Candice is an American surfer who moves to Newquay, UK, trying to find herself after her marriage falls apart and is looking for her biological father.
Candice meets two women who become like family and help her through challenging times.
Candice meets Alexis, a handsome but loathsome writer who is trying to write a romance novel but doesn't have the emotionality to do so. Daniel, Alexis' literary agent, arrives and advises Candice and Alexis to work together to complete the novel. From here, different relationships form, and many other interactions follow to bring everything together for closure for a romance novel.
This was slow and mournful at times. The writing was good, and I enjoyed the history of Newquay. I didn't love this book as it seemed, at times, maybe too real, and romance novels are a bit more cozy. The ending, however, is very much in tune with romance novels; happy.
A final thought is the title doesn't seem to fit with the story. I kind of see a link, but overall, the title doesn't seem to fit.
I give it 3 stars
I want to thank NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the arc.
#HolidayRead #NetGalley #aria

I DNFed this at around 40%.

This was poorly written and there were major consent issues.

Also, the book is misleading and doesn't a tually take place during the holidays. It kind of feels like it's trying to lure in people who enjoyed the Beach Read.

Also the MMC is a misogynistic piece of work and once you are down that path there is really no coming back.

A wonderful read. When Candace comes to the UK, she is escaping her cheating husband and best friend. She is also on a mission to find her father, who was from the Cornwall area. Meeting Alexis and Daniel, she is confronted with two possible love interests. Good read, and was hard to put down. Highly recommend.

Okidokie so- I almost DNFed this one. It took me sooo long to get through. It's too long. Edit again to tighten the story would be my advice. I liked a lot of parts and disliked a lot of parts. The good; Candice's character development and female friendships/found family she finds in Cornwall- loved it. Demi and Makayla- gold. The bad; what the heck is up with Alexis!!! The book starts by making him the main love interest but he is sooo unlikeable from the get go. Then when the actual love interest shows up he's not really portrayed in a way that makes me feel like Candice actually likes him??! Idk, the marketing for this book feels off; it wasn't sexy or overly romantic. I think I went in with really wrong expectations because of the synopsis. It has a great premise but definitely needs another bout of editing. I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Normally I start my reviews with a summary...but I can't.

I'm so confused????

With the promise of a Beach Read comp, I was stoked. Could Candice be the quirky, independent heroine I needed?

No.

There were just SO MANY subplots. None of them were well-developed, and I can't say what the real plot was. First it was the surf shop, then it was co-writing, then it was the divorce, then it was searching for her dad. None of these connected well.

Then there was the romance. I couldn't even figure out who the love interest was until 60% into the book. And there was very little build up to "moments". One moment, Candice and Daniel would be doing something totally platonic and next thing you know, they're almost kissing.

This story needs some serious polishing to make it enjoyable to the reader.

I struggled with the writing style of Holiday Read, long run on sentences peppered the story and made it hard to follow. The dialogue between characters felt a bit forced and awkward. The hero of the story wasn't very likeable and there seemed to be some dubious consent issues. I went into it thinking it would be comparable to Emily Henry's Beach Read but it wasn't at all. The title and book cover are a bit misleading

2.5 stars. Oh boy, this book took me forever to pass the 20% mark. Not only the premise is unoriginal but also the pacing is slow and all over the place. After the 40% mark it started to pick up, or maybe I was just too fustrated and skimmed all the uninteresting sections. It's good that the writer tried to put the focus on female friendship and a female lead trying to find herself after a bad break-up, but it's awful that the book uses the trope of the love triangle introducing two hunky male leads. How is she supposed to grow as an independent woman if she's forced (by the author) to choose between two guys in order to save her from an unfulfilling womanhood. Similar to other debut romance books I read that were just meh ("Float Plan" or "Lizzie & Dante"), the marketing aims to target readers of Emily Henry and Josie Silver. But these titles are just lower quality copy paste ideas that fail to bring anything new to the contemporary romance genre. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I’m a sucker for a beach read and British setting, so this title, cover, and synopsis were very inviting. In practice though I struggled with the pace and writing style, and didn’t find myself hooked. I did not finish this book. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting a lighthearted holiday romance but that’s not what this is. I read the whole book hoping it would improve but it didn’t. I felt the middle of the book went on for ages then the ending felt rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I DNFed at 40% and I tried to push through but it simply wasn’t for me.

this book wasn’t the way the description made it seem to me and the plot wasn’t interesting enough for me to want to read further.
Also, I feel like If you’re using the “Emily Henry fans will love it” as a way to promote your books you’re setting the expectations too high.

This was a winsome story about a woman taking charge of her life after things went completely off the rails.
Candice moves to Cornwall from Hawaii after her mothers dies and her husband admits to cheating on her with her best friend.
She finds a job in a cafe and the owner, Demi, lets her keep her camper van (the only accommodation she can afford) on the property. She also tries to start up a surfing lessons business.
She becomes attracted to an author,Alexis, trying to write his next book, but this quickly fizzles out when she finds he was just using her for his story.
Her friends and found family Makayla and Demi are great characters and all about empowering each other and being true to themselves. They are there for her when she finds out about Alexis, and also when her ex Joseph comes looking for her.
Alexis, the would be romance author, is truly an unlikable character in this book. He is sexist and selfish and an elitist. But in the end, his agent convinces Candice to work with Daniel as coauthor on the book.
This is not an especially fast paced book but I adored following Candice on her journey of self discovering and with her friendships with Makayla and Demi. And she also just might find a new love with someone unexpected. This book will be released July 2023.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book. That having been said, it took me a full 8 days to read. It was the most painful book I've ever read but I'm not a quitter so I saw it through.

I was mislead by the title thinking it was a beach read. Alexis, the main character was. self-absorbed and misogynistic. Candice, his co-writer had so many issues of her own that she almost allowed herself to be taken in by him. Enter Daniel, the literary agent, and you have the perfect, creepy love triangle. The only redeeming part of this book was the development of the female characters friendships. There was so many sub-plots, it was hard to keep track.

I am glad that I persevered to the end as all resolved nicely and there was a happily ever after. How the author got there, I'll never know..

A fun read with some interesting characters. I loved the backdrop of the story and the character development.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received a copy of Holiday Read via NetGalley to read and review.

When I requested an ARC of Holiday Read it was because the cover caught my attention. The reason being Emily Henry has a book called Beach Read and the covers are VERY similar. I have not read Beach Read (yet! But it is on my TBR) so I can’t say how similar the two books are.

I’ll admit I’m a little unsure how the book got titled Holiday Read. The characters work on a book- often on a beach but no one is truly on vacation and there’s no major holiday celebration in the book so the title makes no sense to me.

The cast of characters are….interesting. I think the author tried really hard to make the characters seem like your average people who have many flaws but somehow missed the mark. Jeremy and Alexis are extreme on the “bad” side while Daniel is the complete opposite. And Candice took the whole book to grow a backbone. The author is close to having a decent cast of characters but they need a bit fine tuning.

I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this but I think the overall arc of the story felt organic. The timing felt right but with the characters written as they are it can be hard to focus on major points in the story.

I, unfortunately, had to dnf this book (which I hate doing with ARCs) because it sent me into a two-week reading slump. It is not very attention-grabbing, at least not at the start, and it failed to suck me in.

first of all, I would like to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this book!
Now let's talk about it! I DNF this book very early (I think 20% into it) because I just couldn't with it. The characters were nothing like I expected. I don't want to go into many details because I don't want to give spoilers but they weren't for me and I couldn't continue with my reading while they were doing their thing like that. You'll understand if you've read the book.
The synopsis of this book was giving me everything I wanted but it didn't do at the end.
I'm sad about this because I've had great expectations about this book but it's alright, not every book is for everyone!
Also if you are interested in this book I suggest you read it! My opinion could not be yours!

Unfortunately I had do DNF this book. The MMC is truly awful. I hate to leave a bad review, but it’s the honest truth. Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my review.

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

Normally with ARCs I push through and read them to the end regardless of my feelings/enjoyment of the book. I just couldn’t do with this one. I DNF at 25% point.

The writing style was hard to follow. There didn’t seem like enough context at some points.

I felt like the cover didn’t match the feeling of the book either.

I loved this romance story -- it will be the perfect summer beach read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

arc provided by netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

i spent the last 40% speed reading just so i could be done this book. i really hate giving 1 stars but honestly i cant think of a redeeming quality this book had. characters were 2D, the chemistry between the couple was non existent and not one part of the story had me invested. advertised as for fans of emily henry but you’re better off just rereading her books and spare yourself.