⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5

My Ex-Mas Emergency🎄

Mini Review ⬇️

ARC Audiobook - Pub Date Dec 5th

Confession time 🤫 I am really late to the @jpeel_author train and I’ve obviously been missing out. I even have one of her books shelved 10 pages in because I thought it would be boring 🤦🏻‍♀️ I assure you it will get picked back up shortly 😊

This book (like all her books I’m starting to realize) has a bit of everything written up into a fun little story. You can’t help but love the main character Calista Monroe and I hope to get snippets of her in future books 😍

Overall, I think this is a great holiday read and you won’t be disappointed 😊

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ALC. What a cute freaking story!!! This one was so enjoyable to listen to. I laughed, i smiled, i teard up. I really enjoyed this one!!

If you are looking for a cute/emotional second chance romance this one hit the spot! The struggles between the two main characters were perfect and was so relatable. I really enjoyed the narrators as well. The duo narration is one of my favorites and both did a fantastic job. I'll definitely be looking forward to more from this author.

If there is one trope Jennifer Peel has mastered its second chance romance and My eX-Mas Emergency just goes to show she knows how to write the push and pull of a couple who has never stopped loving each other, but isn't sure if they can give that love another chance. Like Quinn in the story, I was totally here for it. :)
Tristan didn't just break Calista's heart, he decimated it. 13 years after crushing her and all the dreams she had for their shared future, Calista finds herself back in her hometown- now as a medical doctor, take that- and face to face (though she is determined not to look at him) with Tristan who happens to share a niece with her. Determined to make this the happiest Christmas ever for their niece Quinn, Tristan and Calista must face their past and decide if there is a future for them.
I loved that this book was dual POV. It was so nice seeing Tristan's feelings and thoughts. The two had a lot of sizzling chemistry and I was glad I was able to see the driving motivations and emotions behind both of their actions. I could feel the chemistry and was anxiously waiting for that moment Calista finally forgave Tristan and that reunited kiss. I felt invested in their happy ever after.

This book is a swoony closed-door romance with some mild language and innuendo, PG-13 if it had a rating; I’d recommend it to more adult audiences than teens probably though there is no sex or anything graphic/inappropriate on the page.

I listened to an advance listening copy of this book thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley. I loved the story and the female narrator did a great job with Calista and the other dialogue. Unfortunately, the male narrator wasn't my favorite. At first it sounded monotone like he was simply reading, when I sped up the listening speed that helped this a bit, however; he didn't do very well with the female dialogue. I still enjoyed this overall and would listen to it again. Story would be a five, performance would be an overall four.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a super cute, Hallmark movie worthy Christmas romance audiobook! Though I’ve never been one for holiday reads, My Ex-mas Emergency had me hooked from the beginning. Guess I’m a sucker for the first love rekindles troupe! My only complaint was the male audiobook reader made the 15 year old niece sound like an 8 year old valley girl which threw me off some times and I would forget she’s learning to drive 🤣.

If you are looking for a cute/emotional second chance romance this one hit the spot! The struggles between the two main characters were perfect and was so relatable. I really enjoyed the narrators as well. The duo narration is one of my favorites and both did a fantastic job. I'll definitely be looking forward to more from this author.

Super cute holiday romance. Second chance with no third act breakup or spice!

I reallllyyy enjoyed this book! It kinda gave hallmark movie vibes but waaaay less cringey.

- dual POV
- second chance romance
- he’s rich she’s not
- no spice
- slight found family
- no third act breakup

Overall 4.5
Spice 0/5
Anxiety .5/5
Buy (buy bargain borrow burn)

I love Christmas!
And this has been such a sweet, angst-filled, heart-wrenching, feel-good holiday book
Remember that wonderful feeling of hope and joy, of Christmas miracle and the pure childlike glee around the holidays?
This book make up all of those

Now onto the plot
Thirteen years ago, Tristan had to walk away from the girl he loved
And he never recovered since
She was like an addiction; the girl from the “wrong” side of Aspen Lake
The girl that caused too much trouble at school, the girl everyone in town never thought would surmount to anything
Yet she proved them all wrong
Now his brother Jonathan had passed away, leaving behind his wife – who was Calista’s sister – and his beloved niece
A niece he shared with the one who got away
Now Calista was back
And the town had long memories – especially that of his parents who would stop at nothing to make sure he and Calista would never be together again

I really really love this book
A second-chance romance that delivers just enough angst and sweetness, perfect for a holiday read
November is the perfect time to start jumping into a holiday book
There’s some mystery as to the state of Calista’s sister
And the niece is absolutely adorable, playing matchmaker between the two of her most favorite people
All in all, it’s a 5 star read

Thank you DreamScape Media, Netgalley, and Jennifer Peel for providing this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

An enjoyable Christmas romance with all the holiday feels and quite a few laugh out loud moments. It’ll put you in the holiday spirit!

My eX-Mas Emergency was just what I needed for a sweet holiday read. A second chance romance with no 3rd act breakup. Calista and Tristan are brought back together when their 15 year old niece suffers a tragedy. With a tumultuous past, unresolved feelings, and family drama, they must come together and put aside their differences to help the one person they both love dearly.

This is a closed door romance that reminded me of a feel good Hallmark Christmas movie.

Thank you to netgalley and dreamscape for the early copy of the audiobook to review. The audiobook is available December 05

This book was just ok for me. Nothing special. I wanted to love it. That cover and title are amazing!
Tristan and Calista were a cute couple. I was definitely interested in the beginning, but there just wasn’t much story to keep me going. I did finish but I probably won’t pick up another book from this author. This was a clean romance. I enjoyed the female narrator but struggled with the male narrator. I just didn’t enjoy his voice. Huge thanks to Netgalley and the audiobook publisher for allowing me to listen and review this book.

3.5 stars // I’m a sucker for a second chance romance. Throw in some long term secret pining + “it’s always been you vibes” and I’m sold! The MMC narrator was tough for me, especially when doing the female voices. I think I would have enjoyed this more if I were reading vs listening, but overall I enjoyed the story.

I loved this story so much! It’s the perfect start to the Christmas season and was just what I needed. It has everything I love. Romance, comedy, good banter, enemies to lovers, finding yourself, found family, rekindling relationships, all of it in one book!!

I loved the female narrator. She did a great job being the characters to life and showing the emotions they were dealing with. She made me feel like I was Calista and Quinn and even Stella. He tone, mannerisms and cadence were all perfect for the story!!

My downfall for this narration was the male narrator .much of his portion felt forced. He also spoke so so slowly that even listening at 2.5 speed I found my mind drifting during his parts and wishing that the whole story was done by the female narrator. While the parts done by him seemed slow, sad and forced the parts by the female narrator were happy and upbeat and drew me into the story to make me want to keep listening.


I’m still giving this audiobook 4 stars because I absolutely loved the female narrator and the plot of the story!!

This was a cute Christmas story. It was enjoyable, and the plot was interesting. I really liked the characters and thought that the story resolved well. It’s a nice holiday read

My Ex-mas Emergency by Jennifer Peel
Narrated by Wayne Mitchell, Kim Churchill

Calista Monroe, former wild child of Aspen Lake, made a lot of vows back when she was in her early twenties. There is the "sock vow" and a bunch of other vows and she's been very good at not breaking most of them. But now she is breaking the vow to "never return (to Aspen Lake), even if it was the last safe haven during the zombie apocalypse". Alas, Calista IS returning to Aspen Lake to work and live because her fifteen year old niece needs her. She'll be the hospital's newest ER doctor, despite the fact that most of the town probably thought she'd end up as a convict before she'd ever end up as a productive, law abiding adult. She showed them!

But she has some more vows and one of them is to never look her niece's uncle Tristin in the eye. Tristin is dead to Calista, dead and forgotten (not really) ever since he dumped her thirteen years ago. Now Calista has a career she loves and Tristin has everything he could have ever wanted but the love of his life that he let go. Too bad Tristin! Except, Calista's vows are falling like boulders dropping from the sky. Can she steel her dead (not really) heart to all the charms of Tristin, the only man she has ever loved? Especially when her traitorous niece is openly plotting against Calista. Never has a teenager wanted two people to be together as much as this one does.

This is a sugary sweet, squeaky clean romance. Yes there is a lot of kissing, descriptive kissing, (ew, says the kid in me) but if anything else happens during/after the kissing, you'll just have to make it up yourself because the author isn't telling. No need to have the door slammed in my face which is nice since I'd rather stay out of the bedroom. Most of the folks in this story are pretty good people, most dealing with their own problems and heartaches, but the evil townsfolk are after Calista and they are not going to backdown. But Calista has more people behind her than she would have ever imagined during her wild child days and her biggest supporter is Tristin, if only he can break through her vows about him. This story has two narrators, one for Calista's POV and one for Tristin's POV. Back and forth we go, getting to listen to each one and it's so easy to see where they belong.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

Calista left her hometown with a broken heart, and, determined to prove the town wrong about her being a wild child, she became a doctor. She vowed never to return, 13yrs later, her niece and sister need her. She returns to be there for them, and work as an ER doctor. She fights her anger, camouflaging her feelings for her first and true love. His family hate her and threaten her job and reputation.

It was a good story. The only negative is the male narrator, when he narrates Calista. It makes her sound like a child, and whiny. It was pretty grating on the nerves, and conveyed a sense of patronizing women. A strong character like Calista would not be a child-like whiny voice.

Otherwise, good story!

4⭐
Genre ~ contemporary romance
Setting ~ Aspen Lake
Publication date ~ book ~ October 6, 2023, audio ~ December 5, 2023
Est page Count ~ 271 (36 chapters +e & bonus content)
Audio length ~ 9 hours 27 minutes
Narrator ~ Wayne Mitchell, Kim Churchill
POV ~ single 1st & 3rd
Featuring ~ enemies to lovers, second chance, slow burn, no steamage

Calista & Tristan are brought together again by the grief their 15 year old niece, Quinn, is feeling over the loss of her father, who is Calista's brother in law and Tristan's brother. He was a known cheater, so not many people were sad about his death.

Only a handful of people are thrilled that Calista is back in town. She's from the wrong side of the lake, but she proved them wrong by becoming a doctor. She was really sweet and strong and I liked her friendship with Jules.

Quinn was great with her sneaky ways of trying to get them together. Her mom needed to get her act together sooner though. Tristan's parents were awful.

If you like a one sided enemies to lovers second chance romance I bet you'd enjoy this one. Calista had every right to be mad at Tristan for why he broke up with her. What a waste of 13 years apart and I'm so glad she didn't forgive him right away, which means there was no 3rd act breakup. Overall, a cute Christmasy read.

Calista's POV was in the 1st and Tristan in the 3rd. I think I would've preferred 1st for both, but was it this way because it's one sided enemies? Also, I like both of their names.

Narration notes:
Kim did a great job. I wish Wayne would've stuck to his regular voice. His lady voices were absolutely AWFUL. Seriously the worst. I didn't even like him doing his father's voice either.

Firstly Hats off to anyone that publushes a book it takes a lot of courage and work!

But posting my review, it just wasn't for me, i think firstly i didn't feel the couple as the MC choses money over true love initially... secondly i audio booked and the male Narrator was not my cup of tea, the way he voiced the niece was childish and whiney as was his narration for the female MC, i did like the female narrator though... she should have done it all....

The story is a sweet romance... not a lot of story but has a festive feeling which is great for the holidays.

Calista returns home to support her sister and niece after the death of her brother-in-law. She is wiling to do whatever it takes to give her niece the best Christmas, including collaborating with her ex, Tristan. Calista vowed never to look at Tristan again after he hurt her, but, again, she will do anything for her niece.

Tristan has always regretted choosing his family business over happiness with Calista. He is taking this opportunity to prove that he still loves her.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I'll be honest, it's not even Thanksgiving and the cheesy Christmas books are boring me. This was not one of those books. I thought it was a fun read that kept me wanting more. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC.

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook through Netgalley.

My eX-Mas Emergency
by Jennifer Peel
Narrated by Wayne Mitchell; Kim Churchill

Aspen Lake in was in Calista’s rearview mirror until her brother-in-law died young. Now, Calista is back in the town she left a lot of tracks in as a sorta wild child prankster. And, the man, Tristan, she once loved fiercely, just so happens to share a niece with her, the very niece whose father just died.

Calista, now an ER doctor, moves back into town to help take care of her sister and niece. And her distant romantic past comes creeping back into the present.

I loved this book. It is a bit Happily Ever After, but not a perfect shiny HEA.

I highly recommend this book to romance lovers. I really enjoyed it!