|| 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖

Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist
Codi Hall
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

|| 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒:
When your best friend comes back to town after way too many years. He is here to stay. You are both single. You need to make your Ex’s jealous. What do you think is in store for Noel and Nick?

|| 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄:
•Steamy holiday romance
•Music playlists
•Fake Dating (sort of)
•Friends to Lovers
•MCs that are nurses 😍🙌🏻

|| 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:
So this book goes on the naughty list because I was mislead 😂 for some strange reason I though this was a sweet little YA romance. It is not. They are adults. They do adult things. It is not closed door. 😂 I really enjoyed this one especially when the MCs were together by themselves in scenes. My only complaint is all the Christmas themed names, like it was a little over done. Also the characters dialogue was (in my opinion) written like what an old person thinks a young person should say. Sometimes it was funny, other times annoying. But the overall story was very sweet (and not sweet 🥵) and I definitely enjoyed the growth of Noel and Nick! I can already tell thanks to one scene that we have an enemies to lovers coming next with one of Nick’s sisters and I will for sure read it!

Thank you to sourcebooks Casablanca and netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Couldn’t finish this one, I was so excited and heard so many Greta things about it! It was like reading a hallmark movie Transcript. The main character name was Nick Wynter and his sisters were named Merry and Holly. So cliche and the dialogue was painful. Very disappointing read

I guess the first foreshadowing this book was going to irk me was its title. I know it might seem nit picky, but Noel has always been spelled Noelle if the Noelle in question is in fact, a girl. My grandfather was named Noel. I was almost named Noelle. Therefore I have a horse in this race. 😂

But moving on, Nick and Noel are childhood besties who have always had each other’s backs. So when Nick’s long time girlfriend (and Noel’s arch nemesis) breaks Nick’s heart, Noel is there to pick up the pieces. One night they spontaneously stage a kiss to make their exes jealous. Needless to say, the meaningless kiss doesn’t feel so meaningless after all. Suddenly, these two are catching feelings quicker than you can catch mommy kissing Santa Claus. Being friends has been nice, but have Nick and Noel been meant to be naughty all this time?

The friends to lovers premise is one of my favorites, even if it’s been played more than Jingle Bells. That being said, it’s been done better, many times over. I wanted to want Nick and Noel to be together, but I didn’t find myself caring all that much. Also the beef between Nick’s ex, Amber and Noel seemed revisited way too many times in this story to the part it started to feel like filler.

One thing I am a sucker for though are musical tie ins. I love the idea of creating the perfect playlist. I miss the mix tape days even more than I miss believing in Santa. All in all, this isn’t one playlist I’d put rush to put on replay anytime soon.

Cute holiday read. Love the theme from friends to lovers. Soo, do sweet.
I would recommend this one.
It is heart warming.
3.5 stars

This was one of the cutest holiday reads ever! I'm absolutely obessesed with the friends to lovers trope. This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I will be recommending this one to all of my friends!

I loved this book so much. I gave it 5 stars. I loved the banter between Nick and Noel. I felt all the emotions Noel was going throw with the loss of her parents. I just absolutely loved this book. It was a cute holiday read.

I saved this one to read at Christmas, but I'm bailing on it around the 25% mark. It's just not for me -- too much "bro' humor.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Daaaaaaaang. Sing with me....oh what fun we had....sincerely, I really enjoyed this title.
Christmas.
Best friends to lovers.
Lil heartbreak.
Lil past issues to work through.
Witchy....(IYKYK), ex.

Final thoughts L.O.V.E.D it. Pick this one up if you are a music fan....the playlist is lots of fun.

I was really intrigued by the blurb of this book, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. It was missing the Christmassy spark and feeling the cover led me to believe would be rife in this book. I also found it really difficult to get on board with the central romance and didn't feel any chemistry between Nick and Noel. I also hate books where women are pitted against each other.

This was everything I wanted in a romcom holiday book. Think cheesy Netflix romance movie, but one that's actually really good! Loved going through Nick and Noels friends turned lovers journey, and you truly fall in love with both of them.

Nick and Noel have been friends since they were in diapers. But now they are almost 30 and realize they might have serious feelings for each other. But they want very different things. Nick has a big family and wants a ton of kids of his own. Noel lost both her parents and is afraid of loss and doesn't want any sort of family. Can the two reconcile their differences? Can they explore their romantic feelings without running their friendship? This is the perfect friends to lovers trope and set around Christmas. You can't help but love it :)

I also love that both Nick and Noel have major faults and you get to experience their flaws and fall in love with both of them. This is the absolute perfect Christmas read and it got me in the holiday spirit so much. Would 5/5 recommend - definitely check this one out.

Thank you Codi Hall, NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the early look.

Five Stars! I absolutely loved this book, I stayed up late to finish it and could not put it down. Nick and Noel have the most amazing friendship and I loved watching that grow into something more, and I absolutely love his family and hope for more books about his sisters; and their two best guy friends. The characters are loveable, honest and real and the chemistry was off the charts.

Definitely pick this one up!

This is a cute best friends to lovers romance.
Nick has just returned from being in the military for 8 years to find that his long term girlfriend has dumped him and cheated on him whilst he was gone.
Noel is his lifelong best friend who was pretty much adopted into his family when her parents died back when they were 16.
When they start to realise how hot each other is after pretty much spending 8 years apart their chemistry is undeniable. They end up having a retribution kiss in front of their exes that changes everything for them.

I love this type of trope and I was excited to read a Christmas version of best friends romance. I wouldn't call this a holiday romance so much though. It is set in December but for the most part Christmas references are quite light.

I love Nick and Noel's best friends as they were all such good supportive people. And I hated Amber who is the trouble maker of this book and Nick's ex.
This is a fun easy December read with some more hard hitting subjects.

If you've already listened to the audible original, be warned that this is the exact same thing. I was hoping maybe there would be more added in but from what I read (I didn't finish as I've already heard the audiobook), I didn't notice anything new.

However, when I listened to the audiobook I really liked the story! I love the banter and the mix of fluff, trauma, and even some good steam which I was not expecting!

Friends to lovers is my favorite trope and I love Christmas rom-coms so really this was right up my alley.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS BUT MAKE IT CHRISTMAS!

Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist is so much fun, charming, heartfelt and full of Christmas cheer! I really enjoyed the slow burn tension between best friends Nick and Noel. I hated Nick’s ExGF Amber. I want to see more of the side characters. I would love to read more about Nick’s sisters and his and Noel’s other best friends!

This was sweet and was entertaining, but I just couldn't deal with Amber. How this no one tell her to fu**-off? And how did she fool Nick and Gabi for so long? It was really annoying...

Other than that it a sweet Christmas-sy friends to lovers and I adored both the MCs!

2.75 stars

Word of advice: don't advertise a book as a holiday romance just because it happens to take place in December.

I am really struggling with my feelings about Nick and Noel's Christmas Playlist. I think that there is a fair amount to like here. It reads like a PG-13 Hallmark movie and Hall creates some really fun dynamics with this cast of characters.

However...

There are two major issues with the marketing of this book for me that really impacted my enjoyment of it. I have already mentioned the first - this book can barely be called a holiday romance. I kid you not, there are a grand total of 3 scenes in the entire book that have to do with Christmas. I wouldn't have minded this if there was some pervasive holiday spirit throughout the rest of the book, but there was nary a description of Christmas lights or holiday baking to be found. This story could have taken place at any point in the year and I probably wouldn't have noticed anything different.

The second comes from the disconnect between this fluffy illustrated cover and the actual content of the book. There are a few sweet moments in this book, but they are sandwiched between heavy topics like slut-shaming, copious discussions about the death of a parent, slut-shaming, infidelity, and misogyny. I'm not opposed to any of these topics being discussed in a romance novel, but there was literally no indication anywhere in the marketing to indicate that this content would be central to this book. I wouldn't have minded so much if there had been enough holiday spirit to counterbalance the darker aspects of the book, but as I already mentioned, we didn't really get that here. Again, I really do think that this book would have been much more successful if it hadn't been aggressively marketed as a holiday romance. Any other time of the year, I'm telling you.

There were enough saving graces in this book to save this from being a complete bomb, but I just don't think that this worked as the fluffy, holiday romance it sets itself up to be. I would love to read another book in this series if Hall writes one, though! I can tell that there is talent even if this missed the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This one was pretty cute with all the cute, hot and emotional stuff. The story was light and sweet and beautifully portrayed.
The leads were never sure but we knew what would happen from the very first page. We could feel the tension and chemistry all along.

Nick and Noel have been best friends for 20+ years. When Nick comes home after serving in the Army, he's greeted with a cheating girlfriend and an impending holiday season alone. Noel comes to his rescue one night at the local bar, kissing him to make his ex jealous. The sparks are undeniable, enough to convince Nick that giving this a shot might be worth it, but Noel's stance on no marriage or kids has him rethinking everything.

Nick and Noel's Christmas Playlist is a fun holiday read. I loved the obsession with music and mixtapes/CD's; it totally reminded me how much we can communicate our feelings through music. The quaint Idaho town of Mistletoe made the book, in my opinion and I enjoyed seeing the interconnected lives and meddling of family, friends, and townfolk. And any time you have friends to lovers with fake dating thrown in, I am absolutely game. The book was definitely enjoyable, even with some of the more over the top antics throughout the book.

Noel's character broke my heart as she is still grieving the death of her parents 10 years ago. Although she has had a huge crush on Nick all these years, she won't act on it, because not only does she not want to ruin the relationship, she also knows he deserves the world and she can't deliver. Noel's mouthy, impulsive and just a breath of fresh air, telling it like it is without regret.

This romcom sounded so cute, especially since friends to lovers is my favourite trope. But Noel ended up being very much "not like other girls" and she kept being judgmental about other girls being feminine. This really took me out of the story, so I didn't end up finishing the book.

I love holiday romances and this one was really cute. Nick and Noel were great characters and this was a really fun read!