BOOK REVIEW: FAKING UNDER THE MISTLETOE BY ASHLEY SHEPHERD

“Unfortunately, I think I’ve already surpassed my quota for unethical workplace relationships.”
“It’s hardly unethical for two consenting adults to be involved.”
“I don’t recall consenting to being involved with you.”
“I don’t recall consenting to being your personal bagel delivery girl and yet, here we are.”

Olivia Langley is the human embodiment of Christmas cheer, and she has absolutely no problem spreading it around for all to hear.

Christmas sweaters? She has twenty. Christmas cookies? She’ll take three dozen. Christmas movies? Yeah, she’s seen them all.

So it’s no surprise when she’s put in charge of Loveridge & McGowan’s holiday festivities. Secret Santas? Yep. Ice skating? Of course. Holiday trivia? Duh. Christmas-themed bar crawl? That’s one big jingle bell hell yes. Kissing her boss at a Christmas tree lighting in front of his ex-girlfriend? Well… it is the season of giving. And Olivia does not come with a gift receipt. No exchanges. No returns. No refunds. All sales are final.

In an effort to ungrinch the grinchiest man she’s ever met, Olivia enlists herself, Santa’s Executive Helper, to scheme up a plan that includes sleigh rides, snow days, and one too many mistletoe kisses, which certainly gets Asher’s tinsel in a tangle. She’s pretty sure that she sleighed this whole fake relationship thing. Well… until she realizes there’s nothing fake about her feelings for Asher, and suddenly tangled tinsel, unsolicited Christmas trees, and celebrity heartthrobs are the least of her worries.

Faking Under the Mistletoe is a hidden gem in the romance genre and the glowing reviews don’t lie about how fantastic this book is. Truthfully, I’m writing this review after reading this book a second time (and it hasn’t even been published for half a year.) This book stayed with me long after I finished reading it the first time and it was just the book I needed for right now. Personally, nothing makes me happier than the cheerful heroine and grouchy hero romance trope. A good one at that. But to say this book was merely a good office romance undermines all that was special about it to me.

BOOK REVIEW: THE UNHONEYMOONERS BY CHRISTINA LAUREN

‘I can treat this trip like an actual vacation on a tropical island.
Yes, its with my nemesis, but still, Ill take it.’

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.

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RATING: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Unhoneymooners nearly missed my radar, until recent events had me seeking out contemporary romance stories for comfort. The idea of any contemporary romance with the enemies to lovers and fake dating trope has never failed to excite me – so I didn’t hesitate in picking this up. This book obviously left a big impression on me, even though I can completely see the faults in it that others have mentioned, but it’s just the book I needed for right now.

BOOK REVIEW: THE WICKED KING BY HOLLY BLACK

‘Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.’

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

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RATING: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

If it were possible that books were delicious, I’d tell you this about The Wicked King: Jude’s ambition, her tormented romance with Cardan, the war she is waging with the Undersea and her fragmented relationship with her twin sister was all positively delectable to me.

MY APRIL READING GOALS: REREADING MY FAVOURITE BOOKS IN ISOLATION

Hello bookworms! How are you? I’m preparing my self-isolation reading tbr for April, and decided that because I have so much free time, I need to revisit some of my all-time favourite books!

BOOK REVIEW: THE CRUEL PRINCE BY HOLLY BLACK

‘If I cannot be better then them, I will become so much worse.’

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

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The Cruel Prince was an unsuspectingly beautiful story about our vulnerabilities, and how they don’t have to define or limit us. I found everything about this book surprising, in that it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be, which was a romance driven fantasy. More so, was all the reasons I didn’t anticipate loving it for.