Pros:
-cute and unique premise
-the magical vibes were sweet for this Christmas themed book
-love an enemies to lovers trope
-the little brother Kevin was my favorite, he was funny, protective and charming

Cons:
-it fell flat and went too suddenly from hate to love, it just felt unnatural
-I didn’t feel the chemistry between the main characters
-the ending felt rushed

Well, I thought this was going to be better. But the way the male MC treated the female MC was just...awful. He did not redeem himself in my eyes. He was mean and degrading and just terrible. SO that really kind of destroyed the book for me. I didn't believe the romance at all. Some of the side characters were way better than the MC's.

This was a very fun and cute holiday romance perfect for reading in December. Mason Klaus (yes) and Lyla Smurfit (lol) co-run a company after Mason bought out Lyla's father's share. This company is a toy company. The two do not get along and after a holiday party goes wrong for Lyla, Mason swoops in to fix her problem. With a catch. Mason's father has died and he needs to run home but wants Lyla with him to take some pressure off him.

They get whisked to...the North Pole. Lyla learns about the town of Yule, and slowly falls in love with the cold, hard man she knows in the real world.

The world building was extremely cute and well done for a stand alone romance novel. I really enjoyed the setting and the characters.

My few issues with the book: The title was picked to be cute and clever, and less for having to have anything to do with the book. While there is a business that Mason and Lyla run together, the "clause" isn't even a plot point and the contract that is in the book, really isn't pivotal to the plot per say. The title just could have been better.

Second, the romance started off with a steamy feel, but then became sweet and predictable. I really wished this had more depth and steam. Especially if we're going to have taglines like "being naughty never felt so nice!"

Even with my gripes, this was overall an enjoyable Christmas romance and was great to get my holiday mood started!

The Naughty or Nice Clause by Kate Callaghan is what you would get if you combined "The Santa Clause" with "The Proposal". It is a delightful, joy filled romp that is perfect to start the holiday season! Following Lyla through the layers of magic, office mayhem, and family discord she encounters on her way to love draws laughs, tears, and. just enough Christmas spirit to make this a cozy read, but not overtop either. On top of that,, the tension, banter, and genuine dislike for each other at the beginning between Lyla and Mason allows for a little bit of spice that all books with a gingerbread competition need! I'll now be searching for the other books by Callaghan, and this will be joining my holiday bookshelf soon!

This is so cute!
Lyla and Mason absolutely loathe each other at work. Lyla throws a Christmas party. And due to a fire, Mason agrees to forget her part in said fire if she joins his family for Christmas. It turns out that he lives at the North Pole and is next in line to be Santa Claus.
I really enjoyed the magical spin on this Santa Clause story with a twist of romance. The beginning of the book took a little while to get going and I wasn’t sure this one was going to hold my interest, but once we good to Yule, I was totally sucked in. I loved the descriptions of the cobblestone streets, the cocoa, the wolves that protect the town, and all the snow.
Lyla and Mason had a cute connection and chemistry. Lyla is strong, independent, and sees the world through a different lenses tham Mason. Mason is a typical Scrooge, strong, and has earned a reputation of cold and cruel. The author’s writing style was complex, crisp, evolving, passionate, and kept me engaged.

Enemies to lovers with Christmas magic thrown in.

At first, I worried this book would feel too much like a Hallmark movie, too sappy, contrived, and just not for me. Initially I wasn’t a big fan of the two leads but after a few chapters I was hooked, I stayed up all night and only stopped so that I could sleep a little before work.

I really enjoyed the story once it got past the Christmas party drama and really loved the North Pole-esque magical village. I did find the ending a little rushed though.

If you want something cute, romantic and just a bit naughty to read this holiday season, I suggest the Naughty or Nice Clause.

I just couldn’t finish this book. Because of this, I can’t speak for the ending but I just got too frustrated with the lack of reality behind the characters’ decisions. I understand that a big part of this book is fantasy and that’s not the issue that I had. Instead, I was bothered by instances, like the decision to take this girl back to his magical family even though they supposedly hate and distrust each other, that seemed based on no thought or reason. This made reading this book a negative experience because I couldn’t believe that these people’s connection was based on anything emotionally mature or worth fighting for which is, in my opinion, the whole point of a romance story.

2.5⭐️ I love me a good Hallmark movie and literally anything with Hallmark vibes. So while I loved the plot and christmasy magic this book held, I didn’t love the characters or feel a connection with them. In true hallmark fashion everything was resolved in record time and there wasn’t was enough tension or angst.

I really enjoyed this. It was a well done romance with an enemies to lovers storyline (which I love in a romance). The characters went together nicely. Such a nice read. Thank you, Netgalley, for this copy to review.

This is a cute Christmas rom com with the enemies to lovers and fake dating troupes. The pacing through the book was pretty steady except at the end. I wasn't super happy with how the book ended their story.
Our main characters were Lyla Smurfit and Mason Klaus. The whole book is from Lyla's perspective though. Which I found great as a lot of book have it where you can see from both of the couple. It does work but this was nice as it left you almost wondering to his feelings. I say almost because they were a little obvious to those of us reading.
Mason has been he co-CEO of the toy company Lyla's family has owned for generations. He takes an approach Lyla finds harsh to turning the company profitable again, making them enemies in her eyes. After a disastrous Christmas party Mason blackmails her into joining him to return to his estranged family. There she finds two shocking surprises, one he is telling everyone they are engaged and the other is a Christmas secret.
I loved how their feelings for each other developed as the worked through Christmas together. Lyla is a huge Christmas person and now that they are in Yule she see's why Mason wasn't. As Mason slowly lets down the many layers he has Lyla gets to understand the real him. I'm pretty sure he had feelings for her for a very long time but she couldn't see past the harshness of business. There was a part revealed at the end about the CEO contract that Mason had been only going to stay until the company was profitable. This was something Lyla knew all along apparently. It doesn't make since that she would have held such anger and dislike of him having her job knowing that it was only temporary, also in the companies best interest.
The end of the story happened quickly. I was unhappy with the whole we will find a way to make it work the end. They both want to work at their family businesses but not move to either location full time. How is that we can make this work? Sure he has magic but that is a lot of back and forth. It just would have been nice to actually show them making it work. Not like an epilogue but that Mason gave her more than a day to decide. Also you could have gone to New Years showing that something could be worked out between something.
Overall the book was positive. Lots of warm cozy feelings and funny moments. I loved the sound of Yule. Lyla and Mason are a cute Christmas power couple.

A Christmas story with a sprinkle of magic!
I enjoyed the main premise of a girl being whisked off to a magical Christmas land with an enemies to lovers romance, although I felt the character’s relationship needed to be fleshed out more. The male character clearly fell first but it seemed with the female main character fell more in love with what he offered than the man himself.

This was actually super cute!

Was it a crazy romance to remember? Absolutely not. In fact, in my opinion, it was barely a romance. I mean, the first kiss was like...72% in or something!

There of course was a "third act" break up, which I'm not a massive fan of half the time, but it didn't drag on too much so I didn't mind it. It really could have done without though especially since it took SO LONG for them to finally get together. It's like all the "relationship stuff" was packed into the last 20% of the book.

I liked both of the MCs. I wouldn't say Klaus was a book boyfriend at all but he definitely had moments. And I loved Lyla to death. She was a great FMC. I also loved the whole found family aspect for her. Found family is some of my favorites to read.

Despite the lack of romance that I was looking for, this book was still cute, entertaining, and Christmas-y! I loved that it's based in the North Pole and I loved the whole take on the place (no elves, special dust, etc).

I would still recommend it but with the preface that it's a slow slow sloooooow burn of enemies to lovers.

Thank you Netgalley and CallaghanWriter for an ARC. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

Like a Hallmark movie meets The Santa Clause! It was a lot cheesy and the dialogue occasionally felt stilted/unrealistic, but this was a very cute, cozy, holiday read. I especially liked the very orignal twist on Santa's workshop and the North Pole-- I actually kind of wish this had been fleshed out more!

This was a sweet romance about a couple - one who loves Christmas and another that needs to learn to accept it and all of his families obligations. If you can get past the first few chapters that are very predictable and repetitive - it does get better. If you are looking for a holiday romance, this isn't a bad option.

A quick, easy, cute and festive read, that is full of tropes that I adore. I couldn't put it down and it put me in such a festive mood. I loved it

I am a sucker for holiday books and this one did not disappoint. It was enemies to lovers. Think The Hating Game but with Christmas.
Mr Klaus and Lyla work together at a toy factory. Lyla's family owned the company but it was going through financial trouble. Mason Klaus took over partial ownership and they had a rocky working relationship.
Mason's father passed away and then Mason asked Lyla to go home with him for the funeral (more demand than ask).
The twist with the book is the magical realism of the "North Pole." I don't want to spoil it, but I really enjoyed the change from the traditional Santa Clause and elves story.
I can totally see Hallmark doing this as a movie! Fun little adventure out of reality.

If you like cheesy Christmas movies (who doesn’t) then you’ll love this book.

This book is enemies to lovers set during the 12 days before Christmas and follows Lyla and Mason, 2 co-owners of a toy making company.

I found this book to be a cute, easy read and it made me feel so happy and warm while reading it.

I really wanted to give this 5 stars but I found the ending to be quite rushed. I think if we had of gotten a few more chapters from during and after the romance conflict instead of just the few short chapter at the end it would have been perfect. Overall I still really enjoyed reading this and found myself squealing out loud at some points over how cute Mason and Lyla were.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC to read and review.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 ⭐️

First, I got everything I expected out of this novel. A cute and light Hallmark movie-style rom-com with a magical holiday plot twist. It was cozy, fun, and light. Very easy to read and perfect for some mindless holiday cheer.

Read this if you love Christmas, Hallmark movies, Work Place Romance, Fake Dating, and Bully Romance (MMC/FMMC banter is on the meaner side.)

The pacing of the story, in the beginning, was a little hard to follow and I found myself re-reading dialogue because I could not tell who was saying what BUT once I got a feel for each character and where the story was heading I got the hang of it.

You can almost say that the writing style also improved as you got further through the book.

However, I personally really enjoyed this book! I thought the characters were great and the story was fun and unique.

You can tell that the author is used to writing fantasy romances because the MMC would randomly create an intense amount of tension for no reason😂 I personally loved this. It was like a hallmark movie with a dash of the enemies-to-lovers tension that I enjoy in fantasy.

This was a very cute book, heavy on the Christmas, light on the romance. I enjoyed the initial office enemies premise and looked forward to the slow burn to a romance, but when the Christmas part of the book kicked in it took over and overshadowed the romance. A cute, enjoyable read as long as you go in with the right expectations.

The Naughty Or Nice Clause by Kate Callaghan was a fun holiday read. If you love festive and romantic Hallmark movies, you will love this book. I love a good enemies to lovers trope! This was a cute book with a spice level of 1/5🌶️. So if you’re into the Christmas romance but don’t want any spice, give this one a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!