Another Christmas short-story! This time, from one of my favorite authors, Ainslie Paton. This book was charming from start to finish, just the kind that had me smiling all throughout.

Tinsel in a Tangle is an office romance between two people who have secret crushes each other only to have their feelings for each other surface in the aftermath of a Christmas party gone awry. Adorable doesn't do justice to this book. It was so darn cute and gave me such warm feelings. I was amazed at how much we got to learn about these two characters in such a short book. Even though this was just a novella, the character and romance developments were top-notch. Shelby and Adam were both sweethearts who totally captured my heart. Shelby is peppy, kind and very caring. Adam was quieter but just as compassionate as Shelby. We get to see the two of them meet at Adam's office orientation and get to watch their relationship blossom into a friendship.

Unbeknownst to each other, these feelings soon grow into something much more. They only realize that their crushes are not as unrequited as they might have originally thought when Adam lands a punch on Felix, Shelby's personal nightmare of a boss at the Christmas party. The two of them realizing the other person's feelings for them was so freaking cute as they were both so innocent. The romance truly was sweet and had me on cloud nine.

Tinsel in a Tangle is another holiday romance that I urge you to add to your holiday-reading TBR. You won't regret it! :)

Tinsel in a Tangle is a cute story about two office mates who were crushing on each other but did nothing about it until the night of the office Christmas party, where one of them punched the lights out of the boss who has been terrorizing the other.

I don’t know why when I read about Shelby that I instantly imagined Claire Foy’s face but anyway, Shelby and Adam are so cute together. Adam, especially, is just a quiet guy who does stuff on the low; caring for Shelby from a distance and doing little things like refilling her water jug and staying late when she’s staying late, and I love him so much. I mean, they don’t even interact that much since their tables are at the opposite ends of the office but I still ship them. Shelby is also easy to love--she’s literally described as a person who’s easy to love in the office because she’s just a ray of sunshine and a kind-hearted soul who makes effort to organize things that bring people together.

Overall, Tinsel in a Tangle is sweet, TOO SHORT, and yet is also developed and wrapped up real nicely so I can’t complain much (except that it’s too short and I want more but I mean, let’s be real—Ainslie Paton could write grocery lists and I’d read them ahahah).

Short but sweet, I really enjoyed this holiday tale about two co-workers with secret crushes on each other and the holiday party drama that brings their feelings to the surface. Would I have loved a longer story? Maybe, but this worked well for me a short story. I appreciated the snap shot of the development of their romance.


I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Quite short but just enough to get to know the characters and their relationship. Festive read with a homely, cosy feeling to it

Ainslie Paton brings her reader a quick, festive, funny and sweet story in Tinsel in a Tangle, and it begins when Adam Tide decks Shelby Yule’s misogynistic boss with his fist as opposed to any halls with holly.

“There was a first time for everything and Christmas was the best time to reach for love.”

A little too short to get invested in the characters, but if you’ve half an hour free and fancy a festive fix, this definitely ticks the boxes.

“It’s the season to be jolly.”

Short and sweet office romance story.
A really enjoyable festive read which flips between the then and now giving you an insight in to how things ended up the way they are.

Cute and warm Christmas story. Rather short but excellent to read during the holidays. Adam and Shelby work at Luxlife together and have been attracted to each other ever since Adam started his job almost a year ago. He unexpectedly decks the HR manager (Shelby’s boss) at the Christmas party and Shelby visits him at the ER. I liked the construction of the story. Would have loved a little epilogue but it did end just right.