Member Reviews
Hilarious and heartwarming, FIVE GOLD RINGS will make you believe in the power of love.
✨ Book Review: FIVE GOLD RINGS by Kristen Bailey ✨
💍 Book Synopsis: Eve is ready for a festive Christmas holiday full of traditions with her longtime boyfriend. Or, she was until she finds him in the shower with another woman. Devastated, she throws him out and briefly wallows, then goes to work to distract herself. The jeweler where she works is owned by an adorable grandparent-like couple, the Caspers. Between the heartache and break in routine, deliveries get mixed up and five rings meant for Christmas proposals and weddings aren’t delivered as planned. Eve and her strapping coworker, Joe, are tasked with making the deliveries in person. Things get complicated by Joe having had a crush on Eve for years, his arriving in the smallest-possible elf shorts from his other part-time job, and a whole host of Christmas (mis)adventures.
🎁 My Take: I absolutely loved this book! It has sass and banter, but it is also populated by two main characters (and a host of side characters) that are incredibly kind and considerate. Eve and Joe may work in a jewelry shop, but they are true salt-of-the-earth people looking to do their best by others. This book was so heartwarming and lovely with enough sass, inappropriate jokes, laugh-out-loud moments, and banter to keep it from being sappy. Eve and Joe seemed to approach their mission with improv-style zest, which really kept things fun. Yes, let’s do this crazy mission, and…
So good. Highly recommend.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 stars)
😘 Thanks to @Dreamscape_Media and @NetGalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange for this honest review.
This was a delightful holiday rom com. Nice humor and lots of quirky character encounters. Joe was so sweet and Eve was a great lead.
As far as the audiobook goes I thought the narrator was great. British accent. Since it was dual POV it would have been nice to have a male narrator for those chapters to help me keep track of who was telling the story.
This was such a cute Christmas story! From engagements to weddings to anniversary’s, Eve and Joe get to see all sorts of love stories as they help to make sure that nothing is ruined. The selflessness of both Eve and Joe is so inspiring, so all you can do is root for them to each find their happily ever after!
The perfect lighthearted Christmas read. As warm as a cup of hot cocoa.
When Eve discovers Chris, her boyfriend of three years, cheating on her in their flat, just before Christmas, she is heartbroken. She sinks even lower when she discovers that he was going to propose when she finds the ring under their tree. She goes to work at the jewelry shop and tearfully confirms that yes Chris did buy the ring at her store but is told that he really didn't give it much thought or seem to care. Eve is devastated that she never really knew this man. Sensing Eve's need to be distracted, the owners ask her if she will deliver five rings to their rightful owners over Christmas Eve and day with another employee, Joe. Joe is a kind handsome young man, also working part-time as a stripper. Unbeknownst to Eve, he is secretly in love with her. Over the next couple of days, Eve and Joe will set out on a journey of healing and self discovery.
I always read at least one holiday story in December and I was tickled pink to receive this ARC. It was everything I hoped - love, betrayal, sad endings, and new beginnings - all taking place within a festive and meaningful Christmas framework. My only wish was that the audio had used two different narrators to represent the two character perspectives of Eve and Joe. The narrator was female and did a wonderful performance as Eve but not so much as Joe. A male narrator would've made this audiobook much better.
Thank you @DreamscapeSelect, @StormPublishing and @Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ugh. No I can't get into this one so I unfortunately will not be finishing it. It was not for me unfortunately
Five Gold Rings deserves five gold stars! Fun and funny, sweet and romantic! This is a fantastic holiday story about romance and family and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Wonderful book, thanks so much for the ARC
A fun, funny and totally heartwarming holiday romance. Eve and Joe work together to fix the holiday for customers of Casper’s Jewelry.
thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.
Christmas is the season of love and joy - and Five Gold Rings was a reminder of the love and happiness of the holidays.
With Eve’s Christmas plans upended, Eve and Joe set off to make the final deliveries for Christmas for the jeweler they work for. There are five rings to be delivered for Christmas - for weddings and engagements and proposals.
This book made me laugh and smile while listening to the audiobook. Joe is such a sweet and caring character, and seriously one of the best MMC I’ve read in a while. It was disappointing there wasn’t a male voice for Joe.
Such a great way to get into the holiday spirits!
so sweet and wholesome honestly, i loved the little dance they did not knowing if they felt the same about one another. i really liked the way this book progressed. would gladly read again
This was such a cute and sweet holiday read! It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and kept me hooked!
5 golden rings, a refreshing spin on love that has always been right in front of you. A clever and engaging discovery of betrayal, true love, family intertwined with five heartwarming stories of love. Thank you for the opporutunity to listen to this arc, will spread the word of this Christmas gem,
Well, this was adorable. Joe and Eve were the perfect holiday pair. I enjoyed the development of both of them and their unique personailities. I loved watching their adventure and see how the handled all the silly scenarios that they encountered. The audiobook was narrated well and I enjoyed hearing the different inflections in the voice. I’ll definitely be reading more from Bailey. If you are in need of a feel good Christmas story than this is the right one for you!
🥰Enjoyment: It’s possible that I shouldn’t say this out loud, but I’d never read this author before and my expectations were non-existent. I’m a little more “daring” with my audio requests because I can speed things up and all that jazz. That said I ultimately enjoyed this and its christmassy warm embrace, for lack of a better descriptor.
📖 🎧 Writing &/or Audio Style: This is a British novel which, I don’t know about you, but I find has its own essence. They aren’t for everyone, but at the holidays I find there is something particularly ambient about a British set novel. The narration was done well enough, though it was a single narrator and I didn’t find that she threw her voice really at all when reading the male POV. This meant if I was mildly distracted and missed the “Joe” that was uttered to indicate a POV switch, I was occasionally caught confused about who’s head I was inside of.
👥 Characters & Relationships: Eve and Joe were both sweet lovely people. I feel like “sweet” is my word for this whole book. I never pictured Joe as a sx god, even when other characters said things to the effect of him having the appearance of a model. I pictured him as a cute wholesome man with the biggest crush on a previously taken coworker. I didn’t mind that, but only call it out because he wasn’t alpha but I also wouldn’t call him cinnamon roll. May need to concoct a new term.
⁉️Plot, Intrigue & Logic: The plot was a cute (albeit questionable) premise that truly belongs in a hallmark or Netflix movie. While this novel might not get told 5 ranking as a book for me this year, I would absolutely watch it as a movie.
🏞️Atmosphere & Setting: As mentioned in the enjoyment section. Nothing is more ambient to me than a British Christmas novel and this one is no exception.
🚨 For Reader Awareness: Cheating (not between leads), mentions of parent in remission from cancer.
📣Recommended for fans of: that feeling of being swaddled in Christmas vibes
Thank you to #Netgalley for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
My Interest
For the last few years I’ve enjoyed some fun Christmas books on my pre-Christmas commute. When I saw this one on #Netgalley I thought it sounded really sweet and fun.
The Story
“…the man at the door is in Christmas jumper [sweater], apron, jeans, Timberland boots and thick-rimmed tortoiseshell glasses. It’s that trendy barristo look that lets you know he has a sourdough starter in the kitchen and only uses Himalayan sea salt….[this] feels like a Christmas house for grown-ups….[he’s] pointing a carving fork in my direction…it feels like the start of a Christmas crime thriller [–].he’s going to lure me in with wine and cookies and then keep me in the basement making me listen to Cliff Richard on loop until the end of my days….”
Eve and twin brother, Noel, were born to a Christmas-loving Mom. But for the last few years Eve’s Christmas has been boyfriend Chris’ family. While studying law, Eve, also works part-time for a jewelry store where he co-worker is Joe. Joe loves Christmas and has his Mini [car], named “Olive” decked out in Christmas-y decorations. Once a resident [trainee doctor], he has left medicine and makes due with the jewelry store job and being a sort-of stripper at a place that hosts Bachelorette parties [ aka “hen parties’].
When bad news hits Eve she goes to the the jeweler’s to help out. She and Joe are sent to pick up a package sent to the wrong place and to deliver the five rings of the title. Along the way, the magic of Christmas and the stories of love that go with the rings, bring something Santa can’t get into his pack.
My Thoughts
This was just plain delightful! Fun, sweet, and believable enough to thoroughly buy into the story and fall in love with the two main characters.
My Verdict
4.0
Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey
I listened to the audio version.
An absolute delight! There's great banter, a lot of holiday chaos, some great chemistry and so much heart. Eve and Joe are tasked with delivering five rings to clients of the jewelry store where they work before Christmas. Plus it is set in London which always seems magical in Christmas novels.
Too often when a book cover proclaims a novel is hilarious or laugh out loud, it isn't very funny at all. Five Gold Rings delivers.
Five gold stars! This is my favorite Christmas book of 2023. Highly, highly recommend. This should be an Amazon or Netflix movie for 2024.
Thank you to Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I am required by law to disclose that.
Five Gold Rings is a funny, charming, British romance that follows jewelry store co-workers Eve, who begins the novel by walking in on her boyfriend in the shower with another woman, and Joe, her secret admirer who is both dreamy and down on his luck, as they set-off on a last-minute mission to deliver five engagement rings in time for a string of festive proposals and weddings during the week of Christmas. Things never get quite as wacky or wild as one might expect from this premise, preferring instead to go the heartfelt route, but there's plenty of humor and adult content thrown in along the way.
If there's one major criticism that can be lobbed at Five Gold Rings, it's that it is simply too long. While an easy read (or listen), the story could have benefitted from some tightening during the second half, when the will-they-won't-they holiday run becomes a bit repetitive. Nevertheless, Five Gold Rings is joyful enough to warm any Grinch's heart, and I would not be surprised if it is soon adapted into another holiday hit on Hallmark or Netflix.
I loved this one! It was a perfect romance, where nothing felt forced. It also had me laughing out loud throughout. Both characters were funny, and played off of each other so well in their banter. Plus, it's perfect for the holidays!
My only complaint is that I think this one would have been better as an audiobook with two narrators. One for Eve, and one for Joe.
I would recommend this book!
Such warm and fuzzy Christmas romance feels! I loved the plot structure and pacing of this novel. However, I feel like it was lacking in romance development and overall character development for Eve and Joe. They ended up where they were supposed to (both together as a couple and career-wise) but showing their growth could have been fleshed out a little more. And this was the slowest of slow burns. Even for a closed-door romance, I was waiting for the tension to break and…it never did? Joe has all the ingredients and potential to be a perfect book boyfriend, but all the little ways he showed Eve that he loved her all along were not very satisfying. Even the epilogue was a little underwhelming — it “told” more than “showed” us that Eve and Joe are getting their happily ever after, so it left me wanting a more satisfactory conclusion. Would make a cute Hallmark Christmas movie!
This book feels like watching a cheesy Christmas rom-com in the best way possible. For lovers of Hallmark Christmas originals this is the book for you. This book is sweet, light-hearted, and humorous.
This book starts out with our main character, Eve, walking in to find her partner cheating on her. She turns to work to distract herself and gets put on an important Christmas quest with her co-worker, who happens to be secretly in love with her, Joe. During this Christmas mission they find themselves in funny situations trying to keep their mission of delivering engagement rings a surprise. The one critique that I have is that the timing of falling in love so fast after breaking-up to be a bit unrealistic. That being said I felt that all shenanigans they get into made this book humorous enough not get too stuck on that plot point.
I recommend this book to any romance reader looking to get into the spirit this Holiday season. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.