Merry Christmas, my friends!

Wishing you a wonderful, joyful, relaxing holiday weekend! I hope it’s full of your favorite food, favorite things, and favorite books 🙂

I am excited to share a few mini reviews of some fantastic new Christmas Rom Coms. Both Falling for your Brother’s Best Friend and The Christmas Letters are re-releases of earlier novellas. This was my first time reading both and I loved them. Cocoa Kisses takes us back to Creekville which may be the best place to spend Christmas period (take me to Christmas Town!) I was pretty stoked to be back in the Love Cliches world, still one of my favorite rom com worlds. Thanks, Emma for writing more! All three stories are so much fun and perfect cozy Christmas reads.

These books are by three of my absolute favorite sweet rom com authors: Melanie Jacobson, Jenny Proctor and Emma St. Clair. I highly recommend these and all their books!

Book Summaries: Cocoa Kisses – “Two old friends, a snowed in cabin, and a mission to save Creekville’s Christmas…Taylor Bixby is content running her café and watching her customers fall in love, even though she’s dodged Cupid & mistletoe for years. It helps that the love of her life—her best friend—has no idea how she feels. He’s been gone for four years reporting from war zones, so she’s never had to risk him finding out. Until he walks into her café without warning. Levi Barrett is back in Creekville to fix what he broke four years ago. Even though Taylor doesn’t share the feelings he’s fought since college, he misses his best friend too much to let their friendship fade. . . . He sees his chance to make things right when catastrophe threatens the town’s most beloved holiday tradition. It’s simple. They just need to outrun the blizzard of the decade to wrangle eight grumpy rental reindeer…and escape a snowbound cabin in a forest riddled with absurd amounts of mistletoe. Oh, and restore a little boy’s faith in Santa. Christmas needs saving, but is Taylor willing to try when it means risking her secrets for the only man to ever break her heart?”

Falling for Bro’s BFF – “Older brothers are the worst. Older brother’s best friends, however, are the BEST. Except when they don’t seem to return your feelings… My crush on my brother’s best friend, Mason, has grown into something totally unmanageable over the years. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not a crush at all, but something bigger I’d rather not name. And while I know Mason cares about me, I don’t think he cares the way I WISH he would. That is, unless my overbearing and uber protective brother has been standing in the way. When Mason and I find ourselves sharing my brother’s loft while he’s gone, the dynamics start to shift. Sharing a space with your (possibly) unrequited crush is its own special kind of challenge.But just maybe while the cat (aka my brother) is away, the mice (aka Mason and me) will finally get a chance to play???”

The Christmas Letters – “Can an old letter spark a new flame? When Tess Ravenel gets herself stuck inside a bathroom stall in one of Charleston’s most historic buildings, she isn’t exactly thinking about her dating life. But then the paramedic who comes to her rescue has a voice that sounds like butter and enough charm to make her forget she’s seconds from having a panic attack. If only he were interested.

Andrew McKay has a mysterious Christmas pen pal, a woman who replied to a newly found letter he sent to Santa back when he was a kid. After weeks of correspondence, it’s clear she’s funny, smart, interesting…and an awful lot like Tess Ravanel—the woman he’s already blown off twice for good reason. Tess and Andrew couldn’t be more different, but when their worlds collide, fate (and a little Christmas magic) set them on a crash course for love.”

Cocoa Kisses Mini Review

I loved being back in the world of Creekville! Melanie includes so many fun Christmas tropes in her story including forced proximity (stranded in a cabin in the snow), mistletoe kisses of various kinds, Christmas Town!, saving Christmas, reindeer and Santa, lots of yummy treats, and a lot of delicious cocoa. This is such a cozy and fun story. I loved the Christmasy details and being back in a town that celebrates Christmas in the most fun and creative and over the top ways.

It was so much fun to get Taylor’s story and get to know her better. All the Christmas treats she makes for her cafe sounded amazing! I want recipes for several of them. I was impressed seeing her plan and put on Christmas Town and loved her ambitious changes this year with the full team of 8 reindeer! I also loved seeing her fall in love.

Taylor and Levi have fantastic chemistry and I loved their love story. I am not always a fan of best friends to lovers stories. But this one was just delightful! I love their meddling moms who are so excited when they get together. I loved their obvious attraction and their swoony kisses. I loved how Levi is willing to do anything for Taylor and how his dreams are reshaped to focus on her. Simply a lovely love story.

The ending is so beautiful and so lovely! I would love even more stories from Creekville!

Falling for Your Brother’s Best Friend Mini Review

Give me all the Emma St Clair novels! I am always thrilled to read an Emma novel of any sort. And being back in the Love Cliches world was a treat! I loved the overlaps between this story and Falling for Your Best Friend. I went back and read the chapters from that novel that correspond with this one. And now I think I need to reread the whole series. They are so fun!!

I loved getting to know Chelsea beyond that single date and ill fated camping trip. She has so much more depth than I gave her after those limited chapters. We get so much more of her background including how she has moved forward after losing her dad, her relationship with her brother and mom, and her at times ridiculous dating history. I loved her more-than-a-crush on Mason and how easily their relationship blossoms.

The forced proximity roommate situation was a fun backdrop for Chelsea and Mason’s love story. I love that they have both been pining for each other for years! It’s just so sweet. I love all the simple things he does for her — the Christmas tree after Christmas, the bath, her favorite cookies, her favorite crepes, going to a party with her when he hates parties, and all the tender moments they share. I absolutely loved their first kiss even with the unexpected ending. And shout out to Chelsea’s brother, John, who actually wanted them to end up together. I love that!

Also I am obsessed with the Sheet Cake hint Emma gives us at the end. Can’t wait to see where that goes!

The Christmas Letters Mini Review

This is such a sweet Christmas story that gives off major You’ve Got Mail vibes. Sidenote: You’ve Got Mail is one of my favorite movies period so I loved all the fun connections to that story.

Tess is vibrant, hard working, and trying to make her own way in life. I loved how she has really figured out what she wants in life and is going for it. Drew is swoony and sensitive. Orphaned at a young age, he is surprised to get a reply to a letter to Santa he wrote as a child after losing his parents. He’s even more surprised to discover who is writing back.

I loved the different sides of Tess and Drew’s love story. Their meet cute is so much fun! I love how they can immediately talk about anything and everything. Then we have their letters to each other which were so sweet and tender. Letter writing is my favorite. Their obvious chemistry is fantastic. And we have just the right amount of tension when everything is not quite clear to both of them. I loved their reveal at the Christmas party. And their realization that love can be found in unlikely places is swoony and beautiful.

Plus, Drew’s Grandma Pearl is so spunky and fun!

All three of these Christmas novellas are absolutely fantastic! They have great love stories with characters you can cheer for. The Christmas tropes are plentiful and so much fun. And all the endings will make you sigh with contentment.

Merry Christmas, my bookish friends!

What are some of your favorite Christmas novels?
How about favorite Christmas movies?