romance  *Forbidden romance  

*enemies --> More *Strangers --> more  *Stepbrother (new not since childhood) 

*leads in their early -mid 20's  *spice  *instalust/love  

Extra Thoughts:

This book wasn't bad but it just wasn't for me, but I'm sure that plenty of people will enjoy this if they like a instalust/love forbidden holiday romance novella 

Some weird conversations where Erik was trying not to be "pushy" but kept asking why after Casey had given some reasons just made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn't even there... he was a nice enough guy but if she already told you how she felt about it and you continue to press the matter you are just making things awkward for everyone.  

Evie Alexander: The Holiday Fakers

Part of the Christmas at Hideaway Harbor series

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241057236-the-holiday-fakers

I picked up this holiday romance from Book Sirens and I'm glad I did this is a really sweet holiday romance that will get you ready for all those hall mark romances that come out around Christmas. 

Piper (FMC) is preparing to head home for the holidays only she has a few problems first she told her mom that she would be bringing her boyfriend home for the holidays... only that's off because her boyfriend cheated on her and dumped her for the other woman, she found out that her job is in jeopardy because the owners are merging with a competing company (the one her ex works for... he does the same job and he is the owners son so the chance of them keeping both of them is slim.)  Not wanting to disappoint her mom maybe she can find someone to bring home at least they don't really have to be "together"... I guess she could also tell the truth but that's a last resort.

Another problem has emerged in that someone (not her) was photographed with Brody King hollywood star, her brother's best friend, and her long term crush she hasn't spoken to him in years he left their small town and never looked back but now somehow she is being linked to him in the tabloids... how did this even happen?

Brody's career is on the downhill slide he's had some bad publicity after an ex-girlfriend turned their break up around making him look like the bad guy, he also may be struggling with drinking too much and has gotten into a few fights that were also taken out of context with his next job/career on the line his soon to be fired manager feels what he needs is some good publicity in the way of a girl next door girlfriend maybe one that he's known since childhood and maybe being photographed doing some good deeds... in comes a fake dating plan he just needs to go back to his picturesque home town that is like Santa's workshop and a hallmark movie had a baby with his best friends little sister who he had a crush on in high school but was never able to do anything about because he told his friend he wouldn't go after his sister.  

At first neither Piper or Brody are on board with this plan but just maybe they can help each other out if Brody could promote a copier for Piper's job maybe that might be enough for her to keep her job in the new year and Piper doesn't even need to really fake her feelings she has been in love with him since she was a teenager... obviously she isn't telling him that but he could be the "boyfriend" she told her family she was bringing it's really win/win.  When they get back to the real world after the holidays they just go their separate ways again no problems.  Piper is a great artist and does fantasy artwork in her free time (wizards, elves, warriors Brody has been her favorite muse)... and even though she could go off on her own and she would have creative freedom it's scary to think about when she has had the stability of a steady job (until now).  

Only once they get back to their home town nothing goes to plan they end up giving up their rooms at the hotel leading to needing to share one bed in Piper's childhood bedroom with her parents down the hall.  The first community event that Brody is apart of ends up being at an adult toy shop... how is that going to help his bad boy image?  Also his best friend/Piper's older brother is glaring daggers at him at the family get togethers... this is going well so far.  Can Brody prove that he's changed and he is truly sorry for staying away for so long? 

The longer they share intimate space the harder it is to stay away from each other, old feelings come back in full force but what happens when the holiday magic ends and they have to go back to their real lives?  Will they be able to try to be together for real?  

This story is filled with loveable lead characters and side characters and Piper's niece Martha is hilarious, the town is so charming it makes me wish that I could move there too.  I really hope that Piper's brother's, sister and her best friend will get their own stories and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this series.  

This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys a good holiday rom-com with a good story/romance/spice ratio and some real laugh out loud moments.    

*ARC Read *Holiday Romance  *small town  *Brother's best friend/forbidden relationship 

 *long term pining  *girl next door  *Hollywood star MMC  *Artist FMC  *fake dating --> more  

*Book Sirens *2025 *Rom Com  *Hallmark meets Spice *One bed/forced proximity 

 *meddling family *discussions of grieving over lost loved ones (brother's wife, MMC's mother) 

**Possible spoiler:

The spicy scenes did kind of get a bit on the cheesy side with the dirty talk and Brody's enormous member that was almost too big to fit (of course) it didn't take away from me enjoying the story but it did feel a bit over the top... but seriously good for you Brody (and Piper good for you girl!)