This was such a great debut novel. Such a cute quick read! When I finally started the book it only took me about 4 hours to read it. I was so invested in Aspen and Roman's story that I couldn't put it down. I'm also a sucker for celebrity drama, so the scandal Aspen went through kept me interested as well. This easily could've been a 5 star read for me, just wish we could've got more of Roman's POV. So glad I found this on NetGalley! I would definitely read more books from Kimi Freeman in the future.

A book based off of a Taylor Swift song? A song from Evermore? You could betcha buttons that I was going to read it.

I had a pretty decent time reading this! If you’re familiar with the song (and if you’re not, I recommend you go and listen to it - and all of Evermore while you’re at it. Off you go. I’ll wait.) it follows along with that plot line - about a girl who’s reached fame and fortune in LA, returning to her hometown for the holiday season, reuniting with her high school boyfriend.

Aspen, our main character, is fresh off of touring her debut album, and has been thrust into her first scandal. Her model best friend is accusing her of coming on to her boyfriend, who was opening for Aspen on her tour. She refuses to listen to her, and kicks her out if their shared apartment - so Aspen heads home a little earlier than she normally would, and finds solace amongst her parents, the high school boyfriend/seasonal hook-up, Rome, and focusing on sorting out her Dads churches nativity play, alongside aforementioned boyfriend/seasonal hook-up.

The chapters alternate between seven years ago, showing us how Aspen and Rome first got together, and the years leading up to her fame, and the present day, with the nativity, and juggling Aspen’s fame.

I enjoyed this book! It’s a pretty quick read, and does what it says on the tin. It’s a sweet romance, and I loved the concept of fleshing out a song into a book. The chapters are short and snappy, which makes for fast reading, and each chapter comes with a corresponding song in relation to the chapter (and yes, there’s a lot of Taylor Swift!)

However, I didn’t really fall in love with any of the characters, and felt like they all could have been fleshed out a little bit more. The dialogue could also be a little dry at times, and it risked feeling quite juvenile, but I still liked the book overall. A decent debut!

TW: for sexual assault.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review.

Thank you to the author for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

When I saw the title of this book, I immediately got so excited. I’ve always been a huge fan of Taylor Swift and the folklore/evermore albums are some of my favorites with “tis the damn season” being on repeat for me. When I learned how young the author is, I was even more impressed that she was able to write and publish a book that meant something to her!

I had a tough time trying to figure out the categorization of this book. It takes place in two timelines and since the second timeline takes place when the characters are 18+, normally I’d categorize it has Adult. But it does read on the younger side* and it felt more like a fun YA in my opinion.

*please note I do not thing “reading young” or “reading as YA” is a bad thing. But, I think it’s important to note who I think this book is for/would enjoy it more. I love YA and I’m incredibly impressed with this author’s work ethic and drive! Writing and publishing is HARD!

Overall, I thought this book was cute and I think if the author keeps writing, she will continue to grow and (hopefully) write more Taylor Swift inspired books!

Synopsis:

“Aspen Moore is living proof that money doesn’t buy happiness. At twenty-three years old, the singer-actress has it all. Fame. Fortune. Her own headlining tour. And yet something—or someone—is missing.

When a scandal rocks Aspen’s carefully constructed Hollywood life, she’s forced to return to her Pennsylvania hometown, where she reconnects with her first love, Roman Torres. Aspen knows they must keep their relationship strictly platonic. This game of push and pull, catch and release she plays with Roman is bad for her. She’s not staying in Fertsville, and he’s not moving to LA. But their chemistry is undeniable, and amidst rumors and drama, the bright lights of Hollywood begin to pale in comparison to the dark brown eyes she fell in love with all those years ago. Could Aspen be willing to give up everything she’s ever wanted for the best thing she’s ever had? “—NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Premise—Tis the Damn Season is one of my favorite songs and I’ve always wanted to read a book about the story!

The Structure—I thought a second chance/now and then timeline worked great for this premise.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

The Pacing—Overall, my biggest issue with this book was the execution of the pacing. Maybe it’s because I had the song in the back of my head. but I just didn’t click with what was prioritized in the story.

Some of the Plot Points—I was a little shocked towards the end when a sexual assault was revealed. I didn’t see it coming at all and I never want to judge characters for their response to something, but something about it felt more like shock value than authentic to the character.

The Dialogue—I didn’t vibe with the dialogue at all. Some of the character all felt/sounded the same and I struggled to find the flow.

Character Authenticity: 3/5 Spice Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 3/5

Content Warnings:

sexual assault, cancer, death of a parent, parkinson’s disease

Such a cute read! I really enjoyed it and think many others will especially with the timing of the book release!

Review ‘Tis the damn season
At first I was doubting if I would like the book for some things but then I really got to enjoy it, this was a cute romance that was really wholesome, the relationship and undeniable love between Aspen and Rome was just what my heart needed and this was such a fresh read in terms of my usual choices. In one point I got worried in how the author would wrap all the thing happening but Kimi Freeman really knows how to write a contemporary romance that feels just like a hug to your heart.

In the beginning of the book I found it a bit difficult to connect with it because I felt like i was being thrown to a story in which I didn’t had the details and context, with the passing chapters this all began to clear up and I found it more interesting. One of the things I really loved were the past chapters, i loved to read about Aspen and Roman when they were young and falling in love, also the consistency of being one chapter in the present and one in the past was really nice.
It took some time for me to finish and I thought it was because I wasn’t enjoying the story but then I realized that wasn’t it, it was because this is a seasonal reading so I found it hard to connect to a Christmas ambient in midst of summer, but let me tell you, this would make a perfect read for fall and winter.

Got to read this book as an ARC provided by Net Galley and Kimi Freeman. Thank you very much!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy (ARC) of this novel!

I loved the premise of this novel! The synopsis seemed to be something that I would really enjoy. While there were aspects that I liked, I felt that this piece really needed another round of edits and more layers to the content.
I really enjoyed that this story played a lot on Taylor Swift references. For someone who is a major fan, it was fun to pick out the song lyrics and tie ins (e.g. hometown in Pennsylvania, award show wins, etc). I do not think it would be as pleasing to someone who isn’t a fan or doesn’t care for Taylor, which made it a little too niche for a contemporary romance.
Some dislikes and parts that didn’t work for me include:
•The writing tone was very juvenile, to the point where the “flashback” scenes felt more realistic than present day. I wanted to feel or hear a mature voice for Aspen present day, and it felt like she was stuck as a seventeen year old.
•Aspen as a character did not truly develop at all. She was unchanged from the beginning to the end. Her only takeaway was that karma came around to everyone who wronged her, which just seemed pointless and didn’t make me feel anything for her.
•Every conflict or conversation was done and over in 2 lines of dialogue!! Good lord, let people have more than one exchange before moving on to a new scene! And to make matters worse, it felt choppy and the vocabulary used was inappropriate (specifically the word “unconfident” which isn’t even a real descriptor).
•Plot happened… but not really? And then we missed so many key moments (e.g. the passing of Roman’s mother! This could have been so pivotal for both of the MC’s and was a missed opportunity).

I hated to be so critical of this book, since I was looking forward to it. If this book were a house, it would just be wooden stud walls. It was lacking so much “meat” per se, that I truly feel could have been added or adjusted through more rounds of edits.

Taylor Swift coded people assemble!

This book was incredible cute and was written for anyone who ever needed a book about the couple from T Swift's song 'Tis the damn season.

It's a small town, second chance romance between 2 characters who were former high school sweethearts. It was a nice change seeing him as the 'small town' boy while the FMC was famous. There's definitely forced proximity trope woven through the book, which made for an interesting read.

This is definitely a sweet, easy read with all of the comfort of the holiday's woven into the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book. I had high hopes for this book seeing that it had a dual timeline, but it was not executed well. I felt that the flashbacks were often random and were more just random scenes of them when they were younger and they were in a relationship. I feel like it did not add anything to the story. Since it partly took place in the past when the main characters were in high school, I expected the writing to seem younger (from a high schoolers pov) but when it switched back to the present, everything was still really immature. Lastly, I found it hard to root for them. They lacked chemistry and the story did not make up for lack of that. One of the things that I did enjoy were the short chapters and the playlist. It was an interesting idea to have each chapter be a new song.

This book immediately caught my attention with the title! ‘Tis the Damn Season is one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs so I knew I had to read this. The love story between Aspen and Rome was so sweet! I loved getting closure on this song through the book and appreciated the ending being wrapped up so neatly.

I normally am not a fan of dual timelines but this one actually didn’t bother me. The time jumping made sense and I didn’t prefer one timeline over the other until the end of the story. It was well paced to where I was equally interested in both storylines.

Overall it was a cute seasonal read with some difficult subject matter woven in that gave the characters more depth. If this is the author’s debut at 16 I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Yes, it contains a lot of Taylor Swift references including the book title itself. As a huge Swiftie myself, this was an ARC I was super excited to get my hands on. It’s a solid read, but not one that particularly stands out to me. The author is a bit younger than other romance/YA authors so it could be that she just needs to refine her craft a bit. I am sure younger Swifities will enjoy this book as it does read as a very YA book. There are some YA books that I would say can be enjoyed by YA and adults, but this one very much felt YA with the cheesiness of it all.

I love authors who include a playlist that goes along with the book! Each chapter contains a different song (many of which are Taylor Swift songs of course!) You can definitely tell a true Swiftie wrote this book!

This was ok. I loved the Taylor Swift reference, but the main character annoyed me. It was fine, but nothing that will stick with me.

fun fact: tis the damn season is one of my favorite taylor songs

this was fun and quick, i think i'm just in a bit of a rut right now so i couldn't fully get into it -- i think i'll need to go back to it at a later point. i didn't really connect to the characters too much, but i loved reading about them. i'm also a sucker for holiday cliches and a second-chance romance <3

rating: 3.5

A Hollywood starlet caught in a scandal. The boy she never got over. A Christmas season they’ll never forget…

Aspen Moore is living proof that money doesn’t buy happiness. At twenty-three years old, the singer-actress has it all. Fame. Fortune. Her own headlining tour. And yet something—or someone—is missing.

When a scandal rocks Aspen’s carefully constructed Hollywood life, she’s forced to return to her Pennsylvania hometown, where she reconnects with her first love, Roman Torres. Aspen knows they must keep their relationship strictly platonic. This game of push and pull, catch and release she plays with Roman is bad for her. She’s not staying in Fertsville, and he’s not moving to LA. But their chemistry is undeniable, and amidst rumors and drama, the bright lights of Hollywood begin to pale in comparison to the dark brown eyes she fell in love with all those years ago. Could Aspen be willing to give up everything she’s ever wanted for the best thing she’s ever had?

I absolutely loved this! So much going on, celeb drama, heartbreak, loss, undeniable fire burning love, etc. It's got all of it mixed into one! So many sweet moments and a few tear jerking moments. The ending truly made me tear up. I loved every single sentence of this book. It truly kept me interested, I had to read it in one sitting. I also love that the author themed each chapter and gives a song for each chapter so you can listen to a song with the vibe for the chapter. Love it! Such a great book, wrapped up beautifully at the end! So heartwarming and truly shows determination and how love always prevails!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

Please add a trigger warning for SA- I personally would not have applied for this particular ARC had I known that was in this book. Thank you!

Other than that I felt this was an easy and fun read. Full of wonderful Swiftie references and cheesy moments. This would be the kind of book to curl up with in front of a fireplace with a cup a tea… yay for cozy season!

such a fun low angst holiday read. this was really cute to read, A dual timeline reflects on the past/present of this second chance romance. The characters were okay, there were some contradicting personality descriptions of the MCs. Overall, I enjoyed reading.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this arc!
This was a super cute Christmas ish rom com and I loved it!
It follows Aspen who is a celebrity and goes back home after a big scandal. Everything is completely false but she leaves because needs some time apart.
Back home she reunites with her high school boyfriend Roman. They have been in love since they were 17 and now old feelings are stirring. The vibe of this book was just adorable and I loved everything about it.

I want to say, kudos to the author for writing this book at such a young age. While this book wasn’t for me, I can see the storyline and characters being intriguing to others.

I think trying to write characters that were older and who have experienced such heavy real life events just didn’t mesh well with the younger light-hearted flashbacks and for how much happened…the characters just fell a bit flat and the chemistry felt forced.

I actually found the chapters that focused on the past more enjoyable and almost wish we would have just had a book about the characters when they were younger.

Thank you SO much to Kimi Freeman and Parson Press for the ARC!
This is was just the stinking cute cheesy romance that I needed to read right now!!!

I read this so fast and ended up staying up late into the night to finish it! There were so many tropes going on that I love:
- small town setting
- second chances
- big city girl / small town boy
- forced proximity
I was eating it up! Aspen and Roman will stay with me for a while yet, their romance was just SO sweet.

As a massive Swiftie I found the song titles/lyrics distracting at first (DBATC took me out). But towards the end I was so wrapped up in the story that they didn’t bother me. I didn’t love the playlist that correlated to each chapter so I just ignored that.

I was shocked when I found out Freeman’s age in the acknowledgments, she is writing at an incredible level! A fantastic debut!

Trigger warning:

There is mention/discussion of rape, but no gory details. I’ve seen a few reviewers say that they weren’t expecting it at all, but as soon as a certain character was mentioned and the context he was mentioned in, I was expecting it. As a survivor, I found that this was handled well and spoke to the difficulties around reporting, shame and isolation survivors feel following an incident. I think it was a thoughtful, responsible and compassionate approach to exploring this theme.

This was an easy read and would be perfect for someone who is starting their journey into romance books.
For me the writing just felt a little too juvenile and the author was almost trying to cover too many tropes and romance book stereotypes. (Possibly to be expected with a debut and finding your groove). Chapters also were very staccato and didn’t flow as well as I’d have liked them to.
The dual timeline was nice though to see the background of the characters and why and how it got them to where they are now. The song references were also really cool and would allow a follow along playlist which is always a nice touch.
Overall, a pleasant read and look forward to seeing how Freeman’s writing develops with her next book.

Great pacing, the dual timeliness were easy to keep up with. A sweet love story that deals with being a celebrity, rape and rumors.