This was a fun book with different type of dual pov and the author did a great job. I thought it would get confusing, but it wasn’t. I was thoroughly invested in the friendship between Holly and Ivy and how they made it through their difficulties. Great scenery and side characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

3.7⭐️

Amé la amistad de Ivy y Holly.

Me gustó todo y no sé que decir sin hacer spoilers porque con la sinopsis es más que suficiente para darse una idea de lo que va a pasar y todo lo demás vale la pena leerlo a oscuras.

A pesar de que todo se desarrollo en pocos días, siento que todo fue convincente y no sentí que los que paso entre los cuatro fuera forzado.

Ojalá hubiera un epílogo por protagonista.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for and honest review.

This is a cute holiday read! I was a little concerned about following two stories in two different places but as you flip back and forth between Holly and Ivy it works! They are in the same time line and you know what is happening in each place and it flows. Both FMC are stuffing with their own issues but with the strengthen within themselves and their friendship they find their way. It is an easy read, just a little spicy and some good banter and side characters.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

I’m such a sucker for a holiday themed Rom-Com, and a Christmas one no less. I loved this story and the best friend plot line mixed in. The friendship was sweet, this was a simple entertaining read. I recommend.

Christmas holiday romance - I could not ask for more. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be an easy fun read. Like a Hallmark movie, we get very surface level characters, which works for the premise of this book. The friendship of Holly and Ivy is so heartwarming and the love interest aspect delivers. The writing was really well done and makes you feel apart of the dual settings.

I’m not always into holiday themed romance but I ended up absolutely loving this story. I love the best friend plot line mixed in with them both finding their meant to be and all the hurdles they encounter along the way.

This is a sweet holiday romance story about two best friends finding love in unexpected places. The best friends learn about themselves throughout the book, and figure out what they really want in life. This is a fast, easy read that is perfect for the holidays, especially if you are wanting something tropical during the winter months.

This book by Julia McKay is sweet, funny, and well written. From cover to cover, McKay takes you on not one but two journeys reminiscent of a Hallmark Christmas movie. The charming, quaint, and adorable Christmas town with snow and Santa, and the beautiful lumberjack looking man that sweeps you off your feet. As well as the jaw dropping island Christmas at the most beautiful beach resort you could ever imagine, complete with the drop dead gorgeous bartender.

Besides the awesome settings, some of the things that I enjoyed about this book were the depth of characters, the fast pacing, and the use of text messages for communication between the two main characters. For the relatively short length of this book and the quick moving pace, the author was able to provide an abundance of information on the main characters personality traits, relationships, family members and their personalities, work ethic, and more. The relationship and dynamic between Holly and Ivy was amazing and left me feeling jealous. Everyone should have a friend like Ivy!

The only gripe that I have with this book is that it was almost too sweet and easy going. There was no angst! I kept waiting for there to be this big drama that left me shocked, but it never came. There were a few situations that arose that were leading in that direction, but they were resolved too quickly and easily for my taste.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I’m looking forward to curling up on the couch, in front of the fireplace, with a cup of hot cocoa next holiday season and reading it again after its official release.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book as an ARC. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher, Penguin Group Putnam.

Can’t lie, I requested this ARC as I’m a sucker for books set in The Hudson Valley AND The Holiday is one of my all time favorite movies.

If you are a Hallmark at Christmas Time/Anytime fan, this is your book.

Holly and Ivy met in college at a frat party and have been best friends ever since. They adopted a friendship motto of “chacun son goût: to each their own/I’ll never judge you.” This is absolutely not just a HEA, but a story about the female friendship.

Holly goes on to get engaged to her college boyfriend, Matt. After being together for nearly a decade, Matt calls off their engagement the night before their wedding, Ivy changes up her annual holiday plans to give Holly her Hudson Valley cabin, and opts to take the Hawaii honeymoon. When Ivy gets to Hawaii — it doesn’t go as planned, but she is so grateful Holly is having a relaxing time.

Outside of the initial scenes, everything else is closed door, implied, or briefly mentioned.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/🌶️

*confirming the town is a made up place in the Hudson Valley/Catskills set 2 hours outside of NYC/LaGuardia.


SPOILERS BELOW:


The Hudson Valley brings an old high school rival/admirer back into Holly’s life.

In Hawaii, Ivy catches Matt with the woman he swore was only an emotional affair and has to scramble for new plans as the room is taken. The resort bartender offers her a rental that she happily accepts.

What kept this from being a 5 star read for me:
The whole mysterious letter in Holly’s high school locker was brushed over and oddly placed, and Holly never once focused on how after wearing a ring for years on THAT finger, it is like a phantom ring there.
It’s all incredibly fast paced, taking place over about 2-3 weeks. (But again, perfect Hallmark set up!)

As Julia’s debut novel, I look forward to reading future works and seeing her writing and pacing grow.

Thank you GP Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this eARC.

Holiday Hallwark movie vibes for April! Love how this book transported me right to the holiday season. Easy read and I really enjoyed the dual POV of Holly and Ivy.

Wow, what a cute one! This book was so wholesome and made my heart so happy. Very thankful that I gave it a chance :)
(Unfortunately this title is not eligible for an Amazon review).

2 ⭐️. I really did not enjoy this book, it was poorly written, been there story line (The Holiday movie) with no compelling uniqueness, completely predictable with truly bad dialogue. I wish there was something about this book I liked besides the fact that it was a very quick read and I enjoyed the Christmas vibes. I feel bad for negative reviews but I really did not like this writing style. I strongly dislike 3rd person POV especially in dual POV which is supposed to be fun. I started highlighting all the attempts to be relevant to pop culture, movies, memes and celebrities, spoiler alert it was way too many. Did we really need to describe our main characters as perfect celebrity lookalikes? I don’t know if I’ve ever met a Henry Cavill, Rachel Bilson, Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling level of gorgeousness let alone they all meet and fall for one another? By the way Eva Mendes is Cuban and they use it to describe a Latina woman from Mexico City, it doesn’t sit well with me. Also the dialogue is so cringe! It does way too much telling and not showing and these characters have zero personality. If you like Christmas setting Hallmark movies then maybe you’ve got a chance at liking this one. Nothing is believable in this instalove mess.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will publish October 8, 2024.

Note for the publisher:
I really hope you fix the very inconsistent way this book presents text messages, it was either bold or ALL CAPS or quoted. Sometimes all 3 in a single page. It makes zero sense and is incredibly hard to read/follow.
I really hope you decide to fix the description of Larry as Eva Mendes, who is Cuban, not Mexican. It shows you don’t respect or understand different ethnicities (not all Latinx people are the same).

What is more perfect than a hallmark Christmas book? Nothing all the feel good holiday vibes my absolute favorite! Bestfirnds, dual pov, travel and romance can’t get any better!!

This book was so cute! My only complaint is Holly, lol. She seemed a little selfish and was hard to relate to. However, Ivy. Sweet Ivy. I loved her! Overall, the switching of the holiday vacations was such a cute idea and how the story unfolded for both vacations.

Overall I enjoyed this book and the Hallmark Christmas vibes it gave. I do agree with some others that I almost wish each FMC had their own book so that the building of the relationships could have been flushed out more appropriately. The contrasting Hawaii and New York settings made it a good read for both Christmas and summer time. I always enjoy the movies where characters who are related or look identical pull a switcheroo so it was fun to read in book form as well.
Review is posted to Goodreads and I will recommend this on my Instagram on or prior to release @thatbookishteach

This book gave me all the holiday vibes! Seriously best friends switching vacations and falling in love ugh it was so good! I loved Holly and Ivy’s friendship and how supportive they were of each other and of course who wouldn’t love Aiden and Oliver. This book was such a fun read. This would be the perfect read for Christmas time!

I feel like I was reading a book based on a hallmark movie but like not in a great way? I almost got stalker vibes from Aiden. It was a little weird. I feel like it had potential it just didn’t get there

Holly and Ivy are best friends, so of course when Holly’s fiancé calls of their wedding right beforehand, Ivy wants to support her. But Holly wants alone time, so instead of going on her honeymoon, she switches vacations with Ivy. Now Holly is off on Ivy’s remote cabin retreat and Ivy is on Holly’s Hawaiian honeymoon.

Both women meet men pretty much immediately but neither are ready to date right now. The book is both romance as well as a story of two best friends.

The perspectives alternate between Holly and Ivy. It’s interesting that their stories are told together rather than giving them their own books. Since each story is happening at the same time, it makes sense, but it did make it confusing to keep track of who was who in the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me any eARC! The book had a cute story line but I felt like it was missing something. I love Holly and Ivy’s friendship, it’s truly something everyone wished they had. I didn’t like that Ivy ignored “the issue” for a week before confronting it because she came off as a no nonsense type of girl and it felt out of character for her. The book didn’t really have any spice. I liked the ending but hated that Ivy and Holly weren’t really honest with each other about their situations, it ended up having a purpose but felt like it could have been done a different way. Overall, the book was cute but just felt like it was lacking in some areas.

Not a bad book, but it felt overly verbose at times. It’s actually TOO descriptive and the story falters at times because of it.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘎𝘜𝘐𝘕 𝘎𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘗 𝘗𝘶𝘵𝘯𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.