It is officially holiday romance SZN ✨

And what a way to kick it off! This is the third @holymolyjennyholi A Princess for Christmas series and they are all so delightful. Huge shout out to @netgalley and @avonbooks for gifting me this advanced copy!

We are back in Eldovia, and this time focuses on the King’s top advisor, the very buttoned-up and traditional Matteo Benz. He is not excited about the arrival of American consultant Cara Delaney, who is tasked with helping to overhaul and streamline Eldovia’s main industry.

These two workaholics with massive walls up butt heads immediately. Slowly, they start to find a way to work together and open up. Their obstacles aren’t totally what I expected, and there’s even a little mystery woven in.

Both Matteo and Cara are complicated characters, and Holiday did a great job in developing them in a way that made me quite invested. And Eldovia again plays a perfect supporting role. My kingdom for these to get made into movies - would LOVE to see that country on the big screen! Do you hear me, @netflix?!

There’s also a very sweet Thanksgiving scene that gave me all the feels and felt especially lovely to read this week.

#scottonreads #goodreads #romancebooks #romance #holidayromance #avonbooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #netgalleyreviewer #netgalley #jennyholiday

So This Is Christmas is the latest release by Jenny Holiday. Come get swept away back to Eldovia, the Christmas capital of the world in the latest in the Royal Christmas series. I really enjoyed visiting Eldovia again, especially at Christmas time. This winter wonderland romance grabbed me from the very beginning and had me rooting for Cara and Matteo. Great storytelling and well developed characters transported me back to Eldovia for another magical Christmas happily ever after.
I recommend this romance to anyone who is looking for a sweet and moving Christmas romance, very Hallmarkesque.

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. I did really like the romance but I didn't really like the two main characters. I did like that the book featured two grumpy main characters rather than grumpy and sunshine which was a cool twist.

Jenny Holiday's Christmas book is one that I look forward to every holiday season - they're just PERFECT. I love the tiny country setting, with all the Christmas all the time. And I love the characters and unexpected matches. This is just fun, flirty, and full of Christmas spirit. A perfect first holiday read of the year!

This was a cute story! I found the characters to be a little difficult to get to know and relate to with the way they were written but I LOVED the description of all the different settings and found myself wanting to be there! Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

Cara Delaney is a consultant hired to help resolved Eldovia's financial situation. She is forced into travelling to Eldovia for Thanksgiving, the one holiday that is almost sacred for her small but loving family, when her employee Brad has an accident. Upon her arrival, she is greeted by the equerry to the king, Matteo Benz. Matteo sees Cara as an intrusion to the traditions held by the country while Cara notes that the traditions cannot continue if the country is no longer able to sustain itself. Both of these grumpy characters end up falling for each other and eventually working out what was best for them while also resolving what was best for Eldovia. I think the fact that both Matteo and Cara were both grumpy made for a slow start and I almost ended up putting this one down as a result. Eventually, it does speed up and get better.

So This Is Christmas is a warm holiday romance that is perfect for your holiday season reading. I really enjoyed the preceding two installments of this series, and this one was a good third installment. This one is more of a slow burn with less chemistry between the main characters than PRINCESS or DUKE, but it was still an enjoyable holiday romance. If you enjoyed the rest of the series, I think you'll enjoy this one, though!

First let me say that I love Jenny Holiday. I was so excited to read this, Duke, Actually was one of my favorite Christmas reads last year, and I love the setup of this whole series! But this book just didn't have the sparkle that the last two did. The characters were boring and I often found myself drifting out of the story rather than sucked into it. The book was a slow burn without the burn. It was so much more about the business of the royalty in the story that any potential chemistry that there might have been got lost. I will absolutely still recommend the first two books in the series, and I'm really excited to see where this goes next! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Imogen and Kai! But this was a skipper.

What I Liked: I appreciated that this book took the Grumpy/Sunshine trope and made it more Grumpy/Grumpy? Cara is a workaholic who is hoping to be made partner at her company was very relatable to me, especially the pressure she put on herself to support her family. I felt that the issues Cara and Matteo had made sense and propelled the story along. I believed that as much as Matteo may like Cara, he still saw her as a threat to his home and everything he loves about it. The enemies-to-lovers trope is a tricky one; if there is too much hatred you won’t believe that the lovers will ever come around and like each other. But the reason they’re enemies also must be believable. Holiday writes this trope well and it works here. Like the previous books in this series, the supporting cast is fun, and Eldovia is the perfect backdrop for a holiday love story.

What I Didn’t Like: As much as I hate to say it, I found Matteo to be a bit of a bore. There wasn’t much to his character, which is a SHAME, because his actions to help Eldovia and his relationship with his family were sweet and he could have been charming. But there was just something missing. I also found myself thinking that after the initial misconceptions about each other, one good conversation between Cara and Matteo would have cleared up a lot. Instead, they spent much of the book not understanding each other. This wasn’t a slow burn, this was a sllloooowwwwww burn. I wanted more to happen and sooner in the story.

Who Should Read It: If you read and liked the first 2 books in this series, I think you’ll like this one, despite being the weakest of the bunch. Even though this is the 3rd book, you can read and understand it without having read the rest of the series.

Review Wrap Up: This wasn’t the best Christmas romance I’ve read but there were things that I enjoyed and I think it’s worth a read if you are looking for a Hallmark-esque story. Holiday does a good job of capturing Christmas magic.

Favorite Quote(s): “She didn’t do girlish enthusiasm on the job. Or in the front of men. Or in front of men on the job.”

“I think sometimes the burden that we carry around are invisible even to ourselves.”

Sadly, I did not love this one. It was a slow, slow burn. And Mr. Benz was so robotic. If he said indeed one more time… I absolutely loved the first 2 books and had high hopes for this one. Just not for me.

i am obsessed with all things royals and royals adjacent. This book was so fun with the grumpy/sunshine and the royals mixed in. this book felt like a hallmark movie but sexy and i loved it.

Cara Delaney has placed her personal life on hold to work her way up the ladder at the corporate management company. When one of her co-workers breaks his leg before a big corporate visit, she is the logical choice to replace him and has to travel to Eldovia.
Matteo Benz has spent most of his adult life working as the Equerry for the King of Eldovia. Born and raised there, he has no interest this American woman coming in and laying off his countrymen without any interest in their culture and traditions.
Matteo and Cara have to work together closely to solve the problems of Eldovia's largest company and the country-at-large.

I thought that the story was good. I liked that both characters are highly competent in their careers. I liked the bit of mystery that was built in as a subplot that also functioned as a way to keep the characters in close proximity.

I wish there was more explanation or build up to their romantic moments. Nothing seemed surprising to me and I wanted it to. They are both such straight-laced characters, doing what they feel is their calling - it felt like it took them too longer to recognize that attribute in the other. It's made clear in the beginning that they both come from similar backgrounds, so it seems strange when each of them assumes that the other grew up wealthy or has been consistently wealthy.

I liked the story overall. I haven't read any of the other books in this series, but I would be willing to give them a shot.

I was looking forward to returning to Eldovia for another installment after reading the first two fun Christmas romances. This one fell a little short of the others, but for the most part I enjoyed it. It's definitely a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read this book! I was excited for this book but i was not as into it as I expected to be. I couldn’t really connect with the characters and I was kind of bored. I felt like I needed more passion between the characters. I liked Matteo but cara bothered me at times.

This was a fun Christmas read based in another country. I enjoyed the characters chemistry and it was a fun quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to honestly review.

I really enjoyed this third installment in the "A Princess for Christmas" series. Admittedly, it did take me a while to get through this one but that may be because I started it during October when I was *very* into witchy books. I absolutely loved Mr Benz in the previous books so it was fun to finally get to read his story! I really liked Cara's character and loved the grumpy/grumpy trope those two had going on. This series has been one of the highlights of my holiday season reads the last few years and I am really sad to see it end! I love Christmas romance stories so much and this series is one of the best!!!

Thank you SO MUCH to Avon and Harper Voyager for this advanced copy!

The third installment in the “Princess for Christmas” series is here and it’s delightful! I had such a soft spot for Mr. Benz in the first two books and just adore that he is our romantic lead here. I love seeing the softer side to a grumpy character - such a good reminder that people are complex and layered. I love Mr Benz’s heart and what a charming, lovely person he is. I also adore our female protagonist - a hardworking, stubborn, strong woman. We need more characters like these. Big fan of these books!

So This Is Christmas is a guilty pleasure book. Was it the epitome of the book form of a chick flick? Yes. Did I love every minute of it? Also yes.

Jenny Holiday has a way of putting romance stories to page that make you feel and dig in, no matter the story line. There were many predictable moments but there were surprise elements too. I highly recommend for anyone who wants to get wrapped up in a romance that supersedes workaholic / dedication.

I was really excited to read the third installment in Holiday’s A Princess for Christmas series, as I really enjoyed the first two books…. but, unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me 😩 I did enjoy Cara’s backstory, but Matteo just did not do it for me 😬 And, while I can appreciate a slow burn, this one was excessive and I found myself just bored.

What to expect::
•European winter wonderland
•Opposites attract
•Slooooooowwww burn
•Familiar character updates!
•Odd fingernail and hand fetishes

I do think it’s worth a try if you’ve enjoyed the rest of the series. There is a great Thanksgiving and Christmas vibe. Maybe it was just my mood!

Jenny Holiday has cemented her spot as my favorite author for Christmas romance. This is her third book in the Eldovia series, and I absolutely loved getting to learn more about the taciturn Mr. Benz. Whereas the first two books focused on the royal family themselves, this book shifted focus to more average folks - Mr. Benz, who works as the equerry to the king (and who we met in earlier novels) and Cara Delaney, a consultant brought in to help save the floundering Eldovian luxury watch business. I really loved getting to see more of the country introduced to us in earlier books; Holiday does a wonderful job depicting the small mountain town and made me wish it were a real destination. This enemies to lovers story has excellent romantic tension between the two, and I was really rooting for them throughout the whole novel. This was a great way to kick off my Christmas reading for 2022!