A pop star returns to her home town after a scandal and reunites with her high school boyfriend as they work together on the church’s holiday play. Told in 2 timelines - then and now. This books is fine, but is a little boring for a celeb-normie romance (and I read a LOT of books in this niche).
🌶️: no.

DNF at 25%. This book has a lot of potential and I loved all the Taylor Swift references, but the writing just wasn't for me.

I went into this book totally blind and I’m glad I did. The love you saw from Rome was so cute. Brought me right back to my high school days and the relationship of two kids in love with so much life ahead. I loved the different dynamics to the story line too. It wasn’t just about a love story, but also loving yourself first before you can love your forever.

This novel has …
- small town high school sweethearts that never let go
- Celebrity girl and protective small town boy
- Real heartbreak and struggles.
- I wish there was more angst and emotion behind the characters, especially with how heavy some of the dynamics of the storyline were. The story line moved along quickly and was an easy to follow book. Overall, I enjoyed reading Pen and Rome’s love through all the years.

Thank you Netgalley and Parson Press for the eARC.

This was a sweet and overall enjoyable read but I think it fits better into the young adult category.
The story does take us through the main characters lives from teenagers but much of the plot and story felt a little childish at times, so I think this would suit the younger reader.

This was generally cute, but read much younger than I expected. The characters are in their twenties, but I honestly felt like I was reading about high schoolers. The story is cute and fairly low angst, but it didn’t do that much for me. It had similar vibes to a Hallmark Christmas movie (read: slightly cheesy), but as I’ve said many times in this review, was cute.
I’m also not a Swiftie, and after reading other reviews, I think if I were, my appreciation of the book would be higher.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

First time reading a novel by Kimi Freeman after seeing her name pop up on reading lists and libraries. Based on the cover and the obviously referenced Taylor Swift lyric in the title, lead me to wanting to read this book. To be frank, I was very underwhelmed by this novel. Felt like the characters were very dry and lacked an character development. Happy to have read it, but not a book I would recommend to everyone.

This book was so cute from start to end. Sign me up for any book based on a Taylor Swift song and comes with a custom playlist for each chapter! Loved the love story between Aspen and Roman and how it spans from high school to the present time. The author was very thoughtful in how she played off the past and present to show how their history affected their current situation. The last few chapters brought happy tears to my eyes, perfect holiday rom com!!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this at about 70%. I truly thought the concept of the book was really cute. I wish, for a “young adult” concept, it was written more like one. I felt like the drama/spats that were present were very childish (which is how media goes but it was just one after another). I also had a really hard time relating to the characters as well. I picked up another book in the meantime and tired to come back to this one, read a little more, and just couldn’t finish it. Thank you so much for the ARC

I was kindly given the ARC for this book and even though I read it in august, it got me massively into the christmas spirit. As soon as I read about this book, I knew I needed to read it and I was not disappointed. I love taylor’s music and christmas so it was perfect for me. The books did not disappoint, I loved both Aspen and Roman which is rare for me in books but I really enjoyed their relationship. Also absolutely loved the chapters turning to two different timelines after a chapter ended, I loved that it always switched because otherwise I didn’t get confused when they randomly switched.

This novel was sweet and cheesy and made for an easy read. I personally found though that the characters lacked depth and the growth of the characters was very superficial and convenient. Full of cliches, this story unfortunately didn’t keep me invested. There was nothing memorable about the plot or characters and the emotional reactions to events in the story sometimes didn’t make sense.
There is potential for this story to become a good rom-com story with a bit more fleshing out of the descriptions and adding more depth to why the characters behave the way they do. I liked the main characters’ names, they were original and worked well together.

As a Taylor swift fan I was super excited to read this book after hearing about all the references to made! I really enjoyed all the chapter names, I think that was really cute. For a debut novel, and the author being only 16 (I just found that out) I think this had great potential. But there were some let downs within the book. I really enjoyed the premise of the book, celebrity romance and a second chance romance. What better! But I felt that the characters fell flat for me, and were immature for their age. This book is meant for new adult, and it does contain content that make it such. However I felt as if the writing style wasn’t mature enough for new adult and would have been a perfect older YA read.

💭A thought💭
There was no TW for what occurred.

Huge thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

i enjoyed this book, it was a great debut book! i love the t swift references & it just made my heart happy. the characters are captivating and were enjoyable to read about!

It was cute! This book is a 2nd chance romance that jumps back and forth between past and present. Aspen is a singer/actress who moved to la and left her first love, Roman behind. She returns to her hometown after some drama with friends and rekindles her romance. They are both in charge of the children’s Christmas play at the church. It was an entertaining quick read! 3 stars!

‘Tis the Damn Season by Kimi Freeman is a cute YA romance! I enjoyed the switch between modern day and the flashbacks to a few years earlier to learn more about the main characters’ love story. I loved that the chapters were titled with popular songs, just like the Taylor Swift-themed title!

This book is cute - but very much more on the YA side than I was expecting. The main character comes off being younger than she is supposed to be. Overall it was a cute holiday read - but wish it had gone more towards the YA high school arena versus twenty somethings.

Really wanted to love it but it just fell a little flat.

As a swiftie the title immediately hooked me. Ultimately the writing did not do it for me. The dual timeline felt rushed. Characters felt juvenile and immature.

Overall not a terrible book but also not my favorite.

Let me start this off by offering a much needed tw - there's mention of sa (grape). This tw wasn't offered anywhere and it completely caught me off guard reading it on the book. So please, beware of that if you decide to read this book.

Onto the review.

I was extremely excited to read this book. I loved the cover, the blur sounded super promising and the Playlist is simply chef's kiss. But I'm afraid to say it didn't fully lived to my expectations.

It was a quick read. The chapters fly by quickly and the writing is easy to read.
It was, however, a little juvenile. Which, after finding out the author is only 16, makes perfect sense and it made me look at the book in a different light.

The first like 60% of the book, I was loving it. It's when the issues start appearing that mine come with it.
The mmc suddenly acts like an idiot and throws really harsh unnecessary words at the fmc. And then, without even an actual apology and a little grovel, it's all fine and dandy??
The characters were pretty immature for someone who's 25 years old. Unnecessary miscommunication and attacks and then anticlimactic resolve of the issues.

Thank you NetGalley and Parson Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Aspen Moore flees to her home town after her model best friend accuses her of hooking up with her boyfriend. In an effort to escape the Hollywood scene, she agrees to help direct the local nativity play with her former high school sweet heart.

There was a lot happening, and I'm not sure that I got what I thought I was supposed to get. Kudos to Freeman for writing at novel at her age! That is super impressive, but I think this may have been more appropriate if she left the characters as teens. Even though the characters were supposed to be in their low/mid twenties, they read like teenagers. I think I also just don't do well with the whole Hollywood starlett with ordinary guy trope.

The perfect christmas book for swifties!! Aspen comes back home after some drama in hollywood and comes back to her high school sweetheart. second chance romance, small town, christmas pageant, christmas tree farm, a playlist full of taylor swift songs. it’s such a cozy book that really makes me wish I lived somewhere that it got cold and snowed. also, apparently the author is only 16 years high is so impressive and wild!

my only note: aspen needs a therapist.

📚 Book 75/25 of 2023 📚

I would like to thank the author, Kimi Freeman and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

⭐️ 3.5/5 stars!

🍑 PEACHES & PITS (likes and dislikes) 🍑

peaches:
- the chapter-by-chapter song/playlist!! it was PERFECT and such a vibe! For the first half of this book, I followed along by playing each song per chapter and it was such a vibe. honestly, why can't every book be like this?? (I only had to abandon this method because the playlist I found didn't download on my phone properly and I boarded an airplane and couldn't listen 😒)
- such a cute, low-angst book that was perfect as a beach read for my vacation
- the tswift inspo was lovely - and the lyrics were fun little easter eggs to find while reading
- tropes: small-town, second chance romance, holiday inspo
- dual timelines was a nice aspect

pits:
- felt like the characters/plot read as really young compared to their stated ages --> turns out that the author is sixteen! which made me go HELL YEAH! what an accomplishment to write this book. this helped me reimagine the book as a teenage holiday romcom which made it fit really well for me (instead of the New Adult rating it's pitched as)
- didn't get super attached to any of the main characters
- plot felt a bit underdeveloped