Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I am usually a big fan of Emily Stone's books and have given great ratings to her in the past, but this one just fell a little short for me. I was not invested in the characters or storyline and didn't find myself getting immersed in the book like I usually do.

I will definitely be keeping an eyes out for her future books since Emily is usually a go to for me around the holidays.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an opportunity to read this book!

...DNF at 54%. I was just so bored. This was not for me - the characters just felt flat to me and there just wasn't anything keeping my attention.

I liked this story a lot. Emily Stone has a nice writing style that just pulls you into the story! Her books have an emotional tone that I really enjoy. I definitely recommend the physical copy not the audio!

Lexi is basically a nomad. She doesn't have a "home base" but takes on jobs that allow her to travel. Lexi is dumbfounded when her father leaves her half of his travel company when he unexpectedly passes away. He left the other half of the company to his second man, Theo, but Lexi finds Theo to be unsufferable. Her father's wishes are for Lexi and Theo to run the company together for the first year. Lexi balks at this for she has not spoken to he father in years and has no interest in his company. Her father left his house to Lexi's half-sister, Rachel, which leads to more confusion on Lexi's part; A Winter Wish has many layers of complications which kept me reading to find out was going to happen and how Lexi chooses to handle matters. These layers also add more depth to book without just being sugary and sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review and read the ARC of A Winter Wish.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This took me A WHOLE WEEK to read! What the?? 😆 It just didn't hold my interest and wasn't very exciting as far as Christmas romances go. The concept of a celebration travel agency was SO cute and such a missed 5 star opportunity. Wanted to love it, but my only feeling was - meh. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an e-arc!!

I believe I’ve now read all of Emily Stone’s holiday romances, and I always enjoy them! The books always have a mix of holiday spirit with some crushing sadness, making them heartfelt, sincere and realistic.

Lexie has a pattern of moving from place to place, never staying in one area for more than a year or so. She’s always loved to travel and has never minded taking temporary jobs and switching locations a lot. However, right before Christmas Lexie gets a call that her father has died. Although she has pretty much been estranged from him for a while, she’s asked at his funeral to come back to his office at the travel agency that he owned-only to find out that she has been left half ownership of the business, with some difficult stipulations.

This takes Lexie on a journey that forces her to figure out what she really wants to do with her life, while also confronting her complicated relationship with her dad.

I did enjoy this novel! While only the beginning and a chuck of the end occur during Christmas time, festivities are still sprinkled throughout, such as a Christmas in July celebration. I recommend this to anyone looking for a not overly cheesy or over the top holiday read.

Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of this latest from Emily Stone. I thought One Last Gift was pretty good, but there's a definite pattern to Stone's work: the FMC is forced into some kind of "challenge" thanks to the last wishes of a recently deceased family member. In One Last Gift, it was the MC's brother. In A Winter Wish, it's the FMC's estranged father. It's hard to get past her animosity towards him and one can see why it would be difficult for her to carry through his request. I struggled to read it because the first several chapters are the FMC running away from difficult conversations and situations. Yes, her father just died, but at some point you have to communicate maturely with the people around you. I found the FMC difficult to relate to even though I have my own complicated grief after losing both parents. She just came off as immaturely bitter when she could've handled the situation differently without compromising her morals. And the MMC is such a jerk considering he knows nothing about her, and his mentor/boss (her father) wasn't actually his own parent so he should've been able to respect that this wasn't his experience to be judgy about, and while he was understandably upset about his boss' last wishes, he definitely could've handled it better, as well. Sorry, but this one just wasn't for me.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

A Winter Wish was about what you would expect--a holiday enemies to lovers romance with some depth (thankfully), but overall it was a "fine" read. I appreciated the backdrop and focus on Lexie's complicated relationship with her father, but, in someways, that overshadowed her relationship with Theo and I cared more about Lexie coming to understand her father than Lexie coming to understand Theo.

My favorite part (though I recognize I'm probably a bit biased given my hobbies/blog) was the travel company and some of the trips the couple took. (I definitely took notes on the lemon festival in France and hope to visit myself soon!)

It's an enjoyable book, but it just didn't have the spark that draws me in and makes a book un-put-downable.

Book: A Winter Wish
Author: Emily Stone
Format: Digital
Genre: Holiday, Romance
Places Featured: Europe
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (rounded up)

Quick and Dirty
-contemporary holiday romance
-grief & loss themes
-enemies to lovers/forced proximity
-grumpy sunshine
-travel inspiration

I’ve loved previous Emily Stone novels, so I had high hopes for A Winter Wish. Luckily, this one worked for me! I prefer holiday romance books that incorporate heavier subplots, and Stone’s work always fits the bill. Our FMC, Lexie, has a complicated relationship with her father, who unexpectedly dies and leaves her half of his travel agency business. Little does she know, it’s exactly what she needs. Having spent years traveling abroad with few responsibilities or ties, Lexie grapples with the responsibility of owning a business and her unresolved emotions from childhood. At every turn she’s reminded of the father who abandoned her rather than the generous man who left her half his beloved business.

To make matters worse, she starts to develop feelings for Theo, the stranger her father hired and left the other half of the business to! As they travel to foreign places in search of the perfect vacation, they both learn something about the people they hope to be and the power of love. I was rooting for this couple from the very beginning, eager to see how Stone resolved their early miscommunication. With a cast of supporting characters, cultural experiences, and lovely European destinations, this book is perfect for romance readers who want a touch of holiday charm.

This book touches on some heavy topics, and I think it does a great job capturing the feeling of grief. Throughout the story, we see how the characters share this emotion in different aspects of their lives. That said, the book ended up being heavier than I expected, and honestly, it brought up some of my own feelings of loss. I also had mixed feelings about Lexie and Theo as a couple—I struggled to feel the chemistry between them at times. The writing is solid, but I don’t think this one was my cup of tea. Still, I’m open to checking out more of the author’s work!

Thank you so much, NetGalley and the publisher, for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Oh, how I love a British holiday romance! I was really looking forward to reading this one and it didn’t disappoint. Our FMC came across as a little immature through parts of this book but the author gave her a backstory that I think justified a lot of her actions. And there is wonderful character growth from both main characters.

This is a somewhat heavy emotional read. I still don’t know how I feel about Richard (Lexi’s dad) but I think that’s the point. The author really shows how complicated people can be and how grieving complicated people can be even more difficult because of those mixed feelings.

This is also a book about traveling and the descriptions of the different settings was amazing. I found myself wishing I was there with the characters. Even their home base of Bath seems like a wonderful place to visit!

Overall, this was what I expected (in a good way). It was a memorable, sweet romance with holiday vibes and just enough spice to keep things interesting. I definitely recommend.

This book was so beautiful! I loved the slow burn romance with the underlying themes of difficult grief, personal growth, and found family. I really enjoyed reading about all the trips and traveling the characters did and enjoyed all the characters. While I’m overall happy with how it ended, I was a bit disappointed at the super last minute third act breakup and somewhat rushed conclusion. I get why it happened and loved the inclusion of Richard’s letter, but wish it wouldn’t have happened. Nearly a five star read for me!

It was alright. Easy to read but forgettable. Didn't really follow how Lexie and Theo went from hate to like. The conflict between Lexie and Theo that drives her to quit also felt pretty silly, it was such a blatant overreaction that it was eyeroll worthy.

This enemies-to-lovers was perfect! So many details that added to the magic. The company that these two work for sounds divine and I want to book a holiday through their company tomorrow … if only it were real!

This book is a hard one for me to rate. The FMC, Lexie, inherits half of her father's travel agency after he passes away. The problem is... she was estranged from her father for many years and doesn't want to have anything to do with running the business, especially since she'll have to share those ownership responsibilities with Theo, her father's annoying exec.

Lexie definitely has her own issues of feeling abandoned since her dad walked out on her and her mother years ago. And while this has a bit of "enemies to lovers" aspect, I never really understood why they were enemies and the "lovers" seemed like of forced and I never really felt any chemistry between Lexie and Theo. Throw in the "miscommunication trope" towards the end and I was ready to DNF the book with only about 10% left to go.

Things I liked:
- the trips and itineraries for the travel agency. I could picture myself in France and Madrid. Listening to the descriptions of food, buildings, and the local people really made me miss my time spent in Europe. When Theo described a recon trip to Bruges, I could almost smell the waffles and chocolate that are seriously unlike anything anywhere else.

- Lexie developing a friendship with her half-sister, Rachel. I liked seeing their relationship as half-sisters slowly turn into a friendship, but I just wish we ended up with more of the two of them together

This book has a little more of a serious and somber tone because the holidays aren't always holly and jolly in the real world. Lexie is thrown into the life her father had with his second family after his death. She has a lot to unpack and work through. She's been living her life through one narrative and it's hard to see other sides. I liked how she was able to open up and let other people help her.

I enjoyed the addition of international travel to the typical unexpected inheritance trope. This gave the characters the opportunity to interact in new locations and with new challenges. Overall this was a very enjoyable book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

This was an enjoyable enemies to lovers romance but I do wish there was more tension and build up between the main characters. I would say this is a light weekend read.

If you enjoy British contemporary romance, with the grit and heart that gets past the basic tropes, this one is for you. Lexie's deceased father's attempt at post-grave reconciliation is genuine and heart warming. The male love interest, Theo, is moody and cautious with Lexie and helps her see the man her father became after he abandoned her. All this emotional growth is lightened up with scenes of travel and celebration around Europe over the course of a year. There are a few lovely side characters and the villainous step-mother is off the page and even given a bit of a reprieve by the end. Emily Stone writes page turners with great pacing and delightful narrative and banter.
Pick this up anytime of year, not just during the winter festivities, for a travel-dotted homecoming story.
Thanks so much for the ARC!

A Winter Wish by Emily Stone. 4.25 stars!

I can be honest, I have never read an Emily Stone book but now she is most definitely on my radar. I really liked A Winter Wish. It was full of emotion, grief, honesty, yet equally balanced out with laughter, joy, and beauty. The build up for Lexie and Theo all the way to the very end is absolutely worth it. Also, Ange & Fran are incredible supporting characters, adding so much depth. A beautiful story with many layers that had me in tears from time to time. Definitely recommend.

I normally really enjoy Emily Stone books. This one was not my favorite. The overall concept using the travel company is what really peaked my interest and that part was enjoyable. It's a great setting/premise. But there were problems with the romance element. It felt a bit forced and there was a spark missing between the two main characters. I think this would be have been a better story overall without the addition of romance. Dealing with the complexities of grief of losing someone you had a complicated relationship with while showing growth and development is better without the addition of a lukewarm romance.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this book to read in exchange for my honest opinion.