✍🏻 Brittainy Cherry

☑️ Contemporary Romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ | 3.75

🌶️🌶️ 

“𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙩𝙝 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣. 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨.”

Such a fun read!! 

Overview:

•Holiday Romance

•Dating Coach

•Author FMC x Restauranteur MMC  

•Grumpy/Sunshine

•Fake Date for the Holidays

•Laugh Out Loud Moments

𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗞𝗮𝗶 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀.

This is the second time I read this book, and it’s still incredibly charming and funny! Unfortunately I didn’t love the whole book quite as much as the first time. 

Holly’s pure sunshine and Kai’s grumpiness provided the best dynamic and banter! I loved their meet-ugly and their relationship development, which had the sweetest slow burn quality as they learned more about one another. 

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙤𝙧.”

“𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙.”

Partially because he’s a bartender, this book reminded me of that one Date Coaching plot line from the movie He’s Just Not That Into You. 

“𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙟𝙖𝙢, 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙘𝙤, 𝙫𝙤𝙙𝙠𝙖, 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩, 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙮, 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙩. 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

Both Holly and Kai have traumatic relationship histories, and I really appreciated how that manifested differently in each of them. 

Special shoutout to Mano (Kai’s younger brother) for being the book MVP!! He was easily the most emotionally intelligent character, and they could’ve all used therapy. 

𝘼𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙡, 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙪𝙢𝙖. 𝙄 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙪𝙢𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥, 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 ’90𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙬𝙖𝙨.

I had forgotten about a few plot lines that were just far too unbelievable for me this round. 

Overall, if you want a hilarious holiday story where you can suspend reality for a bit, I would recommend this one!

✨ read via kindle unlimited ✨ 

———

Original review from 2022:

4.5 stars ⭐️ Oh my goodness, this is a golden rom-com!!! If you need a holiday read that will make you laugh and swoon, pick this one up immediately.

What I loved:
•It was truly funny!! (Not many books can make me laugh out loud, but this one had me giggling and smiling and gasping behind my hand. Full brownie points to the author for making me have physical reactions!)
•Both main characters were lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed the dual POV here!
•Such a readable blend of depth and lightheartedness 
•Mano is the STAR of the show, let’s be real
•Contrasting family dynamics and their effects 

What I didn’t:
•The only less-than-ideal part of this story is that you have to suspend a sense of reality at certain points. (A new restaurant owner having that much free time? The MJ reveal??)