Member Reviews
Thanks NetGalley and Bookouture for the chance to read the e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This has been one of the most heartfelt, wholesome, fun and quirky friends-to-lovers book I've ever read! It has a unique premise and set-up that I rarely see: an unexpected flight buddy for 10 years for winter/Christmas break and a messy trip on their 10 flights anniversary! It's well-written, the then and now narratives was executed beautifully. Showing how they feelings grow and naturally developed. The characters are adorable! Their banters and chemistry are so great and enjoyable. I love how the festive spirit is so strong here, even though I'm not celebrating xmas, but i do feel the joy portrayed in the story!
Overall, this is a funny, laugh-out-loud, slow-burn romcom that's perfect for holiday season!
Charming, funny and magical. I absolutely adored it. The main characters are very likable and you really root for them. The perfect (Christmas) romcom read.
I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.
THIS WAS SUCH A CUTE HOLIDAY ROMANCE.
I will be recommending this to anyone and everyone looking for a book with holiday spirit.
I think that the friends to lovers trope is becoming one of my favorites. Molly and Andrew were chefs kiss! I loved the back and forth between the past and present, which gave us a journey to get their HEA.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the eARC!
This was easily one of the most effortlessly charming rom-coms I’ve ever read. I genuinely liked both Molly and Andrew right off the bat, and their traveling shenanigans were so much fun to follow along! I’m usually not the biggest fan of friends to lovers, but it was done so organically and beautifully in Holiday Romance that I just might have to reconsider my stance on the trope. I swooned, I laughed, I got emotional — I loved the space the author created for talk about the fear of making difficult choices for the life you want to build for yourself rather than the life that will make the most money.
Bonus points for Andrew’s family who was absolutely amazing.
This book put me in a Christmas mood and I don’t care if it’s early (it’s never early for Christmas cheer)!
Holiday Romance releases on October 4th, and I promise you won’t regret picking it up! 🎄✨
What a great holiday romance book!
I just loved the characters and I enjoyed the journey they took me on. The pain of the flight delays was very relatable and I appreciated the holiday spirit. I couldn't put this book down.
The only way it could have been better for me was if I'd read it in December.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. My feedback is honest.
Molly and Andrew have been friends for ten years. Every year at Christmas, they spend several hours together on the last flight out from Chicago to Dublin. They drink terrible airline wine and catch on what has been happening in their lives. However, this time, a freak snowstorm grounds their flight. Molly could do without Christmas, but Andrew loves every minute of it, so she realises what missing this time with his family will mean to him. So she does the impossible and vows to get him home in time for Christmas dinner. What follows, is a series of taxi rides, plane trips, boats and train journeys, that might have rethought what they mean to each other.
Andrew is such a great guy, that it would be difficult not to fall in love with him and Molly is a scream. Their dialogue was entertaining and the chemistry just right. This was a great lead up to Christmas and with some great secondary characters, I found myself get ready for the festive season.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
For ten years Molly and Andrew have spent the last flight before Christmas between Chicago and Dublin together. Here they catch up on each other's lives.
This year when a freak snowstorm grounds their flight Molly decides she will do anything to get Andrew home to his family.
Along the way will she tell him how she feels?
I loved this book. Such a cute christmasy read.
My sincere thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my opinion of it in the following mini review.
Molly and Andrew are both from Ireland and living in Chicago. They take the same flight home for Christmas every year for 10 years. They develop a friendship that finally becomes more when they are forced to spend even more time together when their flight is cancelled, and they attempt to find a way to get back to Ireland by Christmas. This book reminded me of The People You Meet on Vacation in some ways. We are taken back in time to each of their previous Christmas flights and see what happens to draw them closer or apart. I really did enjoy this book. I don't know that I would agree with the caption that this was "totally hilarious", but there were some cute moments. Readers looking for a low stress Christmas read should definitely check out this book.
Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
This book was simply delightful. Definitely one of my favourites, if not favourite, romcom of the year.
Andrew and Molly travel home to Ireland every year for Christmas. After 2 years in a row of being on the same flight they end up making it a tradition and always travel together. This story goes back and forth between each of their flights and present day (their 10th flight) when their flight was cancelled, they kiss under mistletoe, and everything changes. It gave me big People We Meet On Vacation vibes (but better 😉).
This is in the realm of holiday classics like the Holiday for me, I need to buy a physical copy so I can reread it every year. I just really loved it. It was hysterical and the characters were perfect. I honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing - and that’s really rare for me to say. But I loved it all. It was witty, charming and fun.
Their honesty with each other was so refreshing. There was no wondering and miscommunications. They just talked about everything regularly. Amazing! Their romance felt completely natural and realistic yet also frustrating, the exact right combo needed for a good romcom.
Please pick this one up this holiday season, I would love to see it getting all the attention it deserves. Thank you to @bookouture for my copy, this came out on Tuesday!
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Be still my heart, this book grabbed me in ALL my holiday feels!
Molly Kinsella and Andrew Fitzpatrick have been at each others’ sides for their Christmas trip back home to their families in Ireland every year for ten years. Despite living largely separate lives in their adopted city, Chicago, they’ve stayed in touch and supported one another as best friends through jobs, life events and both of their strings of failed relationships.
This year - their 10th trip - plans get shaken up by a winter storm that threatens to ground them at the airport. Molly knows how important it is to Andrew to spend Christmas with his family, and her sister, Zoe, is about to give birth, so she’s not about to let Mother Nature ruin things.
What starts out looking like a trip from hell, though, may just be the best journey they’ve ever gone on together …
I adored Molly and Andrew! These two are hilarious together. They’re sweet, snarky, playful, sometimes grumpy, but always there for each other. I won’t say that there was no sap whatsoever, but I didn’t think the book suffered from “Hallmark syndrome” (I made that up), and Molly and Andrew’s interactions and thoughts felt real in a way that I haven’t often felt about other book characters. I also loved their families - especially Zoe, and Andrew’s sister, Hannah.
As for romance, there’s a little bit of spice in that holiday punch, if you know what I mean, but it stays reasonably tasteful. You can skip a couple pages if that stuff bothers you.
My only tiny disappointment was that I got almost to the end without the predictable "problem that threatens the relationship", and I really hoped this one might refreshingly not go there, but alas it did. Honestly, though, the book's good points far outweighed that minor gripe, and the ending made my heart smile!
If you want a charming story that will make you laugh, smile and maybe make your heart beat a little faster, this is a perfect choice!
★★★★ ½ (rounded to 5) ❤️
Thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley and author Catherine Walsh for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s now available.
Holiday Romance is the answer to all your romcom holiday needs. It’s similar to the book (and film) One Day— except with more warmth and humor and a much more satisfying ending. I absolutely loved the slow burn of this friends to lovers romance. It is perfectly paced and seasoned with humor, affection, and adventure. I read it in October, but I’ll happily read it again when the winter holidays roll around. You need this book in your life! Now I have to go read the everything this author has written. BRB …
🎅🏼 Holiday Romance by @catwalshwriter 🤶🏼
Will they, won’t they? But this time it’s with a Christmas twist.
The book is centred around Molly and Andrew who fly home to Ireland for Christmas every year. The book hops back in time and then to the present leaving you try to piece together if Molly and Andrew will get together.
This book is the perfect recipe of romance and Christmas and it is throughly enjoyable. I really liked the character of Molly, a successful lawyer and Andrew the loveable rogue. This has all the Love Actually & The Holiday feels!
Congratulations to @catwalshwriter on a wonderful book and thanks to @bookouture and @netgalley for the ARC. 🎄
This had ALL the things I look for in a holiday romance!!! Super sweet with a dollop of spice! I’m a freakin sucker for anything Irish and both MCs are from Ireland. Perfect, perfect, perfect! I could picture this all playing out beautifully like a perfect hallmark movie. This was just what I needed to get me in the holiday spirit!
I loved this so much I'm so glad I got approved this was such a fun read and now I'm more then ready for the holidays
Thanks netgalley
If you like holiday romances this book is for you . It’s sweet and light. It’s not my favorite but it fills a void
One of my all-time favorite books is "One Night Only", so of course I had to read this one, too.
I really love Catherine Walsh and her style of writing.
And while "Holiday Romance" didn't quite live up to my expectations, it still is a great story.
I had just hoped for more of a swoonish feeling.
It is not your typical friends-to-lovers story - but also includes a complicated journey home and a search for one's innermost dreams.
Recommended to any and all who loves a well-composed rom-com.
Molly and Andrew are like Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham Football club. An unlikely pairing that you just did not see coming. One is full on into Christmas including the silly jumpers and the other, while not a complete Grinch isn’t far off. After learning of her friends decision to dump her boyfriend to date another man Molly is shocked to learn she is seated next to the soon to be ex and on a plane there is nowhere to go.
Fast forward and they have spent the last ten years making their way from Chicago to Ireland to get back home to family in time for the festive period. With it becoming an annual tradition the book goes back and forth to show you those yearly flights and how their friendship has formed over the years.
As a ten year anniversary gift Molly has upgraded them both to first class. But after a snowstorm hits grounding all flights and an impromptu mistletoe kiss leaves her feeling all in a tizzy Molly is determined to get Andrew home to his family and put that charming smile back on his face.
I soon took Molly and Andrew to my heart. Molly is a questioner and is struggling with her career as a lawyer. Andrew was like a little puppy all cute and adorable but with an odd meme habit and this year the adventure is just beginning. With some great side characters of family and friends this book was easy to love.
A delightful friends to lovers romance filled with humour, adventure and a touch of spice. A little bit schmaltzy in places but that’s just how I like it!
This book was a wonderful surprise — I absolutely loved it! I’ve been telling everyone in my family to go buy a copy because it’s just fun. The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking it would make a great holiday movie. The story is great and the characters ring true. Now I want to visit Ireland. This would make a great Christmas gift for a new parent. It’s not super plot driven and is a pick me up after a tough day. Thank you so much NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC. My opinions are honest.
My third Catherine Walsh ARC and I am so grateful to continue on this journey with her!
Holiday romance was a sweet little Christmas read ready for the festive season. Two friends share a flight back home to Ireland every Christmas to spend time with their families. Over the years they watch each other go through ups and downs, relationship breakups and share a special best friend bond. But as the years go on are they both fighting the inevitable.
This definitely was a sweet little read and I did enjoy it. Although comparing to Catherine's previous books I feel this one did not hit the same mark. I did enjoy the banter and relationship between Molly and Andrew, but it wasn't as juicy as romantic as previous books. The book jumped between stories of the past and present which I feel brought a nice little touch to the book. You were able to gain an insight into the relationship over the Years without being bored by a lengthy description.
A good one to get you in the festive mood. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely LOVED this. Literally from like the second chapter when I figured out the set up I was so excited to keep reading. Flashbacks to previous years fill in the blanks. You learn more and more with each flashback. Such a cute idea and written so well. Easy to follow and understand.
One spicy-ish scene. Describes the act without any explicit language. Written really well. I wouldn’t feel weird recommending this to my mom.
This gave me all the feels. Happy Christmas vibe. Multiple parts made me smile.
I loved the characters. Good depth. Intriguing storyline.
Complete story with HEA.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for this digital ARC.