An entertaining read about two women trying to find some peace and answers by doing a vacation swap. Both encounter experiences and surprising awakenings neither thought possible. It's a hopeful read no matter the time of year.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen!

I love a good novel that focuses more on Self-discovery than romance. This is a lot darker than I was expecting, so anyone looking for just a fluffy Christmas book be prepared.

I will say that I could have done without the Joan chapters. The book would have been just fine with only Ramona and Chelsea’s story.

Content warnings include: Racism & death of a parent.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This sweet holiday romance was The Holiday in book form and it scratched the itch for seasonal reading. However, I struggled to fully connect with the characters and for this, I’m not sure it’s one I’ll be remembering once the season has passed.

Do you ever wish you could swap lives and start over? That’s kind of what happens in The Most Wonderful Time when Chelsea, a Malibu resident, and Ramona, a Chicago resident, swap homes during the week of Christmas for a much-needed reset. While the two women are away from their day-to-day they, and those around them, learn some valuable lessons about themselves and the experiences of others.

The book as a whole was an enjoyable read. It follows a linear timeline, but changes perspective and follows three different characters, Ramona, Chelsea, and Chelsea’s Malibu neighbor Joan. I enjoy books that use this type of narration. I feel like I can get perspective of similar events from different individuals, and that really adds to the overall story for me.

The plot focuses on self-discovery and growth for all three characters. The author does a wonderful job allowing the characters to grow and develop in a natural way. I never really felt that any of the development was forced, not that there was conflict for conflict’s sake to force development. Everything that happened throughout the story was grounded in reality and genuinely believable. I also really liked all of the characters in the book. They were real and flawed individuals. They felt very three dimensional, and Allen did a fantastic job in fleshing out these characters and providing them with depth while moving the story along at an appropriate pace.

The plot focuses on race as a critical and important point. The characters in this book are all very diverse and Allen does an excellent job at exploring the implications and impacts of race in different ways and settings. This element of the story really forced me to think deeply in a way that I had not expected from a holiday romance, and I was glad of it.

I also thought Allen did a great job with the multiple settings in this book. I could really picture myself in these two wildly different locations. Further, based on Allen’s descriptions, I’m not sure that I would ever want to experience a Chicago winter. I get cold just thinking about the days around Christmas in the city that were described in the book. The pacing of the book was also really good. It never really felt rushed, nor did the plot drag. I was always interested and anxious to see what happened next.

Overall, I really liked this book. It was a heavier and more thought provoking read that I would have initially expected. I enjoyed this aspect, but I did have to readjust my expectations for the book when I realized the heavier subject matter. Even though I had to readjust my expectations, the story handled the more serious subject matter very well and it made the story seem more real and believable than a typical holiday romance.

I would absolutely recommend this book to a reader that wants a holiday romance that packs a more thought-provoking punch. I want to thank Harper Perennial for providing a copy of The Most Wonderful Time to me via NetGalley for review. Any opinions offered in this review are mine alone.

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.