A Taylor Swift song as the book title? A very easy sell for me. This was a very cute dual timeline romance. I was able to sit and read this within a couple of sittings. Aspen Moore is a hollywood star caught in a awful scandal and loses her best friend in the process. She heads home and reconnects with her high school love Roman. Told from dual timelines involving their high school days and the present, you see how these two seem to hold out for each other. Nearing the end I felt like the story got tied up a little too quickly, and it took a little long for Roman and Aspen to just realize they were still crazy about it each other. Overall I enjoyed this cute book and would recommend! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

Cute story with tons of TS references. Reads very much like a YA romance, which I believe is the intention.

A very cute holiday romance!
I wasn’t expecting much but it was wholesome and cosy and loved the Taylor swift references

I received an arc from netgalley.

I love that the chapters made a playlist.
The relationship set up was like kindergarten when one kid asked another kid they don't know to be best friends. And then they do.

Thank you NetGallery and Kimi for this amazing Arc!! I’m giving it 3.95 ⭐️’s. such a cute and fun holiday read that has a whole playlist full of Taylor Swift(peep the title) AND my other fav Georgia Webster?! I loved how each chapter had a song to go with it and the duel timelines. The friends to lovers and second chance romance tropes were really well done! Reason why I took stars off was the end felt rushed and the beginning was a bit slow as everything wrapped up in the end. Overall, such a great and easy read if you want to blast tswift and get ready for the holidays!!

This book was amazing! It was wholesome and cozy and overall just a great book!! I liked the second chance romance but to me it seemed as though Aspen and Roman never really stopped loving each other. Their connection was written beautifully. It was nice to see that Aspen still had family and friends back home to lean on throughout the craziness of her life. My only critique is that some of the chapters stop abruptly and you have to read another before finding out what happened. The playlist was a nice addition. This one included a song for each chapter which some books don’t do with their playlists

Good book. I really got into it. I loved the story line and how this love story evolved. In the end true loved prevailed. Great love story even though it took many years to come together.

Thanks to Netgalley for access to this E-ARC! I loved this so much! The Taylor Swift references were perfect and loved listening to the playlist. Definitely will read more from this author!

This book was adorable! It tells the story of the FMC as she journeys through a very trying time with support of the MMC. A "makes me feel good" kind of book.

If I could choose one word to describe this book, it would be juvenile. The dialogues, the plot, the relationships... all juvenile. It's like there is a film or layer of naiveté over the entire book. Which makes sense, since the author, I found out after requesting this book, is only 16. I truly think it's impressive that Kimi possessed the drive and follow-through to make her dreams a reality. It's also truly impressive that she got such a ringing endorsement from Courtney Kae ("a delightful romp through our favorite holiday tropes!"). So, I don't want to tear her down in this review because I want her to keep writing, and I can see her improving her craft as she gets older (and I don't mean this in a condescending, "just wait until you experience more of life" way, but experiencing more of life certainly wouldn't hurt!).

The book is told in a dual timeline; the main characters are 23 years old in the present timeline and 17 years old in the past timeline. From the very first page, the character interactions, even those at 23, are cringey and unrealistic. The dialogue reminds me of dialogue I wrote at the author's age, which I thought was natural but is actually stilted and undeveloped. At 16, I might have THOUGHT I knew how 23-year-olds thought and acted, but looking back, I definitely could not have anticipated all the changes in my attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and maturity over the next seven years. An author who is 23 years old can look back at being 17 with some level of accuracy, but an author at 17 (or 16) years old can't exactly look ahead to 23 and remember what it is like to be that age. My point is that Kimi has never been a 23-year-old, so she can only imagine that far ahead into her future.

I feel like most second chance romances are also enemies to lovers (or lovers to enemies to lovers), so I did REALLY like that Aspen and Roman are never enemies. HOWEVER. Their INSTANT reconnection didn't make sense after six years apart. There is too much familiarity between them, and they do not interact like the strangers that they are. In the present timeline, Aspen tells us that Roman KNOWS (present tense) her better than anyone else, but... like, how? Their interactions are so surface-level to the point of being unbelievable. It feels like there is no depth to Roman, almost as if he's been hanging around waiting for Aspen to come back. It feels like he exists FOR Aspen, not as his own character. He kisses her almost immediately, with zero build-up. On her TikTok, the author says that in the past timeline, the main characters are already in the relationship, but the present timeline is more of a slow burn, so you get the best of both worlds. BUT I didn't feel this was the case. Roman kisses Aspen in the present timeline before they even start dating in the past timeline. I would have felt uncomfortable reading spice in a book by a minor, so I'm glad the author didn't attempt to write any spicy scenes.

Also, MAJOR trigger warning for sexual assault described on page. The author doesn't provide a trigger warning for this, so it was a huge shock!!!

Thank you to Parson Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

Part of me thought this was a super cute holiday romance and part of me was disappointed Aspen didn't stand up for herself more.
I enjoyed the friendship between Aspen and Roman, and how they acknowledged their past but didn't ignore it.
The pace was too slow for my liking, and I wanted more emotion and drama, and more consequences for the bad guys.
I received a copy via NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for my honest review. First, the positives: the small town, the Hollywood star who was looking for some quiet, the boyfriend she left behind, and Christmas show were reminiscent of a Hallmark Christmas movie, which I love. I also liked the playlist and song titles for each chapter.

Now, the negatives: the dialogue was very stilted~just no flow, There is no trigger warning and there is a sexual assault described. I think the audience for this will be younger (Swifties) so this was unexpected and should be noted. I did not realize that the author was only 16 when she wrote this book so kudos to her for this debut! 2.5 stars

4.75 stars
Aspen Moore moved to Hollywood at 18 to pursue her dream of singing. In doing so, she had to leave behind her first love, Roman Torres. She makes it and lands the lead role in a soap opera and just wrapped a tour. Now she finds herself caught in the middle of a scandal with her best friend & her best friend's boyfriend. She leaves LA and goes back home to Fertsville, Pennsylvania to get away from the spotlight for a while. She returns home and finds out Roman (Rome) is working for her father. She starts feeling things for Roman but knows they can't be anything more than friends. She and Rome take over the Christmas play production at the local church for her father. Unfortunately, the fame doesn't end when Aspen leaves the LA city limits and drama surrounding the scandal has followed her home.

I really loved this book. I loved the change of past time and present time chapters, I just wish we got more on some of the present time ones. Other than that this book owns my heart. I loved the story and I loved the characters. I obviously I loved the Taylor Swift of it all. The references are cute and fun without being cringey and doing too much. I will absolutely be reading this again and be pushing it onto al my friends especially my swift friends.

‘It’s The Damn Season by kimifreeman_

Releases October 24, 2023
Arc by Netgalley and Parson Press!

This book was so cute! If you’ve ever listened to ’Tis the damn season by Taylor Swift and thought, “I wish there was a book about this couple” then you’re in luck because this book was written for you

This book has :
• Holiday romance
• dual timeline
• guy falls first
• slow burn romance
• based on a Taylor Swift song
• Small town
• Second chance romance between two former high school sweethearts
• Famous girl x small town boy
• A MMC that has always supported her dreams and when she makes it big, she just can’t let him go
• She’s a famous singer and he’s her muse
• Forced proximity : the main characters are co-producing the down Christmas play together

Overall this was such a sweet and cut small town, second chance romance that’s perfect for the Christmas season.

Thank you netgalley and Parson Press for an ARC in exchange to this honest review!

I’ll start by saying thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
* I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

TW: SA.


This book was a cute little read (for the most part.) It follows a famous actress and her ex boyfriend from high school. It’s single POV, and dual timeline. There is a song on every chapter page, which is cute! There is a part about SA near the end of the book, and there is no warning about it in the book.
I also wish that Leila was talked about more!

The book was just raw pasta.... it could have been really good tbh there was a lot of potential but idk the while book just didn't sit right with me....

Tis The Damn Season is cute for Swifties! Taylor lyrics are used throughout the book sometimes subtly and others it seemed kind of forced.

The book was cute but the characters felt sort of lacking? I do think it reads more as a fanfic rather than a novel. Roman and Aspen have a great dynamic albeit a little unrealistic.

Aspen says before going home she had to break things off and it was hard, or however she said it. But, as soon as she gets there Roman is at her house and they are hugging and being cutesy? I think there could have more tension between them and seeing them having to rebuild a relationship could have been more intriguing rather than him being like “I want you no matter what”

I love Taylor swift and this book was like a cutesy version of the song. I loved it. The cover really told the story and I got to know every character so well. I can’t wait to see what the author writes next.

Fans of Taylor Swift will really enjoy this debut YA novel from 16 year old author Kimi Freeman. Interesting plotlines and strong writing kept me invested in knowing what happens next. I'm interested in seeing the growth in this young author's writing.

*I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As a lifelong Swiftie, I was excited about this book. I will say that I thought this book was fun. Before I get into how I felt about it, I do feel the need to say that I finished this book and thought it was cute.

The writing was pretty immature, and the characters didn't feel super developed. Which again, I still liked some aspects of it and thought their relationship was cute. But this definitely read more like fanfiction, with the whole plot being centered on the romance. Again, if you like that, great. I just would have preferred more depth and more overall development. The characters felt pretty superficial to me.

I do know that the author is pretty young and this is a debut novel, so I think overall it's a cute story, but there's a lot lacking in the writing itself.