I LOVED THIS BOOK. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ARC COPY! BEAT AND MEL WILL ALWAYS BE ONE OF MY ROMAN EMPIRE COUPLES. I will think about this book for the rest of my life. another absolute masterpiece by Tessa Bailey :)

This book was so good!!
A perfect Christmas reading to read under a warm blanket in front of a crackling fireplace and a hot chocolate!

I liked all the characters and they seemed very vivid and real.
The story is sweet and never boring, the timing has been managed perfectly!
The sweet and funny writing was also truly enjoyable!

In short, a perfect Christmas reading!
Highly recommended !!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

What a good way to get into the Christmas spirit with a sweet spicy read by Tessa!!! I can always count on a Tessa Bailey book to make me smile! Cannot wait for the next one!

oh this book was so adorable!!!! beat was so obsessed with melody and cared so much.

this was the perfect holiday book, with the cutest romance. the plot was so entertaining and had me laughing the whole way,

“A reality show in real time. Unedited, unfiltered. Streaming live from the networks social media accounts”.

📚 forced proximity
📚 one bed trope
📚 dual POV

🌶️🌶️🌶️

|Thoughts|
I wasn't sure about this one at first...mainly because the main characters, as children of rock stars are called…Melody (that's ok) and Beat.

“There’s no Beat without a Melody”

But the chemistry between these two is just perfect. The way these two fight their chemistry is just the best of slow burns.

“He knew his life would be better from now on. Because she existed and knew him better than he knew himself”.

It’s all very lighthearted and maybe a bit unmemorable. But I was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

|Synopsis|
Children of famous rock stars, who’s mothers haven’t spoken since the bad split. They’re live streaming their attempt to get their months to play together on Christmas Eve. However, the audience is following along more for the chemistry between the two.

“So son? This Christmas Eve? As in, two weeks from today? And if the reunion happens, Beat makes a million dollars?”

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A feel good romantic comedy surrounding the grown-up children of rockstars? AND ITS CHRISTMAS?
SIGN ME UP!
This book was super cute, so much so that I’ll forgive the typical cliche names of Melody and Beat.
I love how Bailey fleshed out the characters so well and we could see the similarities and differences between the MCs and how they grew up with similar difficulties due to their parent’s fame.

Would definitely recommend to others as a great Christmas read.

This was really cute and surprisingly spicy! 🌶️ 🥵I enjoyed it. The third act breakup was as annoying as they usually are and it could have been a bit more chrismassy but over all it was very entertaining!
Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I love Tessa's books usually but unfortunately this book wasn't as good for me. I think it was because I didn't like the parents in the book.

I found the romance to be rather Insta-lovey and would have preferred a friends to lovers or enemies to lovers plot instead. I also felt as though not much was happening plot wise for a lot of the story which left me feeling a little bored. I did enjoy Beat and Melody as characters though and think that this book would work really well as either a movie or TV show.

Melody Gallard, daughter of music royalty, finds her quiet life upended when a producer offers a substantial sum to reunite her mother's band on live TV. To achieve this, she teams up with Beat Dawkins, the charismatic lead singer's son, setting the stage for a madcap mission to convince their mothers to perform one last show. As they navigate rock star shenanigans, brawling Santas, and adoring fans, Mel steps out of her comfort zone with Beat by her side, leading to a wild, intense attraction that builds amid Christmas chaos. The novel expertly combines sexy and hilarious elements, offering a heartwarming and festive rom-com that explores love, redemption, and the power of reunion against the backdrop of a rock-and-roll Christmas.

Wreck the Halls is a short but fun contemporary romance by Tessa Bailey. It features Beat and Melody, two grown-up children of aging rockstars. Their mothers used to be in a band together but now hold a lifelong grudge against the other, which means Beat and Melody grew up similarly yet worlds apart (they only meet once as teens before reconnecting as adults).

Although the cover and description promote a Christmas/festive theme, the book's content isn't overly festive at all. There's actually very minimal holiday-related content, so it's a book that could definitely be read year-round.

I really enjoyed the character growth and development through this story, primarily Melody's. She grew up in the spotlight, awkward and with every moment of her life publicized. Between having her life splashed across media outlets and dealing with flaky parents, she overcame a lot and grew up into a fairly well-adjusted adult.

On the other hand, Beat also grew up in the limelight but as the "golden boy" who could do no wrong. As a result of his own upbringing, he became quite private and selective in who he allowed to see the real him.

While there was definitely some cheesier moments (like the alpha-ish moments that I wasn't expecting from Beat given his general "golden retriever" energy), I enjoyed how Melody and Beat matched each other. I would have loved to see more about the connection they both felt towards each other prior to meeting and how much of that connection played into their character growth.

To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of some of the side characters. It was mainly their mothers, but I also don't think their mothers were meant to be overly likeable. They obviously had a reason for their band breaking up and why they continued to hate each other so many years on, and this played a big role in not only the storyline of the book but also how they could be viewed by the reader.

Overall, this was an interesting read. It still had lots of elements that, as a TB reader, you come to expect and love in her books, yet it also felt quite different from her other books. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys rockstar romances (though, keep in mind that the rockstar elements in this book are light) or short, quirky contemporary romances.

I got an ebook copy through netgalley and quickly fell inlove with this book. I had to get the paperback as soon as it came out. Beat and Melodys connection 🥰, Trina and Octavia were such great characters and omg the last 10 pages had me crying happy tears. Highly recommend this book.

"There's no beat without a melody"

This has to be my favourite book by Tessa Bailey and it is a Christmas one which is even better. Although it doesn't need to be read at Christmas. Melody and Beat have rockstar mother's who were in a band together until the band broke up. Melody and Beat are tasked with trying to get them back together but will more than the band get together and be a love story?

Melody ‘Mel’ Gallard was the daughter of a music royalty, but her world was far from glamorous. Beat Hawkins, the son of the lead singer of Mel’s mother’s ex-band, lived a totally opposite life, constantly being on camera. They both were given a challenge to get their mothers together for a Steel Bird reunion concert by Christmas, while being followed by cameras, reality-TV style. Could they win the challenge, while sparks were flying between the two of them?

This book was so much fun! Even though the setting was Christmas-y, the plot itself could’ve worked with any timeline really. The high-stakes, fast-paced plot gave the perfect pressure-cooker backdrop to the romance.

Melody cracked me up so many times. I didn’t expect her to be so funny (which I preferred rather than just having an innocent, clueless, overly-sweet main character). She was honestly the star of the show for me, since Beat was your ‘standard’ leading guy.

I was expecting the plot to be totally predictable, but I was in for a treat because it still managed to sneak in surprises. And even when I knew something was coming up, the way it was done still felt fresh and unpredictable to me.

For someone who’s not a big fun of smut, I loved this book. It was far from cliche and boring, for sure.

Perfectly cute, steamy, predictable but adorable Christmas romance featuring Beat and Melody, children of rock band Steel Birds. After the breakup of the band, their mothers feud for 30 years until Beat and Mel conspire to reunite them for one last tour and find themselves falling for each other along the way

Tropey and predictable, a comforting holiday read for romance lovers

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

DNF @ 15%.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the story. I've found with Tessa's books, I have to really vibe with the main characters to be able to make it through, and there were just too many moments early on where I just rolled my eyes at them. I couldn't make myself get through it. Maybe I'll come back and give it another go some day, but maybe I won't.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

📚Wreck the Halls - Tessa Bailey📚

Here I am on this fine Wednesday, and I have another holiday romance for you..I can’t be stopped 🙈 I read this a little while ago and loved it! It was entertaining, full of witty banter and quite steamy 🔥 typical Tessa Bailey, but with a festive twist! 🎄

It was definitely character-driven which I loved, and the reality TV aspect made it so fun to watch the story play out. The family drama and fiery personalities of Beat and Melody’s mothers added a special something! 😂

Although the names of these quirky characters were a bit cringe in my opinion (this had to be done on purpose!😜), I couldn’t help but love them anyway! 🙈😂😍 TB is known for her sassy, steamy romances, and she definitely didn’t disappoint with this one!

What you can expect:
🎄 Second chance romance 💘
❄️ Rockstar vibes 🎸
🎄 Holiday cheer 🧑🏼‍🎄
❄️ Reality TV 📺
🎄 One bed 🙈

Wreck the Halls is a sizzling, heartwarming holiday romance that offers the perfect escape from reality. I highly recommend for the upcoming holiday season (or anytime really 😜)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you so much to @harpercollinsaustralia @tessabaileyisanauthor and @netgalley for sending me this to review 🙏🏻

#lizzieslittlelibrary #wreckthehalls #tessabailey #harpercollinsaustralia #netgalley #bookworm #readmorebooks #aussiebookworm #bookreview #booklover #bookstagram #aussiebookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofinsta #booksofig #bookaholic #igreads #book #books

3.5 stars

I think Wreck the Halls is very enjoyable as long as you are prepared for the insane amount of instalove. Is predestined love a thing? Foreordained love? Are those tropes? Because we're supposed to believe that fate and genetics and history and circumstance are just too much for Beat and Melody to overcome and they never stood a chance.

"Something grew and grew inside of her. Something she'd never felt before. A kinship, a bond, a connection. She couldn't come up with a word for it. Only knew that it seemed almost cosmic or preordained. And in that moment, for the first time in her life, she was angry with her mother for her part in breaking up the band. She could have known this boy sooner? Felt...understood sooner?"

Now, it’s pretty difficult to overlook the trope-heavy chemistry between Beat and Melody because it’s the entire book. They’re meant to be together, so they fight it and spend time apart, then admit they’re meant to be only to mess it up to spend time apart until - you guessed it - they’re meant to be! It does make me wish that their relationship was based on more than who their mothers are and their insane chemistry. The lack of depth to the relationship prevents Wreck the Halls from being more than a fun holiday romance. The characters are interesting and unique; they just don’t allow any of this messy complexity to get in the way of a good time.

"Her fingers strummed a couple of the strings, the notes perfectly familiar to him. 'You're just saying that because you're my best friend.'

Was this what it was like to be one hundred percent willing to die for someone?

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the camera's blinking red light and honestly, it just didn't mean a goddamn thing in that moment. 'You're my best friend, too, peach.'"

Most of the time, Melody acted more like Beat’s therapist than his girlfriend and for someone who has spent fourteen years dealing with some pretty intense feelings and suppressed self-loathing, it all gets cleared up pretty quickly when his soulmate says the right words. With all the hinting about Beat’s dark secrets and his needs, I was getting pretty excited, only for it to take a strange turn that could have been interesting to explore but was instead made into a quick hurdle to overcome once Melody is involved. It took almost no effort before he was supposedly cured. Which is how all the problems in this narrative are solved: blow up, apply therapy speak (no actual therapist needed), spend some time apart, make up, and everything is better.

"'Love doesn't come and go that easily. You need to believe you can lean on it, even when you have to lean really hard.' She swallowed the lump in her throat. 'I think maybe the people who love you want to be tested and leaned on sometimes, so they can show you how much you mean. Expressing love and trust is a gift to the person who receives it.'

His chest dipped and expanded. 'I'll give those things to you, Melody Gallard. Every day. If you let me back in.'

'When,' she whispered. 'When. You'll have to trust me on that.'

Beat sucked in a breath and nodded, falling back against the elevator wall to watch her leave through bloodshot eyes."

It was a nice addition to the book to have Beat be aware of the unequal treatment he and Melody received when they were children. His actions helped to explain the type of man he grew to be and made me pretty mad at the kids he went to summer camp with. And then for the crowd to swing around and be so supportive of Melody when they’re live-streaming was a true full-circle moment that I really enjoyed.

Skim the instalove (aka 60% of the book), and it’s pretty easy to enjoy Wreck the Halls. It’s a unique concept with fun characters and good pacing. As usual, Bailey can write some pretty good smut, and even though it didn’t end up going in the direction I was expecting, it was still a captivating and exciting read. After all, I am writing this review at 3:30 a.m. even though I have to be up in a few hours for work. Bailey sunk her hooks into me, and I could not put Wreck the Halls down.

Wreck the Halls
By Tessa Bailey

Description:
Holiday Rom-Com

A holiday rom com about reuniting the steel birds band.
I enjoyed the plot of this book it wasn’t as funny as I was expecting it to be but it was still okay.

My favourite character was Melody as I think she was the funniest out of the characters and some character development.

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks NetGalley and Tessa Bailey for a digital ARC copy of this book.

Two poor little rich kids have parent issues in Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey. Beat and Melody are the 30 year old offspring of two (50'ish year old) rock star mothers who had a falling out 30 years ago. No one really knows why but their band dis-banded (see what I did there) and they haven't spoken to one another since. The world has been waiting with baited breath for a reunion, and when Beat and Melody are approached about featuring in a real-time reality program in an attempt to get their mothers to reunite for a Christmas special, they do so reluctantly. They have their own reasons which become clear as the book progresses. It's told in alternating chapters from Beat and Melody's perspectives. Before the reality program Beat and Melody met on one occasion 14 years prior.

Wreck the Halls is a fun, albeit not very Christmassy book. Wreck the Halls has a fun ring to it, but really it could have been set at any point, not withstanding that the reunion if successful is planned for Rockefeller Centre at Christmas time. There's a mish-mash of tropes, a social media bent, blackmail and paternity questions, as well as a dose of parental alienation. As expected with Tessa Bailey books there's steam with a smattering of kink though whilst it's edgy it's not as steamy as some of her other books. Taken on it's merits as a feel-good Christmassy read that's not too Christmassy I liked it rather than loved it and just needed a little more from Beat and Melody beyond the couple of days spent together to reassure me that this was a relationship as opposed to an infatuation.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this free digital copy to read.

3.5 stars