I want to thank NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange of a honest review.

First things first, THE VIBES OF THIS BOOK ARE IMMACULATE. Airport vibes. Perfect. Christmas. Vibes perfect. Travel vibes. Perfect. Meeting at the airport every year for past 10 years. Perfect.

Molly is not the typical FMC seeing as she’s the “grinch” this Christmas. And our MMC Andrew on the otherhand loves the Christmas. If you are looking for the “he’s always been in love with her trope.” This is IT. It’s so well done and the chemistry between the characters is so good I can’t. *insert longing filled sigh*

This book is slow-burn but fast paced at the same time because technically the book takes place over a few days time but so much happens and then we also get glimpses into their past meetings and it’s just wonderful.

It’s my first book by Catherine Walsh but definitely not last because this book won me over!! Definitely recommend it <33

This was an unputdownable book!!

An interesting storyline with awesome characters.

I had fun reading this!

I don't know if I just read this at the right time or if it really is this good, but I loved it. We follow Molly and Andrew who have flown home for the holidays from Chicago to Ireland together for going on ten years. This leads to some friends to lovers perfection as they frantically try to get home after a snowstorm gets their flight cancelled.

First of all, this set up is insanely fun and clever. I love all the twists and turns their journey took, and that we go to spend time in cities like Paris and London. It leads to a lot of hijinks, and close-proximity shenanigans. It all feels Christmassy without being super corny. Instead we are reminded of the holiday by hectic crowds and lost presents. Its a very fresh take.

The romance itself is very sweet. These are clearly two people who work well together and understand the other's needs. The author sells us on the friendship first, so when it gets romantic, it makes sense. I feel like they saw each other at their worst and managed to work through it. My only complaint was the conflict towards the end. It happens over 80% of the way in, and it felt unnecessary! Molly and Andrew had been through enough!

That being said, this gets five stars because it made me so darn happy. I read a lot of Christmas romances, and this makes the top five, maybe even 3. Its just pure joy and goodness. Read if you need to feel the Christmas spirit urgently!

I absolutely loved One Night Only, which was one of my favourite books from last year, so of course I jumped at the chance to read the Holiday Romance.

The Holiday Romance is a cute Christmas romance novel that forms around Molly and Andrew who have spent 10 years flying from Chicago to Ireland every Christmas.

I really love how this friends to lovers book was portrayed. I’m finding it so hard to describe how two people who are friends could fall in love once they both realised that they could be more than just friends.

I found Molly and Andrew's story and friendship very realistic, they literally would do anything for each other; what true friends do. Their banter was funny and somewhat on the fun flirtatious side without it being awkward and then we come to the whole one bed trope 🙌 whoop whoop thanks for sliding that one in Catherine 😉

The different timelines of Molly and Andrews encounters at the airport I thought was a clever idea. We got a snippet into each rendezvous and it was as if they picked up where they left off even though it was a fictional story it was nice to see.

There were a few subplots that I wish were expanded a bit but they were more reasonings than anything, however it doesn’t affect the story in any way.

Thank you Catherine Walsh, Netgalley and Bookouture for the digital copy of Holiday Romance for reviewing purposes.

Ten years ago, Molly and Andrew happened to sit next to each other on their Christmas flight home to Ireland. What started as a coincidence turns into a regular, planned occurrence. Though they occasionally cross paths during the year, the Christmas flight home is the time they spend together. Andrew is all about Christmas and family and Molly is ambivalent about the holiday and visits her family out of obligation. The flight is the highlight for Molly because she gets to spend the 7+ hours with Andrew. They catch up, discuss who they are dating or broken up with, and just enjoy being together.

Are you starting to compile your list of holiday reads? I don't read a lot of romance novels, but I'm a sucker for a Christmas time romance.

The plot isn't really unique. I think I read a Christmas romance last year that was similar. Familiar plots are often why holiday stories are fun. The holidays can be so hectic and exhausting that it is nice to take a break with something that isn't taxing.

I liked the characters of Molly and Andrew. I could identify with Molly and I could fall in love with Andrew if he was real.

I liked that we got large chunks of the present day with just short flashbacks to earlier flights. Towards the end, I didn't care for the flashbacks as much as I just wanted to see them get together already.

If you are looking for a story that is as comfortable as your favorite pair of fuzzy pajamas, then you will want to put Holiday Romance on your holiday reading list.

My review is published at Girl Who Reads - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2022/10/holiday-romance-by-catherine-walsh.html

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. This is the 3rd book I have read by Catherine. I really enjoyed the previous two books so when I saw the Holiday Romance I knew I had to read it.

Our main characters are Molly and Andrew. Both live in Chicago and are from Ireland. I instantly loved both characters. Andrew is an absolute sweetheart and Molly loved to eat and that is a girl after my own heart for sure.

It's obvious from the beginning that there's chemistry between these two and it's off the charts! I love that no matter what these two had this last flight to Dublin ritual for the last ten years.

his book is a perfect example of a romcom. Catherine doesn't just make you smile or chuckle; there are proper laugh out loud moments in this story.

If you are looking for a festive romcom then pick up this today.

Thank you to Netgalley and Catherine Walsh for this ARC!

Molly and Andrew fly from the US to Ireland every year. Together. The first was an accident, the second awkward, and then their favorite part of the year. Until their 10th flight. A cancelled flight sparks not just a 3 day journey to make it home for Christmas but the feels as well.

Super cute, super sweet, super super adorable romance. Definitely recommend if you want something festive, easy, and quick. 4⭐

That friends to lovers romance that's perfect for the festive holiday mood and fans of People We Meet on Vacation and The Holiday!

This trope can be tricky for me especially when it involves a decade-long friendship since it can get really frustrating. But Catherine Walsh managed to make it work while revealing how simple, and at the same time, complicated it can be to transition from a platonic relationship to a romantic one.

I loved seeing how Andrew and Molly's relationship developed through ten years, from awkward airplane seatmates to being the persons they can't live without, from confusion to realization that they basically belong together. And what I appreciated most once they do, is that they didn't waste any time skirting around each other and were just candid with one another.

This book brought me butterflies, made me smile all throughout and is exactly what I needed after a really tiring week. I had so much fun with this one that I'm looking forward to reading Walsh's other books.

Thank you so much to Bookouture, NetGalley, and the author for my early copy of this book. All opinions are honest and my own.

This book instantly put me in the holiday mood- I frequently laughed out loud, didn’t want to put it down, and throughly enjoyed every step along the way. This book is the best combination of romance meets the holidays! This story follows Molly and Andrew along their travels back home for the holidays over a 10 year period, giving glimpses of their friendship over the years. This year, everything that can go wrong does… or does it? The writing was fantastic, I loved that miscommunication was not a big trope in this book, and the story and characters made me so giddy! Must read!

A feel-good, British holiday, friends to lovers romance with depth that gave me so many People we meet on vacation vibes!! I loved how this book took place over ten years as two British expats meet and become friends on flights home for Christmas. A dual perspective, multiple timeline story, we get to know Andrew and Molly as they slowly fall in love and figure out a way to make the timing work for their mutual pining romance. I really enjoyed how Andrew struggles with his alcoholism and takes it upon himself to quit cold turkey and Molly struggles with hating her life as a corporate lawyer and finding the courage to quit and pursue a career that brings her joy. Great on audio narrated by Shelley Atkinson. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I 100% highly recommend this Christmas romance.
It follows Molly and Andrew, two Irish students turned Chicago residents, over a tumultuous journey home for the holidays while flashing back over the past 10 years as they meet annually on their flights back to Ireland to see their families. In the flashbacks you get to see their history and watch their friendship grow in small glances. While during their present day journey you get to see them come to terms with their feelings and what that means for them.

I was immediately hooked on this book. Its never too early for a cute Christmas read- and this one was perfect. I felt excited reading this, everything I could have wanted in holiday rom-com! After reading many books that were not 5 stars.. this was very refreshing. Highly recommend!!

"He grins up at me with those hazel eyes as if I’m the best thing that’s happened to his day. I know he’s the best thing that’s happened to mine."

Quick summary:
🎄 Holiday vibes
🇮🇪 Set in Ireland
⏰ Multiple timelines
♥️ Friends to lovers
✈️ Forced proximity
❤️‍🔥 Tension and banter

I absolutely LOVED this rom-com! I think he premise was quite original and I absolutely adored the relationship between Molly and Andrew. I could relate to Molly in her struggle with her career and wanting something more. It was lovely to watch her grow and make decisions that give her happiness. This is a great read. I highly recommend!

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh is my latest ARC read and OMG this book was such a great read!

I absolutely love the friends to lovers trope and this book may have topped the list of all of the books that I have read in that trope. Two friends meeting up every year to travel home together and now have to take a long journey because their flight was cancelled?! Of course sparks are going to fly!!

At first I wasn't a fan of how the book went back and forth from the present to the past, but I ended up loving and appreciating how you could watch the
relationship and between Molly and l Andrew evolve. There were way too many moments in this book and way too many words exchanged that I loved to pick just one. It was so hard to put this book down!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How do you review a book that is pure perfection? You don't. You just scream at people to go buy this absolute gem as an early little Christmas present to themselves, because everyone deserves to swoon over Andrew and Molly figuring out that maybe there is more to their yearly tradition of flying home to Ireland together than just friendly chats.

5 Christmas trees (with a star on top) for this amazing romcom that delivers on both fronts - the rom and the com.

I cannot tell you how many times I swooned, because this romance is just too cute too handle. I must admit I feel just a little slighted because the only question I am left with after finishing this is: where is my Andrew? If any future man dares to complain that my standards are too high, I'll let them write a letter of complaint to Catherine Walsh, because that's what you get when you write perfect men like Andrew Fitzpatrick and singlehandly raise everyones bar so high human men will never measure up.

Andrew and Molly develop an easy-going and comfortable friendship, filled with top notch banter that made me smirk and laugh out loud too often to not be looked at while silently debating if I'd finally lost it. But did I mind? No, because I was already on to swooning at the little regulating things they did for each other. Molly and Andrew are so in tune with one another's needs, while simultaneously going through their own internal struggles of addiction and burn out, one would start believing in soulmates after reading this book.

In addition, the writing is flawless, interspersing the current (one may say disastrous) flight home with the nine that preceeded it so as to give the reader a feel of how their friendship and love grew throughout the years. Every scene had its purpose, none of them creating that lull in pace some romcoms tend to have towards the middle. This results in making this book utterly unputdownable and grips you from the very beginning until the end.

I will be patiently waiting for this one to get picked up for a big screen adaptation. And while I do that, I will be watching the Holidate on Netflix because it has similar vibes.

Read if you like:
🎄 Friends to lovers
🎄 He falls first
🎄 Forced proximity
🎄 Slow burn
🎄 Getting your heart ripped out because of speeches at the end of the book, or carefully picked out gifts, or... I can keep going, but I will stop here.

I went into this keeping my expectations in check, because while I really liked Catherine Walsh's first book, her second one disappointed me. This one was somewhere in between - it started off well but ended up falling flat. I love a good friends to lovers story told in alternating timelines, but neither of those things really lived up here. I didn't feel like we got much out of the flashbacks and the friends to lovers dynamic lacked development. Still, there were definitely cute moments between Molly and Andrew that I appreciated and some of their dialogue and banter was great. I also liked some of the side characters and the family scenes were sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Alternating between the present and previous flights to Ireland at Christmas, we see the relationship between Andrew and Molly slowly develop from friendship to something more romantic.

Such a cute holiday romance! *pun intended* It really got me into the holiday spirit, even thought it's October lol

If I had to summarize this book in one word, it would be SWEET ☺️

🎄friends to lovers
🎄slow-burn romance
🎄alternating timelines
🎄sweet family elements
🎄travel shenanigans and witty banter
🎄no real 3rd act conflict 🙌🏻

This book was just precious! Andrew and Molly, who meet in college, travel home to Ireland every year together from Chicago. Over the course of 10 years, they become very close and I really enjoyed seeing how their relationship developed over the years in the flashback chapters. It’s very clear that they were just slowly falling in love and they didn’t even realize it. If you’re looking for a precious, holiday romance, I would def recommend!

I love a good holiday romance and this one was so perfect! The story was so different than what I am used to and I absolutely love the uiqueness. The characters were great and I couldnt put it down! I cannot say enough great things about this book!