I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.
Oh boy, this was 100% the fluffy queer festive story I was hoping for! Make the Yuletide Gay is the story of Grace Taylor and her boss Nicola who end up spending Christmas together when a literary conference is scheduled over the holiday season. The hitch? Both Grace and Nicola have secret crushes on each other. Things get more heated when they are forced to share a room (an oldie but a goodie) and you can pretty much guess where things go from here.

I really loved this book. It's very short and hits a lot of typical romance beats, but this is by no means a bad thing. I liked both Grace and Nicola and found them interesting and developed enough for the length of the story. The Christmas backdrop was great and led to a lot of cute conversations and lovely Christmas imagery.

There are some triggers warnings for abuse at the start of the book and this is related to Nicola's past, but it is discussed in minor detail and isn't too intense for the kind of feel-good read this is. Do be aware that it is brought up though. There are also graphic sex scenes, and a slight power imbalance/age difference (boss/assistant, 8 years) although both main characters are in their 30s and are consenting adults. It didn't bother me at all but it's worth mentioning in case you're not into that.

Overall, I wanted a cute holiday romance about lesbians and that is exactly what I got. There is real heart here though and it was the perfect queer read to get me in the mood for Christmas. If you want a nice cheerful romance then I definitely recommend giving this a try.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I was on a bit of a not so great book streak, so I figured a light and easy Christmas novella would get me out of my reading funk. And it did. This novella is just so cute, trope heavy, but not annoyingly so, just what one needs for their Christmas break (or a pick me up, set during the holiday season).

I think I shouldn't say too much about this story, I wouldn't want to give it all away. Grace and Nicola or colleagues, Nicola is Garce's superior. They go on a road trip to attend a conference, they have the hots for each other, but don't admit to it.

I love the title of the book, as you can interpret it in two ways, I'm going with the one where gay means happy/joyful, it fits best with the chapter titles. They all put a smile on my face and that is what this kind of reading should be about if you asked me. I could have done without the conflict towards the end of the book, it was unnecessary and always so late in romances... It should just happen sooner and characters should learn how to communicate, but it's a novella so all is forgiven. Als the novella starts with a lot of thoughts from each of the characters about how much they like the other, but there is not much there to "see" these likings. It gets better, and this book put a smile on my face so it's all good.

This is the perfect feel-good, lighthearted read for the holidays. It follows the sweet Christmas loving Grace and her grumpy boss Nicola. They end up stranded in a B&B over the holidays and are finally able to find their way to each other.
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3,5/4
~ #fridayinaprilbookreviews
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I voluntarily read and reviewed a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Make the Yuletide Gay is a debut novella by Ivy L. James. What a better way to kick off a writing career than with a holiday story.

Junior editor, Grace Taylor, has been asked by her boss, senior editor, Nicola Valentine, to accompany her to a conference in Maine during the Christmas holidays. They become trapped at a B&B during a snowstorm and grow close. They discuss their childhoods and Nicola shares some of her childhood issues that cause some of her fears as an adult. When they finally reach the conference their relationship grows even further, but Nicola then pulls away. The story revolves around how Nicola tries to get past her childhood fears in order to move ahead with Grace.

This was a quick read with drama, romance, and the holidays. 4 stars

I received an ARC from NineStar Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Super cute holiday novella. James has a lovely voice and creates relatable characters. I would have liked to have seen more about Grace's family backstory--she mentions her not-great family life before her adoption, but never really gets into it, when it would have been a good parallel to Nicola's childhood trauma. I also think that the boss/employee issue could have been better clarified so that any concern about impropriety could be dispelled--it puts Nicola in a potentially powerful position over Grace, and while it's clear that Nicola would never act on it, she's never even concerned with the optics of dating her assistant.

Overall, it's a sweet, quick, deliciously trope-y read for a hit of holiday romance!

Cute Little Novella. The Christmas Spirit wasn't STRONG here but we definitely had a nice dusting of it.
This was a short, cute little read that makes you feel all kinds of warm on the inside.

Nicola and Grace get swept into a conference on Christmas - check out that set up! Getting caught in a B&B and establishing that there are more than just professional feelings there, makes you wonder how they were able to make it to the conference.
Nicola had the most growth in the book. With plenty of internal monologue for us to understand her and her battles, I was so happy when at the end she dropped that she just got back from therapy. She needed it, and I believe it's something that would help her.
Grace was adorbs and went after what she wanted. She also effectively cut off when she needed it to and that made me proud of her as well.

The plot was smooth flowing with no big gaps anywhere leaving you confused about anything.
As mentioned, it is a novella, so a bit on the shorter side, I got through it in a couple of hours.
I recommend it if you're looking for that cute little dose of happy at any time.

This was a fast cute read and I loved it.

I have a lack of Christmas vibes this year but I think perhaps many do in the sum of 2020.

This book was a warm gingerbread cookie that makes you want to enjoy December again. It’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s sexy, and it’s , (not so shockingly?) GAY!

The two characters in it bounce off of each other. Nicola and grace are vague opposites and it works so well together.

It’s that vague trope of a forbidden office romance but handled well and sweetly with a fresh twist. I mean, who wouldn’t want to get secluded with their cute boss for a week?

I will say there’s definitely TW’s just for vague mentions of troubled childhoods, neglect etc, but it’s glazed over, handled well and has a comforting resolution.

I marked this down slightly just for some storyline progression but really enjoyed the writing style.

A warming winter read for all the sapphics out there 🤙🏻🙌🏻

This book was provided to me by Net Galley and all opinions are my own. Thank you Net Galley!

I am so glad I have found/gotten to read more wlw romances this year. This one specifically was like a breath of fresh air. I loved the chapter names so much and the way the writer wrote the chemistry was impressive.

I loved the inclusion that Grace reads romance novels, I thought it was cute and funny. I thought the sexual tension was palpable and made sense. There was care put there and I could tell. (I have several notes on how impressed I was with the chemistry between them). The romance part itself was a bit fast for me but it was a rather short book so no surprise there.

I rooted for them and thought that Nicola's experience with trauma and her subsequent actions were realistic, though a bit fast for me. I liked that it peppered the story instead of driving it, and made her decisions make a lot of sense. I also thought that they made a good couple, and truly cared for one another. In such a short amount of pages that is very impressive.

Make the Yuletide Gay by Ivy L. James
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Genre: LGBTQIA | Romance
Release Date: December 14, 2020

Make the Yuletide Gay is a standalone holiday romance novella by Ivy L. James and I am here for it!

This is a wonderful, spicy, holiday romance. It is filled with cutesy and flirty moments. This was a quick read and I could not put it down!

I absolutely loved Nic & Grace and enjoyed their chemistry. Their journey is filled with so many wonderful moments that made this book special.

If you are looking for a holiday romance to read by the Christmas tree, you should totally check out this book.

I look forward to reading future books by the author.

I'm so grateful to Ivy L. James, NineStar Press, LLC, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very sweet little queer Christmas romance novella. I love the title and the cover is adorable. The story made me want to curl up and drink cocoa. I feel like we're sorely lacking in wlw Christmas stories and I think this is a very solid addition to the genre. The reason I didn't rate it any higher is that it felt a little rushed for me. It felt like the plot of a full novel compressed into a novella, which made a couple of the plot developments seem a little unrealistic for me. It was still a fun read and I look forward to what Ivy L. James is going to write in the future.

Short & Sweet and super Christmasy, I loved it!! :)
Love, am I right? The classic cliche-ness of it all, bringing hearts together...
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Make The Yuletide Gay was such a light, quick romance that was great for the holiday season. This book didn't even feel like it was only 80 or so pages, it actually felt well-developed and thought out, like any other 300-page book would be, except 80 pages! The characters could have a little more history, but it didn't really bother me.

I really enjoyed this adorbs holiday book and I recommend it to EVERYONE WHO LOVES THE CLICHENESS OF ROMANCE BOOKS!

I wish I could write more, however, I'm kinda at a loss for words right now! (That's what happens when you read such a wonderful book, you don't know where to begin).

~Becca 🎄

3.25 Stars. I thought this was a nice, boss/employee, holiday romance. Between the ARC’s I have left to read and a few books I’m hoping to get in before the year is over, I wasn’t sure how much time I would have for holiday reads this year. So when I saw that NineStar Press released a new holiday book, I knew I had to scoop it up. It wasn’t a perfect novella for me, it had some bumpy parts, but overall I liked the read and thought it was a solid debut.

My biggest issue was the beginning. Not sure what it was but I could not get into the story. There was a lot of telling me that the characters had feelings for each other but I wasn’t really feeling it. I hate to say this but I actually felt like the story was dragging, which is almost unheard of in a novella. Luckily, that all changed a little before the midway point. The character of Nicola, who I think the author was trying to make into an ice-queen but she was just coming off ornery instead, started to become more of a well-rounded character. She had a history and you understood her more, life was now breathed into her character when it really wasn’t there in the beginning. Not only had that happened but the story itself just got better for me. I sudden liked the romance that was developing and I didn’t even mind the big conflict moment that normally drives me nuts half the time. I didn’t mind it because I finally felt like I was invested in the characters and cared what happened to them.

This wasn’t quite what I was hoping for but I did still enjoy it. After a rocky beginning, James hit their writing groove and the story got much better for me. If you are a fan of sapphic holiday and or boss/employee romances, this might be a novella for you. This was a solid debut read and I would read James again in the future.

This was a sweet little holiday romance. It was a pretty quick read. I admit, I wished they had been stuck at the B&B longer (I'm a sucker for that trope) and the snowstorm could have been a lot worse, but it was interesting seeing them interact at the conference together as well. The ending felt a little quick, but I still enjoyed it. Overall, would recommend. Thanks for the ARC, Netgalley!

3.5 Stars
‘Make the Yuletide Gay’ is a cute holiday novella about an editor and her temporary assistant. They’re assigned a last-minute conference the week of Christmas and as it’s too late for plane tickets they’re on a 10-hour road trip to Maine. Along the way they encounter wintery weather and have to stop at the closest hotel, which happens to only have one bed!

While they’ve both had an attraction for each other, the trip lets them get to know each other on a more personal level. I liked how they found things out about each other that they were surprised to learn and shows how even if you spend 8 hours a day with someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean you know them.

James did go the extra step to give the story a bit more depth than is usual for novellas. I was a little disappointed this contained the ever present 90% conflict, however, because of the short length, it was resolved very quickly. Other than that, this was a pretty light hearted, fun read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and NineStar Press in exchange for an honest review.

“We’re all scared.” Li Hua folded her arms. “But some things— some people— are worth a little fear.”

3.5 stars. A super adorable sapphic romance that packs in quite a lot of tropes, but still doesn't doesn't feel like it's trying to do too much. It worked! There's a road trip to a conference, they get snowed in, there's only one bed, they're employer and employee, (well, senior editor and assistant) and it's Christmastime. The power imbalance in the sorta employer-employee dynamic is very slight, but it also wasn't ignored. It had a nice light humorous feel to the writing which was helped by all the chapter titles, like "Oh No, I Had a Feeling, Send Help ". Nice touch. It was whimsical and didn't take itself too seriously, but did get a little deeper when it needed to. Grace and Nicola were fun characters with good chemistry and banter.

Like most novellas, the length kind of worked against it. The conflict wasn't exactly unbelievable, but because it came up and was resolved in such a short period of time, I couldn't really get into it. It was a super meaningful issue that would have benefited from some more page time, and getting to know the characters a little better.

Still, this was honestly very adorable with some scenes that will stay with me for a while. I especially liked the first half of the book and the buildup to them getting together. It was a really fun holiday romance, definitely recommended.

Holiday romances are perfect for this time of year. This is a sweet novella that can be read in about an hour. Senior publishing editor Nicola has to attend a last minute work conference and insists her temporary assistant Grace must come along. Driving from DC to Maine in a snowstorm they are stranded at the B&B in a shared room (you gotta love a one bed trope). It allows them to get to know each other better. There was surprising depth to the MCs and a bit of darkness that is handled well. A good epilogue makes you feel get a whole novel in a little package. Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for the ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet, steamy, and charming lesbian romance novella. Contains the ever-popular "there was only one bed" trope which is always great.