Format: ebook
Published: October 12th, 2023
Age: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Goodreads
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.
This was my last festive read for 2023. I have to admit, although the book was enjoyable I found myself a little disappointed overall by the time I finished it.
Thea is making her way home to London from Portland for Christmas, but when her flight is grounded by a snowstorm, she books the last room available in any of the nearby hotels – a fancy, five-star hotel room, booked on her emergency credit card. But as she’s settling in, another guest arrives for the same room, and the double-booking leaves them with only one choice – to share the room until they can catch their rescheduled flights the next day. For Thea, it’s a luxury she doubts she’ll ever experience again, but it’s soon clear Logan is used to the five-star treatment. When they part, they do so as friends, with the possibility of more hanging over them. But before the holidays are over, Thea discovers Logan may have been hiding a pretty big secret, and vows to forget all about him. But their paths cross again when Thea finds herself on the team tasked with convincing Logan to take his business in a new direction, one he isn’t keen to follow.
This was a sweet enough book, and it started really strong. I liked Thea almost instantly; she bursts onto the page, and I loved her relationship with her grandmother. Logan was easy enough to like, too, and during their night in the hotel, I found myself really eager to see which direction this was heading in.
However, by the midway point I was getting just a touch bored. The book does pick up later, but I think this is another romance novel that could have been trimmed down a bit. There’s some repetitiveness with Thea and her job, and the miscommunication aspect felt a touch contrived. Like I said, this was my last Christmas read of the season, but the vast majority of the book takes place after the New Year – it soon lost the kind of festive sparkle I like in my books which have Christmas in the title.
I liked both Thea and Logan, and the way Logan really comes through for Thea when she needs him. I also liked Thea’s ‘backstory’ with her ex – we get glimpses and ideas of the toxic nature of her previous relationship, and the way Thea felt towards him and his portrayal felt realistic. There’s a great scene when Thea and Logan go axe throwing with a group, and it was a really nice, funny scene. Overall, the secondary characters were really good, too, and I loved Thea’s work bestie, Teddy, always there for her when she needs him.
There’s a lot to like about this book, but I think I would have felt much better towards it if it wasn’t marketed as a Christmas book and was maybe cut down just a little.
Unwrapping Words 