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.

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.