I love reading all of these holiday arcs during the holiday season it puts you right in the mood and this book was definitely one that made me feel in the holiday spirit

Maia is a single mother working at a plus-one company that single people can hire her to pretend they are dating then conveniently break up sometime after. Things get complicated when Maia finds herself attracted to a man who eventually shows to be a new employee for the plus one company and there is a no dating coworkers rule. Both need this job for reasons but can they stay apart.

If your looking for a book that takes place during christmas and like contemporary books you'll like this. I loved getting to know the characters and seeing where they came from. Its unfortunately they both ended up coworkers because they both couldn't help but be attracted to one another which made it hard to work together. Overall this was a pretty good book and just a nice read. Highly Recommend you lovely read readers who are looking for a holiday escape to check this book out.

DNFed (did not finish) at 44%.

There is nothing wrong with the book. We follow an ex bull rider who becomes a trail riding hand at a family run business. He is struggling with mental health and in denial over it. He likes the single mother (daughter of the owner) and worker at the resort. This is a slow burn but not a build the tension and really exciting slow burn. This is a slow burn that is boring, nothing happens and the only thing standing in the way of the two acting on their feelings is themselves. I appreciate that there is mental health representation, especially with a masculine male character. But it was a bit over done for me. I personally don’t enjoy stories were the focus is mental health, I went into this expecting a romance and I really wasn’t getting that.

The writing is fine, I think the plot and characters were really just not working for me.

This is a Clean Christmas Romance. I liked the characters, but I found that I liked some more then others. The metal health in this book was done ok, but I think it was a little bit over done. I also did not like Maia's sister character. I think she could have been nicer, and the book still getting the point it was trying to make across. I did enjoyed my time with this book. My favorite characters was the horses and the little bot. I also love how Brent's character is around Maia's little boy. The storyline was not like other Harlequin books I have read which I really loved how different this book was. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harlequin Heartwarming) or author (Cathy McDavid) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

‘Tis the season, and I’ve been totally in the mood for Christmas stories. So when I came across A Secret Christmas Wish, and having read and enjoyed Cathy McDavid’s books in the past, I decided to pick this one up. It is part of a series, but it totally stood on its own.

A Secret Christmas Wish follows Maia and Brent on their road to happily ever after. Maia’s a single mom just trying to make ends meet. She’s lucky in that she has a super supportive family, but she wants to do things on her own. She’s not looking for love after the unfortunate ending of her last relationship, but she’s also open to it if it comes along.

Brent, on the other hand, is a loner. He’s not terribly close to his family, has few close friends, and is just bouncing around since the end of his rodeo career. He has depression and doesn’t handle it very well, and does not like advice on the issue. There are sparks between Maia and Brent, but because they are co-workers and Brent’s mental issues, there are a lot of walls to scale to find their happily ever after.

I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever read a book before where one of the characters suffered so much from depression. I myself have never experienced it, but I have family members that do. So, it was interesting to read how it affected Brent day-to-day, but also a description of how it felt. I think Ms. McDavid did a good job of handling the feeling of shame that some people deal with when it comes to depression and the understanding that those around Brent tried to express. And to also mention multiple times all the various types of support that are available.

I read A Secret Christmas Wish in a single sitting. I was drawn into the story and stuck around because I cared about the characters and wanted to see how they’d find their happy ending. If you’d like a clean contemporary romance set around Christmas, this might be the read for you.

The characters in this book lack development. The story line doesn't pull you in. and just bumbles along deporessingly.

I could not finish this story because of theme and content. Having lived with someone who faced depression and couldn't move on was too hard