I really enjoyed the plot in this book. I was very excited about this book when I seen it. It has everything you need a coven of witches that give out good luck kisses that help people throughout their lives. It is time for Remy to start her kissing season and it all goes wrong.

Unfortunately I DNFed this book at 25%. It was very slow paced. I loved the plot but it was the characters that I just couldn’t fall in love with. The relationship with Remy and her sister was not like anything I have ever experienced with my sister; making it hard for me to relate. Even though I DNFed the book I’m still curious about how the story ends.

I’m always in search for a good magical realism title, and The Holloway Girls did not disappoint. I loved the characters and how real they seemed and the history behind the magic of the Halloway girls.

Susan Bishop Crispell sort of has a thing about magic and food, and The Holloway Girls has a bit of this trend in sisters Maggie and Remy, who help their mother with her bakery food truck. Remy is the budding baker of the family--working through her problems with baked goods, and Maggie is the non-baker, who makes things explode. But that's a side note to the real magic of the book: when Holloway girls turn sixteen they must go through what is called the kissing season, which occurs on the summer solstice following their birthday and lasts for a full year. During this year, anyone who kisses them will have good luck and the girl will have luck in return. It's a whole luck jamboree. Unless rules are broken and someone is kissed whose heart is with another. Then things turn pretty bad.

Enter Remy, who rushes out and kisses her crush the first chance she gets. Unfortunately her crush breaks the rules: he's in love with someone else. Then he pretty immediately almost dies. That's the beginning of Remy's disastrous kissing season, so she immediately decides no more kissing! But kids from school are terrorizing her and a cute boy moves in next door and Remy knows she has to find a way to break the bad luck, but how?

So, the premise of The Holloway Girls is great and the first 25% of the novel goes by in a blink. It's engaging, it's fun, and I found myself really wanting to root for Remy to find the solution to her problems. But then...the love interest shows up. Don't get me wrong, I love a good romance, but this one kind of throws the book's forward momentum into the mud. It just gets so stuck on will Remy kiss Tobin. When will Remy kiss Tobin? Can't Remy kiss Tobin? SURELY SHE MUST KISS TOBIN. And then Remy is constantly harping at her sister: Have you kissed Juliette yet? Are you going to kiss her? WHY HAVEN'T YOU KISSED HER, MAGGIE? And I'm like, whoa. Where did the plot go in this book? Why is it just a bunch of people arguing about kissing all of a sudden? I mean, granted, the book is about kissing, but also it's about lifting a curse, which...Remy does not really actively try to accomplish. Getting her to try is like pulling teeth and that's when you realize there are muddled stakes in this book. Like, sure, Isaac has some bad luck, but nothing about that really pushes Remy to help him. Nothing is affecting her so much as it's affecting other people, and that's mostly off page, so you mainly get Remy moping while she's making whoopie pies and listing to moody music. I wanted there to be more urgency, but Remy didn't seem to have any.

The writing style was mostly pretty strong, but I found the way people spoke to each other off-putting, or almost like characters were giving away too much of the plot in dialogue, which ran the book right into jarring territory. For instance, when Tobin and his sister show up the first thing they say (literally, the first thing) is announce which of them have dibs on which sister. The magic was also a little scanty and unexplained.

So, cool premise and set up. Readers more invested in the romance won't be disappointed. Readers there more for the magic might not get the mileage they're expecting.

I really enjoyed this book, the idea of her kiss becoming a curse and taking control of your power is really awesome. Overall Remy is a cute character and it is a good YA book.

Sadly DNF @ 36% (that's why I'm rating this 3/5 on NetGalley)

I had a problem with the protagonist as soon as I started the book, but I kept going because that's not something that would stop me reading a book. I didn't really enjoy reading her and her voice had something that I can't quite place but annoyed the hell out of me. It might be that the MC was selfish and made arbitrary decisions based on ??? stuff? And I don't mean "oh, this MC makes bad decisions because she's a teenager in a YA book", but decisions that didn't make sense to me as a reader.

First of all, kissing Isaac? Knowing he was still in love with Hannah? The MC says she's hopeful he might want her and that she has a little bit of his heart, but she's clear to state that Isaac's most probably still hooked to Hannah. So she still kisses him, knowing the magic she's known for her whole life (and she has seen at least one other Holloway girl go through it) not only doesn't work that way but that it WILL give the other person bad luck?

Then, she decides to let it be? Like, she goes on and on about "I have to find a way to make Isaac's bad luck disappear", "I gotta research on this on my book", etc etc yet she never does a single thing. She only calls an aunt who doesn't want anything to do with the Holloway magic who basically convinces her to leave the magic alone? And she does actually, yet keeps thinking about doing something about Isaac's bad luck, YET SHE KEEPS DOING NOTHING?

The last straw for me is the kind of insta love with the new neighbor. Like??? I get he might find her attractive and flirt with her, absolutely no problem on that front, but her feeling automatically attracted to him, wanting to be close with him WHILE she keeps thinking "I can't kiss anyone else this summer, I have to find the cure to Isaac's bad luck, damn the neighbor is hot, oh no he can't have me, I'll go talk to him so Maggie doesn't steal him from me, I can't kiss anyone else this summer" etc etc.

I think the idea was lovely yet the ejecution felt short for me, which is really sad because I think the whole thing had (has!) potential. I would still love to read other things by the author, because I think her ideas are interesting and fun!

PS: I also didn't love the whole/writing/like/this out of nowhere. I don't know if that's gonna be there on the published version, but yeah.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read the Holloway girls.
OK so I was excited to read this as the blurb sounded refreshing to me and ultimately could be a nice little read.
While I didn't understand the whole Remy falling out with a certain someone won't name names, it finally became clearer towards the end.
I would have liked maybe some kind of flashbacks or more people searching from the book of luck but overall still enjoyed the story alot and Toben & Remy had some funny Dialect.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is a great example of how people make mistakes, but that should not stop them from being happy and living their lives. Remy is a very likable character that you will find yourself rooting for. If you are looking for something cute with a lot of growth, I highly recommend The Holloway Girls.

Overall a well written YA book, wasnt completely my taste but was definitely good! In conclusion the book was good just not my personal favorite.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an opportunity to read this super cute story.

I rated this good luck turned bad luck teenage romance at 3.75 stars. While the concept and characters were supper adorable and realistic. I found the plot to be a little lacking.

I wanted the pace to pick up a little more on this one. It was a wonderful story and I may choose to read again in the future, but the pacing made it hard for me to keep reading consistently as it didn't quite hold my attention.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well thought out and the plot moved at a great pace. I would enjoy reading more from this author in the future.

From the premise, to the cover, to the characters and plot, everything was perfect.
The writing is sharp, witty, and fast paced, with engaging characters and sparking dialogue.
The Holloway Girls is such fun and definitely added to the overall enjoyment.
She creates strong characters who jump off the page, are complex in their identities and who I honestly liked spending time with.
This was a phenomenal young adult fantasy romance story.
The pace was pitched perfectly. I honestly wanted this book to last forever!
This book exceeded my expectations.
Definitely one of those, I'll read one more chapter, and another, and then I got to the end in one sitting.

Sourcebooks Fire,
Thank You for this eARC!
I will post to my platforms in the near future.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

A well written, enjoyable read featuring sisters Remy and Maggie and their ‘kissing seasons’. Maggie is finishing her season and Remy is beginning hers, but Remy’s season becomes cursed when “the rules” get broken. How is Remy supposed to reset her season?

Add in new neighbours, friends who aren’t so friendly, confusing emotions and a few doses of self discovery as the characters develop throughout the story and you have a rather charming teen romance (or two).

I had to read this book because my last name is Holloway.
I liked the sisterly dynamics between Maggie and Remy. I liked their family bakery, I wanted some of those whooped pies!
I liked the magic and the kissing season. I felt it is really a way for these teen girls to figure out things about love and family and friendship. I liked how we see different types of love throughout the book.
I really liked this one and related to Remy as I have a sister myself.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I really loved the concept for this book and it was executed very well. I do however think that the solution to the problem was dumb but that's just my opinion. Remy and Tobin are super cute and I do wish they had a few more scenes together but they were adorable.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This is a beautiful book that shows how precious some of the things we take for granted can be! Wonderful LGBTQ+ representations and a strong message about owning up to our mistakes!

*I got a free copy through Netgalley, this in no way affected this review*

Look, I enjoyed this book, but I have a feeling there was so much more potential and the synopsis made me believe I would be reading a different kind of book.

It’s very character driven which puts the plot to the back a bit, which means it was a very easy book to follow but it didn’t really grab me so that I couldn’t put it down.

Remy was a fairly nice main character, though a bit whiny from time to time.

So a good read, but not extraordinary

A story of sisters, magic and a bit of luck.

“The Holloway Girls” promises a stroke of luck and good fortune to anyone who receives a kiss from a Holloway during their season and when it’s Remy’s turn she finds that her magic is not as fruitful as her ancestors.

I’m starting to believe all story’s of inherited magic must have sisters at the center and this book is no different. Remy and Maggie were the best of friends before the season began and as each deal with the consequences of their magical kiss they pull apart and their back and forth is both frustrating and endearing fully representing the dynamics of that kind of relationship.

The neighbors were fun with Juliet taking Center stage between the two and that may be a the charm of her character vs the quiet more reflective nature of her brother but I did enjoy her scenes quite a bit more than the other. It’s complicated doing a romance where the kiss can lead to the other party gaining this reward and I wish they spent a little more time discussing that uneven balance in a relationship setting as it seemed all the Holloway’s before then treated it more like a gift bestowed upon who they wished.

Not bad but also not great, I feel it improved as I continued but overall it’s just alright.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I was a bit disappointed with The Holloway Girls. I though it would be more about Remy trying to find ways to break her curse, but instead it focused mainly on her romantic drama with Tobin, which I just didn't find that interesting. I do think that probably teenage readers, who are more in the target demographic, would enjoy it.