‘Tis the Damn Season is a book different from most that I’ve read. I really enjoyed the character development of Aspen, who needed to face her fears of what others think of her. She also needed to let Roman in and allow herself to love him as much as she did. Classic second chance romance, which i’m a sucker for! I feel as though the majority of the “action” was at the end of the book and wish it had been better distributed throughout the entire book. It felt like a quick ending for that reason. I did enjoy the flashing back between time periods and getting the whole picture that way. I think the author had a great idea and will just get better in the future! 3 stars:)

Thank you NetGalley and Parson Press for this ARC.

The moment I saw the concept for this book, I knew I wanted to read it. I love Taylor Sowft, and ready something inspired by one of her songs sounded amazing!

Tis the Damn Season was light, fluffy read. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I really liked the fact that is was in a dual timeline, it gave us perspectives into Aspen and Rome's relationship, we wouldn't have otherwise seen. I do feel that the high school timeline was told at the better pace than current events which could feel a bit rushed and slightly naive but keeping in mind that the author is young this made sense.

Regardless, I read this book in a day. The overall story was fun and I really liked Aspen and Rome and experencing their love for each other. Tis the Damn Season will definitely a great read during the winter holidays!

I was so excited about this book! The cover, the title, the description are all top notch! The idea of writing books inspired by songs. Especially Taylor Swift songs, is so fun. Aspen is so relatable, despite her being famous and all, and I think she perfectly encompasses a Taylor swift esque character. Rome is so charismatic and caring; the epitome of a golden retriever man .
Unfortunately, this books was not My favorite. While I know many people are going to love it, I found the writing style to be very forced, and the plot doesn’t move as smoothly as I would like. But again, that’s just my personal opinion.

Definitely loved every mintune of this book. Everyone deserves to have a Roman in there life. Definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Y’all, I knew I was going to be obsessed with this book, so I tried really hard to savor it for as long as possible. But today I just couldn’t be stopped. I would take a break and just kept being drawn back in. As a huge Taylor Swift fan, I feel like this book was executed beautifully. The small town, second chance romance trope was perfect and the dual timeline was heartbreaking and gut wrenching. I am very, very satisfied with every aspect of this book. And can’t want to see what the author writes next.

While I was mildly entertained by this book, I felt as though it was missing depth. I did like the aspect about how it delves into how hard it is being a celebrity and that you can’t believe all the rumors you hear.
I guess I would say the biggest problem I had with this book was that all the characters were just… to nice. Like I’m sorry but no one forgives that easily… it just felt unrealistic.
I would give this a 2.5 if I could but I can’t give it a 3 star

When I first saw the concept for this book, I knew I wanted to read it. I am a sucker for holiday romances and a playlist themed chapter structure, so I was excited to have the chance to read this early.

This was a fun, mostly light read, that gave a unique perspective of a high school romance and how it evolved as two people were able to grow and change through experiences that a lot of people are all too familiar with. I think the dual timeline was a fantastic idea. It seemed like the high school flash backs were more thoroughly fleshed out than the current day events - the current day seemed to feel a bit rushed in comparison, so it was difficult to really connect with Aspen and Rome and their adult relationship at times. I felt that I was able to connect better with them at the beginning of their relationship, which makes sense since the author is young.

Keeping in mind that the author is young, the content did at times feel young and naïve at times, but the overall story was fun and enjoyable. I do think there could have been more "holiday" content outside of the play that they directed.

Cute little holiday romance. I enjoyed it and found myself looking forward to reading it.
I LOVE a then and now storyline, celebrity romance with a friends to lovers trope so I was here for it! It just fits in so beautifully with the song too. A true re-imagination of one of my favourite T.Swift songs.
The only thing I felt was that the conflicts were always resolved so quick that I didn’t feel the yearning and I wasn’t as invested in the characters getting back together. I think the characters just needed some fleshing out to make me root for them more. Also, maybe this is just a discovery on my part but I do clearly like the grovelling and grand gestures.
This book was a good debut! I look forward to seeing how her writing and storytelling improves :)

p.s I knew I had to read this as soon as I saw the title and the description. Then when I saw the playlist with all my favourite T.Swift songs I knew it was going to be a good book from the offset.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

‘Tis the Damn Season by Kimi Freeman

4.5 ⭐

A cute, heart touching and emotional story about a Hollywood star/singer Aspen, whose reputation goes for a toss when her supposedly close friends in the industry betrays her trust.

I felt the "past" chapters were seemingly out of nowhere. And it was fast paced. I liked the "present" chapters better. I liked how the characters were portrayed. Also, the way Aspen and Roman directed the production and handled the kids were amazing. It was very insightful on what the celebrities go through on a daily basis.

Overall, the plot and the characters were pretty good and I loved the songs picked for each chapter.

*ARC Read*
Thank you to Netgalley and Parson Press for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review. Although this was a book I finished in a day, I found it hard to stay focused on the storyline. As much as I loved that the author put a playlist, I felt that some of the songs did not match the scene in the chapter. With less than 50 pages left in the book, the author brought out a scenario regarding SA without any warning. I believe they were queuing this up during one of the flashback chapters, but it was not enough of a trigger warning especially since the book is targeting Taylor Swift fans. I did appreciate the flashback chapters, I thought it was a good way to show how Aspen and Roman came to be. When the author wrote about Apsen being worried about bringing Roman into the chaos of her life, it would have been perfect to tie it to the song Peace by Taylor Swift. This was a cute story, and I applaud the author for writing this at such a young age, but I believe there is a lot of work to be done on this novel moving forward as this reminds me more of a YA novel than romance. I also thought that the characters were a lot older than 23 during this, even though it was only a few months there was so much going on it felt like years. I personally will not be recommending this book.

3 stars were automatically achieved by Taylor Swift inspiration and all the hidden connections within the entire plot. It’s easy to see that the title track could be the exact description of how the book feels.

The story is not bad but also not exceptional. I enjoyed it, but is most moments couldn’t really connect with the characters. Some of the situations have felt rushed and annoying, without any further explanation or background. It was super heavy on dialogues, which sometimes didn’t bring the needed emotions through the words.

‘Tis the Damn Season by Kimi Freeman

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

“They say you’ll never find forever the first time, but I don’t believe that’s true.”

As a die hard Taylor Swift fan the idea behind this book made it a must read for me. I picked it up on NetGalley as an ARC prior to its release on October 24th.

I really liked Roman and Aspen, and the way their romance played out. I think I preferred the story telling in the flashbacks more so than the present scenes as I believe the way the characters are written, in the flashbacks they come off as super goofy and insecure (as all teenagers are), but in the present scenes both Roman and Aspen seem unsteady and immature.

I think what prevented this being a higher rated read for me was that every chapter felt rushed and cut off, quite a few of them could have been merged together or skipped entirely. Any time the story started to have conflict it seemed to get resolved too quickly, while it was good to see Roman and Aspen clear the air when they miscommunicated or fought, it also meant that there was never enough time to worry that maybe they wouldn’t end up together. The conflict resolutions also seemed very unrealistic in the flashback chapters as you would think issues like picking colleges, or embarrassing yourself in public, are more world ending in severity for teenagers.
It was a shame because having more struggles and conflict and having it run its course would’ve added more depth to the characters.

Despite that it was a lovely little read and I look forward to reading more from Kimi.

I was excited to get an ARC of this book but found it to be intolerable for me personally. Perhaps it would be enjoyed by a different demographic.

I found the language to be over-the-top. I'm not opposed to cursing, however it seemed excessive and juvenile, present as a young adult trying to seem older than they are.

I didn't care much for the plot either. I didn't find it engaging. I didn't find the dialogue natural which kept me from wanting to care about the characters.

I know the author is an adolescent herself, so this is a good starting point for a budding writing career. It definitely needs more experience and polish.

This was a sweet and fluffy contemporary romance. Freeman’s writing style reminds me a lot of Sarah Adam’s. I enjoyed the celebrity romance aspect of this book but felt the Christmas/holiday season part was lacking. For something that is very heavily branded as Christmas romance I was disappointed that the season wasn’t a larger part of the story.

I will say - I loved that each chapter had a song to go with it. What a fun way to get readers even more immersed!

Overall, a light and enjoyable romance read.

Gahhhh! This was such a cute second chance, small town romance.

I loved the alternating chapters from past to present and loved the Taylor Swift playlist chapters.

This was a fast paced, lighthearted romance. Perfect for anyone who likes Hallmark Christmas movies...and of course, Taylor Swift. This had just the right amount of Christmas where it can still be enjoyed all year round...not just Christmas time.

Thank you NetGalley and Parson Press for this advanced eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this book. A Taylor Swift song for a title, an accompanying playlist by chapter, numerous Taylor Swift lyric references to find, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to overcome the lack of character development and the cheesy plot line.

Hallmark has already made the basic premise of this book into a Christmas movie. There are zero twists or turns, the dialogue is juvenile and it feels like this was rushed out to capitalize on the world being Taylor-mad at the moment.

Cute small town romance based on the Taylor Swift song, this was an easy, lighthearted read with all the seasonal feels.

Unfortunately, this just did not do it for me. I felt like the writing and dialogue felt really robotic between characters and everything was surface level. Also there should have been a trigger warning of some kind.

a very quick and easy read, and perfect for gilmore girls fans imo. Has a lot of similar qualities, especially in the first half, and if you forget that she's actually famous it gives off early rory and dean vibes.

A little juvenile, but that makes it endearing at times. Especially with the song choices in the chapter titles, they were a little teen-like, and I stopped taking a look at them after the first few chapters. Would recommend more for older YA readers than the average NA reader.

a solid 3 star read, nothing spectacular but nothing to really put me off reading it. I enjoyed the time I spent with it and think with some creative growth the author can really continue to improve

full review on goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182670904-tis-the-damn-season

The premise of this book sounded really good, and the overarching storyline of the book has the potential to be great, but this book itself fell flat for me.

I didn't feel a connection between the two main characters, Rome and Aspen/Penny. Rome was just kind of there and apparently thought Aspen hated him, but they never talked when they were younger? Then she comes back, and just says she can't be more than friends yet she is in love with him and keeps hinting at a past, but how it was written was just confusing and felt awkward.

The whole story felt a little juvenile, and while it was easy to read, it was all over the place and not really fleshed out. A lot of tell and no show, and random plots being thrown in to move the story along.