thank you netgalley for the e-arc. i have never read anything by jayne allen before and now i would like to revisit her backlist. while this won't be one of my favorite holiday books, it was entertaining and well-written with a lot of christmas magic around. this would be a cute tv movie.

I wanted to love this one but I just… did not. I wasn’t hooked. Maybe it was just me, maybe this wasn’t what I was in the mood for. Im not sure. I DNF’d at around 20%.

This book was truly a wonderful time for me. It was a nice cozy read that I will definitely be recommending

I based my review on my overall enjoyment of this book, not the actual writing itself. I felt myself overly irritated and anxious with all of the characters and their interactions, and by the 40% mark, I decided to call it quits. I couldn't see it getting exponentially better, and after reading some reviews and understanding it's not exactly a HEA, I decided to put it away.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book.

Over the holidays, two women with very different lives and backgrounds swap houses in an attempt to get a little more of what they each need. Ramona, a Black woman from Chicago, has recently been broke up with but still has hope that her engagement isn’t really over. In order to not disappoint her parents and family, she continues the charade of wedding planning until her best friend urges her to get away for the holidays. Meanwhile, a white artist named Chelsea from Malibu is on the brink of losing her family home due to taxes and a lack of income. At the urging of her galleries and family friend, she escapes to Chicago to try to find inspiration.

I was a big fan of the plot of The Most Wonderful Time, and I love how both women found joy alongside a change of scenery. However, the pacing was off, and this moved really slowly for me. I wasn’t a fan of the long introspective paragraphs both main characters experienced as thoughts, and the lack of a festive feeling was a letdown. While this book takes place during the holiday season, it didn’t really feel like a holiday book (which isn’t an issue on its own, I just feel like that’s what it was marketed as).

This review has been posted to Goodreads and Storygraph on November 7th, 2024. Links provided.

As Christmas approaches, Ramona Tucker is scrambling to keep up the lie about her (now ended) engagement to her ex, Malik, while avoiding the truth coming out at her mother’s over-the-top holiday party. Meanwhile in Malibu, artist Chelsea Flint is struggling to make ends meet and save her family’s beach house. Deciding to get away from their problems, the two women swap homes where Ramona heads to sunny Malibu and Chelsea makes her way to the snowy Midwest. With romance and personal growth on the horizon, both women experience a Christmas they didn’t expect.

This is the second book I have recently read that I was excited about because it gave off The Holiday (the movie) vibes and yet was overall disappointed. It could be because I love The Holiday so much so it is difficult to live up to that expectation but even putting that aside, I wasn’t a very big fan of this book. I honestly found both Ramona and Chelsea a bit annoying and I did not really see the chemistry between either of them and their respective love interests. While I do usually enjoy a duel point of view novel, I did not think that Joan needed chapters from her POV and also felt like she was just a stereotypical rich/nosy “Malibu” woman (aka a Karen) and I don’t really like when authors just feed into stereotypes. Even though it’s set around Christmas, and aside from a few mentions of the holiday, it doesn’t really capture the spirit of the season. The plot felt flat, and I struggled to connect with any of the characters or their relationships. Overall, I felt like it tried to mix a holiday romance with something more serious, but didn’t succeed at either. It just wasn’t engaging to me, and I was never really able to get behind the characters or the plot. Hopefully there are people out there who will enjoy this book, but sadly it is not one I would personally recommend.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the opportunity to read to an ARC of The Most Wonderful Time in return for my honest review.

The writing here didn’t work for me. Stifled and formal it just felt like a weird academic paper or something. Nothing to suck me into the story as a reader. The plot idea was great and I’m sure the writing works for others.

Thank you Harper Perennial for my copy! All thoughts are my own!

As much as I love Christmas and Christmas movies/books, I am very picky about the stories I choose to read each season. I look for books that have festive cheer and cozy settings, but that are also realistic and not too saccharine. When I came across The Most Wonderful Time, I was immediately intrigued by the comparison to The Holiday, one of my all time favorite films, and was pleasantly surprised by the depth of emotions and situations this book covered, while maintaining a coxy, festive atmosphere.

Synopsis:

“With Christmas around the corner, Ramona Tucker is desperate to get away. She has been lying to her family about her engagement to Malik, her (ex) fiancé. But breakups are fickle, and Ramona is convinced that she can make her pretend wedding real again—but only if she can avoid everyone discovering her secret at her mother’s over-the-top Christmas Eve party.

Two-thousand miles away in sunny Malibu, Chelsea Flint needs money to hold on to the beloved beachside cottage she shared with her late parents. The taxes are expensive, and her art isn’t paying the bills. Once an irresistible star of the Los Angeles art scene, Chelsea seems to have lost that spark that vaulted her to the top. If she doesn’t rediscover that magic—and sell a painting—soon, it will be her family’s home she’s selling instead.

The two women swap homes, just in time, thanks to some careful planning by Ramona’s best friend and a sturdy nudge from Chelsea’s gallerist godmother. Ramona’s Malibu dreams of sun and surf are interrupted as her first night brings an unwelcome stranger to her door, making her question who she can trust—the meddling neighbor Joan, or Jay, the handsome beachside fitness instructor with a secret of his own. Chelsea, desperate for Ramona to stay, hides what she knows—even if that means jeopardizing her budding connection with charming Carlos, whose dreams for his future could be the very key to unlock Chelsea from the weight of her past.

Combining escapist fun and sizzling romance, a dose of poignant self-reflection, and a little holiday magic, The Most Wonderful Time is a warm and relatable novel that will delight at Christmas and throughout the year.”—NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Concept—Like I said, The Holiday is one of my favorite films. I liked that this was a more diverse take on it and in two very places, Malibu and Chicago.

The Heart—This book had a lot of heart and addressed a lot of really important things, especially racism and how it relates to geography and activities.

The Settings—I haven’t been to Malibu before I have spent a lot of time in Chicago and I could feel the bitter cold wind off the lake!

What Didn’t Work:

The Pacing—I read the audio version of the book which could be a contributer, but I just felt like the timeline of things was a little funky and it made it hard for me to be invested in the relationships.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 1/5 Overall Rating: 4/5

Content Warnings:

racism

Ramona, from Chicago, is struggling with the recent ending of her engagement – specifically that she hasn’t told her parents the news. Chelsea lives on the beach in Malibu and has been unable to get over the loss of her parents.

They swap houses for the week leading up to Christmas so each can have a reset. Along the way, they have romances that help reset their hearts and they both find what they need to move forward in life.

Why Kirsten loves it
I’m a sucker for anything that reminds me of The Holiday and this story fills that role quite well. Not just a romance, this book deals with grief (in Chelsea’s chapters) and racism (which Ramona, a black woman, encounters in Malibu.) This is a story worth discussing with your book club!

So after reading the "Black Girls Must..." (which was very lackluster IMO) I was excited to read Jayne Allen's new book, hoping it would be different than her series; and boy was I wrong.

This book is very boring and lackluster. I struggled to read it and was about to DNF it many times.
The main characters, Ramona & Chelsea, are very one dimensional and the secondary character, Joan, was just completely ugh. I don't see why Joan was really added into the different POVs but eh, I digress.
Joan was a truly UNLIKABLE character. She was an implicit racist and I just did not like her.

Overall, this book was just boring to me. This could be 5 stars to someone else but to me, I wouldn't think about rereading it again.

I enjoyed Jayne Allen's new holiday swap story that sees two women switching homes over the holidays and finding themselves in the process as they each are at a problematic time in their lives. More women's fiction than light-hearted romance, this story sees Black Chicagoan, Ramona recently dumped by her fiance and lying about it to her friends and family.

Meanwhile, Chelsea is an artist who has lost her spark and needs to find a way to make some money in order to pay the bills. When the chance to swap homes for a few weeks arises it seems like a way to solve both women's problems. Ramona and Chelsea also each meet a man who helps them appreciate new things about life in this heartwarming holiday tale that has a lot of depth.

I especially enjoyed Ramona's experience learning to surf and appreciating how that kind of leisure activity has not traditionally been open to members of the Black community in California. She also has to endure an unwelcome arrival thanks to Chelsea's wealthy white Malibu neighbor, Joan - who calls the neighborhood patrol and generally acts like an uptight, privileged 'Karen,' spying on her neighbors and making racist assumptions about them.

I thought Joan's character brought a slice of reality to this story that is rare for holiday romances but I appreciated that extra layer of realness. Good on audio and recommended for fans of The Holiday movie and books like I'll be gone for Christmas by Georgia K Boone (another holiday house swap romance). Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was an eh book for me. The storyline was good however the flow of the characters and what they were going thru was not intriguing. I found them ladies to be selfish. Jayne Allen will still be an auto buy author, but this book missed the mark.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC.

The Holiday is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, so the synopsis of Jayne Allen's novel hooked me. Oh how I loved this. Such a wonderful romance story.

YES IF: you’re the type of person that gets fed up about all the Christmas novels.

—-
Even tho I read the blurb, I was like ‘it’s a Christmas book, right?’ Well… it is, for sure. BUT it’s def more on the side of not? Like it revolves around Christmas so that’s the thing.

I’ll be mega honest, I DNF’d at 50% . A part of me wants to give it 3❄️ because the blurb does tell you what’s up BUT I’m like… eh. Idk I feel biased since I do enjoy holiday romances. I’ll give it a 3, but if you are like me, and really enjoy holiday novels. I’d give this one a pass

This one gave me what I expected and more! Think of the movie The Holiday but add some family drama ,self discovery and of course hot romance. The home swap is Malibu and Chicago which is fun. Oh and Chelsea is white and Ramona is Black. I liked how each of the characters experienced personal growth and discovery during their house swap .I did a lot of swooning, smiling, and reflection.

This was a really cute holiday book , I’m not the biggest fan of holiday books but this one really got me in the holiday spirit 🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was a delightful holiday read that I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys "classic" Christmas movies such as The Holiday or Love Actually. I really loved the cozy vibe from this novel. I am definitely going to look out for more books by Jayne Allen in the future!

Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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It really is the most wonderful time! I'm a sucker for holiday books. Doesn't matter what genre as long as it is centered around the holiday season and this one completely hits the spot! I loved the characters and have recommended it to my friends and family :)

Thought the premise of this book—house swap for Christmas!—was very fun. There were some parts I enjoyed, but ultimately had a hard time caring about the two main characters. However, I thought the secondary character development (Jay, Carlos, and even Joan) was more fleshed out, so I particularly liked any scenes when Chelsea and Ramona spent time with those three! And, without giving spoilers, I appreciated the effort to add some not-so-fluffy themes to a rom com. It definitely made me want to check out some of the authors previous books, which I know are well-loved!

The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen was a cute and fun romance story of self-reflection, and a little holiday magic.
An engaging read of heartbreak, hope, love, and the joy that comes from rediscovering oneself.
The Most Wonderful Time is a beautiful and relatable novel that will capture readers heart.

Thank You NetGalley and Harper Perennial for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!