Genre ~Ā contemporary romance
Tropes ~Ā grump, forced proximity, slow burn, clean
Release date ~ Book ~ September 2, 2021, Audio ~ September 1, 2022
POV ~Ā single ~ 1st
Page count ~Ā 226
Audio length ~Ā 8 hours 30 minutes
My rating ~ 3.5ā
My review:
A perfect book to read while sipping hot chocolate, with or without a shot of Kahlua, while under your snuggie with your adorable rescue dog laying by the fire as the snow falls outside your bay window. I’ve never really watched a Hallmark movie, but this is everything I think one would be like.
Told by Megan in the 1st person. She is working at her family’s bookshop and is still in a funk years after her young husband passed away. When she meets Xander it is not love at first sight since he’s a total grump and rude. Eventually they begin seeing more and more of each other and the feelings start to develop.
All of the characters are likable and relatable, except Xander who does run hot and cold. I really liked his secret.
Also, I really liked Megan’s relationship with Joe’s parents and how supportive they were of her years after Joe’s death.
All in all a sweet slow burn clean romance.
Narrated by Laura Brydon for 8 hours and 30 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. I thought she did a lovely job with all of the different character voices.
*Thanks to Sage Egmont Audio,Ā Rachel BurtonĀ and NetGalley for the advance audiobook. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*
ā¬Purchase linksā¬
Save on A Bookshop Christmas at Booksamillion.com.Book blurb:
A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. And it’s Christmas!
It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story.
But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor’s family bookshop ā the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world.
When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It’s time to start living again, and she’s going to start by putting this arrogant, superior ā admittedly sexy ā stranger in his place.
Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe…
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