This book was not for me. I didn't really like any of the characters and while they did grow on me over time, it didn't happen fast enough for this book to win me over. I also found it really confusing at the start because we had so much filler in the story and not a ton of substance. It took almost 80 pages to get to her meeting Alexis and another 50 before Daniel came on the scene. And I spent most of that time trying to figure out her back story and where the novel is set.

I don't need everything spelled out at the start but by page 50+ I'd like to have a bit more of a firm foothold in the character I'm supposed to be following and not feel like the book is rambling.

In the end, it didn't work for me in so many ways. It did get better, but I do think that it needs to be chopped by a good 100 pages or more, restructured a bit so we know what's what sooner, and that it shouldn't be set up as similar to Emily Henry's Beach Read which it doesn't even remotely resemble.

It's hard to give a bad review to a first novel but for me, this one came pretty close to a DNF and only the fact that it was an ARC made me push through

DNF 15%

First of all tanhk you NetGalley for letting me read this book in advance.

I've given up this book because I have read in some reviews that it has some moments that are a TW for me.

After reading some scathing reviews of Taylor Cole’s Holiday Read, I had lower expectations that I would enjoy this romance. However, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the novel. I would give it 3.5 stars.

I am glad that I didn’t DNF the book like many reviewers did because once I was past the first 1/3 of the book and as the plot twist started to occur, I became invested in the book and had to see how it ends.

I loved Candice and her two supportive friends. The small Cornish town in which the book is set was charming and beautifully described. I totally wanted to visit the town, see the sights and hang out at Demigorgon. Maybe I would even take surf lessons from Candice.

Yes, other reviewers are correct that Alexis is a total chauvinistic pig and awful— but when juxtaposed with the other warm and respectful male characters in the book, Alexis seems like a miserable, horrible, unlikeable, and lonely human being.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aries for the eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I was gifted this to read by NetGalley for a real and honest review.

The cover of this book is very misleading. It feels like they are trying to cash in on the popularity of Emily Henry’s books but this book is not like an Emily Henry book at all nor is it even connected to a Holiday Read

Mild spoilers ahead


I know a lot of other reviewers DNF’d this book because they found the male lead character hard to connect with. His reasons for wanting to write a romance novel were shallow and almost felt like he was shaming people who read romance novels and considering who the audience is for this book that seemed like an odd plot choice. However, I persevered and realised he is not the male lead character and he is supposed to be horrible and misogynistic and unlikeable. I get why a lot of people bailed early on this one, I nearly did too but I’m glad I hung around to discover that the one I thought was the lead wasn’t.
Other than that, I did find the story confusing at times. Too many subplots and characters which was confusing at times and after reading it I still feel the cover is misleading and giving off Emily Henry vibes when it is not in that same space.

I felt like this was a long winded book with many different story lines that came to a crash ending. There were many different stories going on behind the main story - Candice looking for her father, who also writes a book as a co-author, dates the agent and has a busy hectic life writing books and trying to live out her dreams. I get that it is supposed to be set in Cornwall with a great setting for a book, yet I don't feel these places were described as well as they could be as the characters were making more of an appearance and this book could have been set anywhere. I pushed on with the book, but was left feeling confused. I wanted to read this until the end hoping that it would get better but it never did.

A fun and uplifting book, funny and romantic and a great beach read. The characters in the story are great, I loved the location and the storyline is fun and laugh out loud funny too.

SPOILERS

i am a big fan of emily henry books so the comparison drew me in, but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to it. that's not to say that i didn't like the book! I really liked Candice's found family and the character of Daniel (helping people? big green flag). i just felt like Alexis was portrayed as the romantic lead, and even while ~doing the things he did~ i wasn't quite sure that Candice was gonna end up with Daniel instead of Alexis. i understood why she didn't choose Alexis, but even though he was a great person, i didn't get the romantic vibes between Candice and Daniel.

This one was rough… I think this book was a really great idea with poor execution. I was dragging myself through the book. There were too many stories going on that sort of came together at the end but not cohesively and it felt really forced into a tidy wrap up. I felt like there were many things well researched and understood but I could not tell you what this book was about other than surfing because there were so many stories and substories. I think this could make a great mini series show but it did not make a great book. The plot twists felt like plot holes and there were so many niche rabbit trails of information that I felt like they took away from the story instead of fueling it. The lead character fell flat for me but then would react explosively with great rooted values and character that were shown nowhere else in the book. It was unclear what she wanted in this book so in the end when it felt like she got some things, it wasn’t satisfying because it was set up so choppy. I wanted to like this book because I love found family but this felt like an unpolished draft. Also the title and cover do not reflect the book and though covers aren't everything, they matter quite a bit to readers. I would like to petition for the cover to be of the ocean and her van as that intrigues me and feels like it reflects the book. I would also like the title to be changed to “Writing the Waves” because I think that is also intriguing and more in line with what the story is. This story is not just a romance, it has so many other pieces and is long enough and webbed enough that it really needs a title and cover that show that. This book is for you if you love surfing, if you love Cornwall and/or Hawaii, if you are looking for a little escape to another town, if you love found family, and if you read it in a single weekend so you can keep up with all the side stories.

I couldn’t finish reading this book…I kept thinking I was reading beach read by Emily Henry. I felt like I couldn’t connect with the main characters. Something with the writing I couldn’t connect with.

I just tried so hard to enjoy this book and I couldn’t connect with each of the main characters. The familiarities with Beach Read were glaringly obvious! A hidden marriage, hidden plans, unappealing main leads. Do not recommend at all.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Aria for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun read! A romance with just the right amount of mystery mixed in. There were many supporting characters that added to the story, enough that you could hope for spin-off stories in the future! The ending did leave me wondering more about her husband, do they get divorced before the money for her joint novel starts coming in or will she have to split that 50/50 with him?!

I really liked this book because it reminded me of Emily Henry’s Beach Read. Even the cover is similar.

I was really excited to read this and I absolutely loved this book. The character development was great and it was a great little read during the winter. It reminds me of the beach.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an arc.

This was a bit of a disappointing read. I expected more from the book. But overall it was an okay read

DNF at 45%

For starters, thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in advance!

Secondly, oh boy. I picked this thinking 'why is this book a blatant copy of Emily Henry?'. With a shrug, I wondered, how bad could it be to give it a chance? Even if Beach Read is my least liked book from Henry, who knows -perhaps Cole has a card up their sleeve to enchant me with.

Well. How wrong I was.... It was far worse than Beach Read. A hidden marriage, hidden plans, unappealing main leads. The one and two star reviews were also angry with a couple moments, and it wasn't until I myself had the pleasure to read said scenes that I understood why.

The thing with haters to lovers is that, 9 out of 10 cases, they never really hate each other. People sometimes are like onions, and this subgenre is all about taking each out and falling for the onion and the person within, understanding them in ways you wouldn't dream of. They might even admire one another, or share some interests, fears, motivations. It all comes down to the moment where they understand they aren't that different, and giving in to the curiosity of friendship or romance, and seeing that what you might've hated was a side of them, tied to a time and place.

When a writer sets up one of the first meetings between the leads, and wants to make it clear these two are super different, there's a lot of pathways you can take. But, why, as an author, writing a main lead, that also happens to be an author, think it was a good idea to have him complain that romance is overrated, and all women went crazyyy over Bridgerton, because "it's all dials down to sex for a romance book to be a best seller"? What, exactly, is the appeal of this man criticizing the genre he is in, that we barely know because he's oh-so-mysterious (other than the reference that he looks like James Bay)? It is slightly offending to some, disrespectful to the female lead (an avid lover of romance) and to me, plain crude. Later after that, it gets worse too, when we discover why he was even getting close to her to begin with and what he had already written about her. There's a lack of mutual respect in their interactions, no true attraction between them. Nothing about them made me swoon. Nada. Zero.

And look, I can see how Taylor Cole thought it'd be funny or even ironic!! They'd probably love to see us warm up the more we'd get to know him, and how misunderstood he actually is.... Alas, that process might begin after you finish half of the book, and this isn't worth my time when my feelings aren't even lukewarm, they're simply cold. To finish of with a Beach Read comparison, this had similar characters, but not enough creativity and dialogue to match Henry's charm.

Alas, one thing I'd complement is that there was a somewhat comfortable atmosphere related to the setting; an English beach, a waitress that gives surf lessons, struggling to rebuild herself. An author at loss with writing a romance. The groundwork wasn't a bad one to build a story on comfort and second chances at love. Sad to see it didn't happen.

FMC is reeling from the trauma of her husband cheating on her with her best friend AND she has just found out that some guy is using her as material/inspiration for his romance novel, and said guy is currently writing Bridgerton-esque romance to cash in on all the regency/romance craze going on, and he's giving monologues about it. Plotline 1 is too traumatizing and plotline 2 was definitely appalling to read.

I ended up dnfing this book pretty early. This book really struggled to keep my attention. The cover and title of this book are also super misleading and don’t relate to the book at all. I definitely am not a fan of mmc AT ALL but I also didn’t really like the fmc either. Sooo many gross misogynistic comments which made it hard to keep reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Aria books for sending me this ARC. All opinions are my own.

An American abroad to escape her marriage opens a surf school, lives in her van, and waitresses in a local cafe, where she meets a hot author on holiday. Alexis is struggling to finish his work in progress, a romance novel. His agent thinks a summer fling will jumpstart his creative juices and Candice falls for it until she discovers he’s transcribing their interactions as fiction. She’s pissed until his agent Daniel shows up, makes an appeal and an apology, and suggests they write the book together, since it turns out Candice can write. Many adventures follow as Alexis and Candice try to get into the head of their characters, and the romance focus shifts from assholey Alexis to stalwart Daniel.

There are several subtle mysteries: what happened in Candice’s marriage? Why did she flee from Hawaii to Cornwall-–is it really just the surf scene? Details are unraveled with masterful pacing. The novel reads more like literary fiction with strong romantic elements than a romance novel for most of the tale; it’s really about Candice’s growth, self-confidence, boundaries, and the strong friendships she makes. The romance is slow building and consummated off the page. The author pays some homage to the creation and defense of romance novels (clearly the author is a Christina Lauren fan, and I’m dying to know which romance with a red stiletto heel on the cover she references). Cole has has some very beautiful thoughtful passages throughout the book, the waxing on about sand and what is means to Candice (and what it didn’t mean to her ex, Joseph) is downright lyrical. The setting of Cornwall came to life beautifully through the descriptions of the places the characters visited. While the surf details are thorough and the seaside setting undeniable, I would not classify this as a beach read or an Emily Henry readalike.

Alexis was an unsympathetic character and not terribly likeable, and if the reader can’t suspend their disbelief at Candice’s forgiveness, it will be an easy book to drop. I powered through to see if my suspicion about the love interest would pan out.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #HolidayRead from #NetGalley.

To be honest, I DNF this book and only got through about 40%. The main male character is misogynistic and the main female character just had way too much going on to follow the plot line. There was just too much vague backstory with no real movement forward. I felt like it didn’t really have any direction and it was hard to get into. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, except for maybe Demi. I would read about her life story any day.

“When I look up again, he places his hands gently on the curve of my waist and meets my gaze. I can feel his strength drawing me toward him and I can hardly breathe.”
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4,5⭐️/5
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pov: 1st person pov
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Thank you to the publishers, the author and Netgalley for an eARC of this book. My review is my own opinion.
I loved this book so much, first the summer vibes of it were amazing. I loved Candice so much, I also really loved the fact that you don’t know with who she will end up with. Like you think that she will be with someone but maybe not.

A Fair four-star read. This one surprised me, I think I was expecting too much, as I had such high hopes in this story, it started a little slowly and I found the main characters to be mostly unlikable for the start of the story, I did grow to like some of them. I like the underlying themes of finding and loving yourself and some great feelings that will make you smile that is what made this story for me, without that I wouldn’t have finished it.