I just love Georgia Clark! I've enjoyed all of her books, and this one is perfect for those looking for queer, holiday fiction. She has a way with writing lovable characters going through emotions that we've all felt before. I loved how the three siblings got along and supported each other through their journies.

This book is so “fetching.” The author packed so many important themes in and painted a picture of a supportive loving family with natural growing pains. 3 siblings each have their own romances, each different and perfectly suited to them. The only thing that kept this from 5 stars for me was that act 3 for Liz and Violet felt too quick (but loved them), and also most of the time I didn’t find Birdie funny despite being a comedian, though I did really enjoy her arc. Loved Rafi! And of course, their famous mother was a hoot. Georgia Clark is so good at ensemble casts. This is the perfect holiday read!

And, if you haven’t read Island Time yet, check it out!

Short summary: the Belvedere family is home for the holidays early, each with their own issues and matters of the heart to resolve…Liz has a crush on her leading actress, Birdie is a serial one-night stand mess, and Rafi thought his casual girlfriend wanted to get married. Commence the Black Hearts Club.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Following the three Belvedere siblings through their holiday love woes, we witness holiday magic for each of them.

Filled with all the gay holiday love you could want, I think you will laugh and swoon your way through this one! I fell in love with the Belvedere siblings and I hope you will too!

Thanks to netgalley and random house / dial press for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in return for my honest opinion!

One of the best romances that I have read this year, possibly in the last few years. This is my first Georgia Clark book and definitely not my first. Liz, Birdie and Rafi are loveable, slightly zany and absolutely relatable. This book captured the magic of the holiday season and wintertime while also portraying the trials and tribulations of adult dating, love and heartbreak. I thoroughly enjoyed this romance and was enchanted by the unique characters. I cried, I laughed and I was sad to say goodbye to the characters at the end. Highly recommend to read any season!

Signature Georgia Clark! I'm always in awe of how she's able to build these robust and sparkling ensembles and still tell a compelling and immersive story. A must for those who secretly (or not so secretly) love holiday Hallmark movies, but wish they were more queer!

I really enjoyed this story of three very different siblings finding love at Christmas. I think every reader will see something of themselves in at least one of the three main characters (Liz, Birdie, and Rafi), and I loved that every story felt very different and followed a totally distinct journey. I was worried that three romances could come across a bit same-y, but each sibling and each of their love interests felt so different. There's also just enough holiday cheer to remind you when this is set- it grounded the story and made it feel cozy.

A couple of minor criticisms- I appreciated Babs as a unifying character across each story, although I would've liked to have seen more about Birdie and Rafi's relationships with their mother- Liz's was fleshed out so much and felt very compelling, but you don't get as much of a sense of that from the other characters. I thought the author handled different mental health conditions really well, but it did come across a bit like therapy speak at times; however, I will say she did a good job of making it feel real and distinct for each character. Some plot lines also felt like they got dropped a bit abruptly (like Liz's job/writer's block). I feel like this book would benefit SO much from an epilogue and really wish there had been one! Overall, though, I really enjoyed the story and think it will make a nice addition to anyone's collection of seasonal reads.

✨ARC Review✨

I loved this funny, sweet, sassy, sexy, family Christmas novel. It has The Family Stone vibes. I mean, the stories are vastly different, but *the vibes*. It’s beautifully written and so quotable.

We have three siblings and their celebrity mother getting together for Christmas in the Catskills. They’re all going through their own sh1t as we all do. The elder daughter, Liz, is the creator and show runner of a huge streaming hit based on the Sweet Valley High books and is potentially in love with its star.

Birdie, the middle child, is a standup comic who is in a rapid downward spiral of alcohol and hookups. And let me say, Birdie is actually funny. Sometimes that’s an issue in books, but not this one. 😁

And Rafi has just been spectacularly, romantically rebuffed in front of all his coworkers and is also having a quarter life crisis.

I love how close these siblings are and how they genuinely are there for each other and their mom. I love how they each are forced to reflect on their issues and figure out their next steps. I love the side characters and what they each mean to the family. And the setting! Like, the biggest heart eyes for this warm, loving, snowy inn/home. Pretty sure she solidly hit every Christmas trope I wanted.

Listen. I originally gave this four stars, but as I was writing this review, I realized exactly how much I loved it and had to bump it up.

I received this ARC via #netgalley and @randomhouse and @thedialpress in exchange for a review. All thoughts are mine alone.

#fictionbooks #contemporaryfiction #romance #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #lgbtqia+ #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookrecs #bookreview #mostwonderful #georgiaclark

3.5 stars rounded up because I loved all of the characters, flaws and all.

Three siblings whose lives are a mess.

One mom who I would absolutely cast Moira from Schitt’s Creek. Not Catherine O’Hara, Moira. If you know, you know.

The book had an identity crisis in my opinion. It's deep at times. It’s steamy at times. And although it has Christmas in the title, it plays a very small background character to this family. Definitely not your typical Christmas Rom-Com.

And one side note: as a child who grew up obsessed with reading the Sweet Valley High books, can we make Sweet happen?

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I got about 25% of the way through and had to DNF. This book wasn't for me. I liked the concept of three queer siblings coming together at Christmas time and them finding love. However, I found all three main characters to be insufferable and hard to feel empathy towards. I felt like all three needed too much personal growth before they should find love.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!
This book was the perfect Christmas read. It had humorous moments, heartwarming moments, and moments filled with both family and romantic love. I loved following each siblings story/path. I felt very invested in each of their stories. The ending was a perfect ending with both love and character development by all of them.

I was unfortunately most wonderfully disappointed with this read. I loved the authors last book so had high hopes for this Christmas romance. However, the romance felt forced. There are three siblings, and they are all looking for loved, they all find love, and hit relationship benchmarks at relatively at the same time, all over Christmas. It just felt like the author wanted me to believe strongly in Christmas Magic. However, despite the overarching romance aspects of the book falling flat for me, several other elements worked and were done well. This book touched on addiction, depression and anxiety among other things. I’m always cautious about reading about these conditions as they hit close to home, but the author handled them with the care that they deserve and they were all well done, so for that I was truly thankful. This book also had some fun humor and fun laugh out loud moments. The author truly knows how to bring levity to heavy situations and help normalize them. I do think that some people are really going to love this one, it was just too neat and tidy for me. I read that the author had originally written the book much longer, and that makes more sense. For once I might have enjoyed a book to be longer – ha.

Most Wonderful is Love Actually meets Hollywood, featuring more family! It follows the story of three siblings of a famous actress, as they try (somewhat successfully) to find love during the holidays, after not having much luck their whole life.

While I enjoyed the premise, it seemed incredibly rushed. I couldn't help but wish this was made into 3 books instead. It also seemed somewhat predictable, in both the act 3 conflict (all three of the siblings having conflict at the same time) and then the "I love you bombs" dropped VERY quickly. I'm somewhat glad that although there were happy endings, it wasn't for everyone. 3 1/2 stars.

This was my favorite book I’ve read of Georgia Clark’s. Each character had a different and entertaining journey. Loved the different love interests… nice slow burn moments, but also realistic challenges and anxiety. It was also so Christmasy and cozy. The story with the mom really tied everything together. Would definitely recommend for a fun and holiday-filled ensemble romantic dramedy.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was cute at times but following 3 siblings love lives was just really confusing for me.. I also DIDNT really feel any Christmas spirit in this one either:/ Birdie was insufferable wow I did not like her one bit. I was definitely interested the most in Vi and Liz.

This is an absolutely delightful queer Christmas-y read with Hallmark movie vibes! Why have one queer sibling when you can have three? I enjoyed the chaotic family dynamic and the romantic factors, And I appreciated that each sibling had their own personality. I think this will be a really great audiobook and I look forward to that!

This queer holiday romance was SO CUTE yet still explored deep themes of family, alcoholism, therapy, and fear. The Belvedere (half) siblings all converge on their famous mother's Catskills home for Christmas in various stages of personal distress. Rafi has just publicly proposed to someone who said NO, also very publicly. Liz, a show runner, has writer's block and a massive crush on the star of her show, and Birdie has just been fired by her comedy agent because she can't get herself together for a sober stand up show. The siblings retreat to the Catskills for the month of December to indulge in their favorite holiday traditions and try and get their lives together. Throughout that time, they are joined by their mom's new and vaguely mysterious personal assistant, Liz's famous crush, Rafi's best friend from London, and a local artist whose work Birdie accidentally ruins at a gallery. Hijinks and misunderstandings ensue, while their mom, Babs, is clearly going through something in the background.

There was humor, sweetness, and really poignant moments of reflection on relationships and parenting in this book. The perfect story to read while snowed in with a cup of cocoa. Beautiful depictions of queer love and found family.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback Edition for this ARC ebook. It was fun to read this as a Christmas in July as the sometimes-dysfunctional relationships of the 3 children of Babs Belvedere. The adult children are all gathered together for the holidays at their mother's house in the country and each must figure out a way to get their Christmas love.

I got to feel Christmas in July with this read! I enjoyed this Hallmarkesque (is that a word?!) romance novel that gave us a peek into three love stories and the internal struggle each character was faced with. It was a story of growth when it comes to romantic relationships and how we need to be comfortable with who we are as individuals before we can commit to another human being. This is also a story about family. I loved how siblings who had different fathers, all loved each other in the same big way and how they knew how to come together.

A gay Christmas book? Give me all of it.

I will admit, it was definitely difficult to follow the three different story lines going on in this book (especially since the chapters aren't labeled with each character's name when speaking in their POV) but eventually it kind of blends together and you get the hang of it.

The story centers around three siblings, Liz, Birdie and Rafi who are each dealing with their own romantic issues who travel home for the holiday season. The banter and the writing between the siblings and their mom was some of the best writing I have read and absolutely ate it up.

Liz's romance was my favorite and it felt like the most emphasis was put on her story while Birdie and Rafi's felt like they were supporting characters in the overarching plot (which might have been what Clark was going for?)

Overall, I feel like this was the book equivalent of Happiest Season (IYKYK) and will definitely be something I go back to year after year. I definitely recommend it if you love a good Christmas romance!

Thank you to Dial Press Trade and Netgalley for this eARC. This is my honest review.

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!