Lovely pretend-dating holiday romance!

Snowed In by Catherine Walsh is considered a standalone book, but I highly recommend reading 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 (I reviewed this before), where we first meet Christian.

Now residing in Dublin, 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 randomly meets 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 in a pub. They have known each other practically all their lives living in a small town. But it's been five years since they last saw each other, in a scenario both of them are highly likely to forget. With the holidays drawing near, they decide to be each other's pretend date to make their lives back in their small town bearable.

I like that the main characters in this book have known each other since childhood but are not close enough to be considered friends. It makes the setup for this story and fake-dating trope interesting, especially when it shocks people who know them both.

I really like the author's writing. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings, and her characters are so endearing. Their conversations feel natural, like old friends meeting and finally getting closer. The ways they try to protect each other are lovely and heartwarming. I like that they are just as frustrated and angry about each other's problems and feel like a couple even before feelings get complicated. This second book in the series has more subdued moments than the first one, given what Megan went through in her past relationship and Christian's conflicting feelings for his family.

If you're looking for a holiday romance book, do give this a try.

I loved Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh when I read it last year, so I was excited to see another holiday book by her this year. I enjoyed this one just as much as Holiday Romance. Snowed In begins with Megan fleeing from her wedding. The book continues several years later with Megan dreading going home for the first time since the non-wedding. She runs into Christian at the pub. He is from her hometown and is also dreading going home for the holidays. They decide to fake date in order to make it through the family gatherings and scrutiny. As the title suggests, they get snowed in at one point and the slow burn is worth the wait. We also get an update on Andrew and Molly from Holiday Romance as Andrew is Christian's brother. This book has fun banter, chemistry, a little family drama, and I loved the dual points of view. Catherine Walsh is on a roll with these holiday romances. I hope we have one to look forward to next year.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read Snowed In and give unbiased opinion of it.

It was Christmas. It was fake dating. It was hilarious. It was my wishlist in a book, basically!! Catherine Walsh strikes again, and she remains an auto buy author for me!! If anything, I wish the book had been longer hahaha. This is a perfect quick holiday read to kick off the season, and lucky for you it’s out now!!

This author man, something about her holiday books gets me in the mood for Christmas. I just loved this story. I am such a sucker for fake dating troupe. Especially when the boy is the golden retriever and all in. I loved the growth our FMC went through in this book and owned her past by speaking her truth!

This is a holiday must read!

“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩,” 𝐈 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦. “𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞.”

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley for my honest review.

I will also add that I waited until the audio version was released to pair with this and HIGHLY recommend. The Irish narrators accents really add to the story and make you feel like you're on an Irish Christmas holiday!

You had me at FAKE DATING, one of my favorite tropes.

Christian and Megan have grown up together, and he's there when she "runaway bride" and flees to Dublin and away from her wedding.

Later they meet up again and both need dates for their respective family Christmas's. Megan needs a buffer since she's going back to the scene of her runaway, and Christian is tired of being the sibling that's not coupled.

Together they leave Dublin and head home and it's full of adventure and laughs and heart warming moments and at the very heart there is love.

It's super sweet, with a teeny tiny bit of spice, and a perfect little holdiay romcom. I loved it so much.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮. 𝐌𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

I'm obsessed with Courtney Walsh and her way to bring Ireland to life. This book was so enthralling and I was like an addict consuming it. I don't super love the fake dating trope always, but I do love forced proximity and this was spoon fed to us in the best way.

Absolutely a wonder. Thank you to the publishing team for the advanced copy. I adored it.

Christian and Megan enter a fake relationship for the holidays, rules are made… but rules are also made to be broken.
The writing style is great and the story is a really easy one to follow and an overall nice read!
There is a lot of banter in this book and the chemistry between the 2 characters is undeniable.

I’m a sucker for Hallmark romances, and as much as I wanted this one to be it, sadly it fell short for me. The book itself was well written. A runaway bride, a childhood hometown hero, a fake dating situation, forced proximity- it was all there but it could have been taken one step further. The title is also misleading. The “snowed in” part didn’t come until the later second half of the book which I was hoping for from the beginning. I did like that the author added a TW at the beginning of the book. I do want to read other books written by Catherine Walsh. If you want a holiday read, this book is a good place to start. 3.5/5

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the eARC.

My first holiday read of the season and it was a great way to start! Cute holiday romance with fake dating and forced proximity.

The adorable read was told with alternating POVs switching between Megan and Christian. My one complaint would be that the voice felt the same for both characters and sometimes couldn’t tell them apart. There were also lots of family members to keep track of (what can I say, I have a poor memory!).

Cute, quick, holiday romance - it won’t disappoint.

4⭐️

This was my first Catherine Walsh book, and now I get all the hype! This book was funny, sweet, and an easy read. I absolutely loved it and flew through it. I definitely recommend it as a winter read by a cozy fire!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoture for this Advanced Reader Copy!

This book was so much fun to read. It was a light, easy romance that I really enjoyed! Megan is pretty much being forced to return to her small village for the first time since leaving her fiancé at the altar a few years ago for reasons she has yet to confide in ANYONE. Afraid of being viewed as the town villain, she reluctantly agrees to a ‘fake lovers’ pact with an old acquaintance/fellow villager, Christian, who also is dreading the return home for the holidays. Together they troupe through holiday gatherings, having one another’s backs and maybe possibly feeling a little more than ‘fake’.

This is a wildly witty and entertaining book for anyone who is needing a easy, sweet romance read!

Holiday romantic comedy with fake dating. Nothing could go wrong it was all I could ask for. I was a perfect read for anyone wanting something light and easy to read. I love using books like this as a palate cleanser between high fantasy/high stakes books.

I really enjoyed this book. The setting, the characters, the tropes… all of it, which should be no surprise because I love pretty much everything Courtney Walsh writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoture for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bookotoure for the advanced reader copy of this book!! I was really wanting a read that could get me into the Holiday spirit, and this book absolutely fulfilled that desire!! This is a great winter read to add to your list this year!!

Snowed In was an absolutely incredible romance read from start to finish. One of my huge pet peeves is when there is a needless breakup in the end of the plot so you can get the instantly back to happy resolution. It drives me NUTS in the romance genre! I absolutely loved that this book had plenty of plot to keep me entertained without adding in any kind of cringey break-up/make-up!! This felt like a real life relationship and I lived vicariously through the characters. The banter was so good and the characters were very relatable! I’m going to be reading anything I can find from this author going forward!!!

Highly recommend this book!
5/5 ⭐️

I loved this. Perfect for the snuggly season. I loved that it focused on Christian and Megan but we got an insight into how Andrew and Molly are getting on. Hannah next?? Looking forward to the next Catherine Walsh book.

Snowed In was a lovely Christmas themed romcom of a book. It was light and fluffy as I expected and a little predictable in places but I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

I actually quite enjoyed this book, moreso than any of Catherine Walsh's other books. I loved the redemption story here, for both characters to be honest. Meg and Christian's connection to their hometown, their run-in on the day of her wedding, it was all such a sweet way to build the foundation of their relationship.

The fake trope is one that's been done before so while this wasn't anything new, I appreciated how Meg left her horrible relationship and decided to take control of her life on her own, believing in herself and that she could do it.

Christian on the other hand, I couldn't quite grasp his character's descriptions of him as a teenager. Was he a troublemaker, was he a nuisance, was he a loner - I never quite got it. But, it did seem that no matter what he was, he was a successful, smart businessman as an adult.

This was such a fun and sweet and tender follow-up to my favourite holiday romcom last year (Holiday Romance). I love the characters and plotlines that Catherine Walsh creates and the Ireland setting really works too - satisfies some of my wanderlust about visiting that part of the world. I enjoyed the fake dating trope in this book and how it evolved as well as past hurts that the characters worked through and all of the side characters. It was easy to sink into and I'd definitely recommend it for holiday reading joy :)

This is a really cute Christmas themed romcom. Friends to lovers and fake dating. I loved all of the side characters and the main characters as well. There’s an HEA and no third act of break up! Plus a little bit of spice! Overall a cute holiday read.

This book was a DELIGHT! I laughed so much in this amazing holiday rom com. Highly recommend! I could NOT put this book down and the slow burn was incredible.