I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful book. I enjoyed every page of it!

I ended up attempting to read this several times, and ending up dnf at the third attempt. Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me.

A seemingly cozy queer romance that is rooted in reality. Very true to the location, so readers of the midwest will love this one.

I’m always excited to see a new Jayne Allen book released, and this book was no exception. As a reader of the Black Girls Must series, I feel like the premises of her books are always very promising. This book was a cute Christmas story, so if you enjoy a good Hallmark movie, this one is for you. For me, Allen doesn’t develop characters well enough for me to draw a connection with any of them, and this story fell flat because of it.

The premise doesn’t make sense. Chelsea needs to rent her house to pay property taxes, and I guess one week of Ramona AirBnBing it will pay whatever that is for a beachfront house in Malibu? But also she’s negotiated to go stay in Ramona’s Chicago condo…for free?

But I stopped when Ramona’s best friend - a man - just lets himself into Ramona’s condo KNOWING she is away and a guest is staying there.

Finally, this book is two hetero romances but the cover is just the two women, making it look like a sapphic romance.

After reading the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series and absolutely loving it, I just knew I was going to love this one. I am a Jayne Allen fan! One thing you must understand about this author in order to understand her work is she can and will use her platform to speak on topics that affect the black community. Things will get uncomfortable, nerves will be struck, but hearts will also be touched. She incorporates everyday, real-world problems that many people tend to overlook into her work, and I wholeheartedly appreciate it.
This book is not your cozy, fluffy house swap around the holidays, where your sweet hometown girls meets their tall chiseled prince charmings and ride off into the sunset in matching sweaters and a cup of hot cocoa. This book gets heavy, but it also has its light-hearted moments. Ramona and Chelsea are both very likeable, well-developed characters, and I enjoyed reading their stories. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
Thank you NetGalley, Harper Perennial, and Jayne Allen for this entertaining read!

In a book version of The Holiday, Ramona and Chelsea switch houses for a week at Christmas. Romana is trying to avoid the holidays with her parents in Chicago after her fiance breaks off their engagement, and she fails to tell her family. Chelsea is trying to round up some money to stay in her Malibu home, which is a way to make some quick cash. As these two immerse themselves in the lives of the other, so many great relationships form. Jayne Allen writes the richest (in-depth) characters that are easy to root for during their journey of self-reflection. She has become an auto-read author for me!

Thank you for the opportunity to review this advanced reader's edition. Unfortunately, I will not be able to give it the time required to write a thorough review and will be unable to read it for this purpose.

✨ Review ✨ The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen

Thanks to Harper Perennial and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This is a great Christmas house swap but it's definitely not a light and breezy rom com. Ramona's bff books her a getaway in Malibu after her broken engagement. She's too afraid to tell her family they broke up (and hopeful they might get back together), and so it's easier just to flee town. Chelsea, an artist living in her dead parent's humble Malibu beach front home, needs some cash for bills, and so agrees to rent her house to Ramona and goes to stay in Chicago at Ramona's condo. Both befriend people nearby -- Ramona's bff and almost-brother and the surf yoga instructor that teaches on the beach in front of Chelsea's house.

However, it's not so simple as issues of race and privilege are deeply interwoven in the story, hinging around Chelsea's neighbor calling the security guards on Ramona after she thinks she's breaking into Chelsea's house. This issue grows and evolves throughout the book as different people place different value on the impact of this incident, resulting in conflict in both Malibu and Chicago.

While this book is set at Christmas-time, it's not necessarily a Christmas book or a Christmas romance, though these are components in the story. I really enjoyed that this was a little different and tackled more serious and complex issues. This is my first book by Allen and it won't be my last!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: contemporary romance but not a light romance
Setting: Chicago and Malibu
Pub Date: Oct 08 2024

Read this if you like:
⭕️ holiday romances that aren't always festive or cheerful
⭕️ exploration of racial dynamics in the U.S.
⭕️ house swaps
⭕️ Chicago / Malibu settings

This is a great holiday read that is reminiscent of The Holiday. The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen is definitely one I have recommended this year.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Overall 3.5

This is a good book but does deal with some heavy topics. If you are looking for a hallmark type book or some sweet and fluffy, please proceed with caution. It does take place during Christmas time and has some holiday sprinkled in. This is a story of self-discovery/rediscovery of the two main characters. It also touches on issues of perception and race. There is some romance within the book, but I wouldn’t call this a romance book. It’s a thought-provoking book that is well done imo. It’s not super heavy but it’s not light. So, if you were planning to read this as a light, fluffy, cute holiday story then you need to pick something else or tailor your expectations.

I love the idea = a take on The Holiday - but I found this story slow and overly descriptive. The characters were well developed, and I enjoyed aspects of each story, particularly all of the relationship dynamics (romantic and platonic), but I wish I would have DNF'd this.

I found this book to be much more about racism and finding yourself than about Christmas. So if you go in knowing that, it will likely change your perception. The Christmas marketing didn't really do it any favors...

This was aa DNF. The writing was not for me and the characters were childish. As a fan of Allens previous series I was expecting much more from this.

This book is a Christmas-time house swap between our main characters Ramona and Chelsea. The two women embark on a journey of self-discovery while also grappling with very personal issues of their own. This book is cute but I was definitely expecting something more holiday-ish. This is really just a story set at Christmas time without many holiday themes/atmosphere. If you’re a fan of women’s fiction and stories that don’t have your typical happily ever after then you’ll like this one.

**Thank you to Harper Perennial for this free digital review copy.**

This was so much more than a classic holiday swap story, and got a lot deeper than your average Christmas novel, while still hitting a lot of the notes that I look for in a holiday read. There were many times I predicted what would happen, and some of those things came to be while others didn't, which is a fun balance that I appreciated. The perspective characters were so well done, so you could really get into their heads and understand their feelings and motivations, for better or worse. The writing was flowery, a real "more is more" style, which at first I thought was going to bother me, but I ended up really liking it and feeling that it worked for the story. This is a Christmas book I would revisit and give to friends in the future.

Jayne Allen's The Most Wonderful Time is a delightful blend of humor, romance, and self-discovery, perfect for the holiday season. The story follows Ramona Tucker and Chelsea Flint, two women from vastly different worlds who swap homes just before Christmas. Ramona, desperate to escape her family's expectations and the lie about her broken engagement, heads to sunny Malibu. Meanwhile, Chelsea, an artist struggling to keep her family cottage, finds herself in snowy Chicago.

Allen's writing is engaging and vivid, bringing both settings to life and making the reader feel the warmth of Malibu's beaches and the coziness of a Chicago winter. The characters are well-developed and relatable, each dealing with their own struggles and growth. Ramona's journey of self-acceptance and Chelsea's rediscovery of her artistic spark are beautifully intertwined with themes of love, friendship, and the magic of new beginnings.

The novel is filled with charming and memorable moments, from unexpected friendships to budding romances. The humor and heartfelt reflections make it a joy to read, and the holiday backdrop adds an extra layer of enchantment.

Overall, The Most Wonderful Time is a heartwarming and uplifting read that captures the spirit of the season. It's a perfect book to curl up with by the fire, and it will leave you with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.

I gave this 3 stars.. I wasn't in love with it. I don't feel like I liked the writing style.
There were pages on just 'telling' and I think there could have been a better way to describe things while still moving the story forward. It just sounded choppy at times to me. I also felt like points/things in the story were thrown in there, and just the flow of the plot was not working for me. I didn't really love any of the characters. My favorite was Latrice! She was an iconic. I want her as a friend. I would read a spin-off book about Latrice. This book had serious themes, and I was expecting a light book and this wasn't really it. I loved Chelsea and her art and the way she viewed the world and others around her. I loved Ramona's growth and self-discovery and her strength. I need to talk about Joan.. because I was okay with Joan at first but then… she wasn’t honest about what she did and kept trying to over-justify her actions. Now if I’m being real… and this might be a spoiler!!!!🚨

but if my neighbors had never rented their house before, didn’t warn me or let me know they were renting their place, and I saw a person who I didn’t recognize going into their house via the back door, I would also be concerned.

Obviously, we learn a little more about Joan and her thoughts, but in the beginning, I wasn’t a Joan-hater, but as the story went on, I was like ‘oh no Joan’ and I really wanted to share that here. I also wish Ramona’s story would’ve been more Christmas-y, but I’m also somewhere where it snows and gets cold, so that’s what I associate with Christmas time. It was an okay novel for me. I need to be in the mood for a more ‘serious’ read, and I was not. I was hoping for a light-hearted, easy-read, romance and this was not that for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Harper Perennial, for this warm and creative holiday-switch romance ARC!

I love the movie The Holiday, so this book sounded like it would be right up my alley. It didn't totally work for me though. It wasn't really festive enough for me unfortunately. I liked the characters well enough and there were some cute parts. I think it would've worked better if I'd started out thinking of the book as a character-centric rom-com that takes place around the holidays instead of a Christmas story.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Thank you for the opportunity to read an e-arc for The Most Wonderful Time. Unfortunately, it ended up being a miss for me. There just wasn't much holiday elements, which the cover and title gave me the anticipation of a holiday time book. The balance of dialogue and storylines was off too.