A sweet holiday romance, perfect to get you in the holiday spirit!

Publishers Synopsis:
When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.

Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.

My review:
A Winter Wish is a fantastic romance with true heart and emotions. The conflict and vulnerability that Lexie feels after the death of her father gives her character great depth and a fantastic arc. The contrast between her and Theo's experiences - and the impact of those differences - makes for an excellent plot. And the chemistry between her and Theo is palpable. Easily ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

Thank you to Emily Stone, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Emily stones Christmas novels. A great mix of grief along with romance. This one had a great story of grief of someone who already seemingly exited your life. The beginning was a bit slow for me but the way the story ended was lovely with her coming to terms and loving her father through her grief.

I thought I would have trouble getting into a holiday book while it is steaming hot outside, but this story was sweet. It wasn’t only a romance but dealt with grief and dealt with it well.

Thanks for the review copy. The cover is pretty. I love a good enemies to lovers novel, even better with a holiday like Christmas.

Unfortunately, this just wasn’t for me. I very much dislike the “miscommunication” trope. This book also seemed to drag on and on with the same thing (miscommunication) happening between the two characters. I’m sorry there’s a target audience out there for this one, but it’s just not me.

There are two emotional stories being told in this latest story by Emily Stone. One is the relationship the FMC has with her father and the one with the grouchy co-worker of her father. Theo and Lexie have been left a business started by her father to co-manage with stipulations on what happens after certain time periods.
I found this premise a little weak in terms of the reason that they were meant to be thrown together.
I found the father's attempts at making up for his mistakes a little bit too late.
So much "miscommunication" throughout (I seriously detest that trope) and I didn't really connect with the business as a whole (to understand the point of it).

The book bogs down in the middle and I found myself skimming over in places to get "on with it". The connection between the main character felt forced.
Overall, just didn't find this book all that satisfying.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an eARC. Lexie’s father just passed away and left her half of his travel business. He left her mother and her when she was a child and hasn’t spoken to him in years. Thrown into running a business with frustrating Theo has her questioning many things in her life. Does she want to continue her life of moving every 6 months or give running her father’s business a try. She starts to see there is more to Theo than she initially thought. There are cute comments with the romance and her traveling to different places for different holidays. Also there were hard moments with Lexie ignoring her trauma from her dad leaving. She was an unlikeable character many times and I was close to giving up on the story. Still feel more should have been spent on her appropriately dealing with her trauma since it’s such a big part of the book. Does have a cute ending but not a book I would read again.

Lovely story about Lexie and Theo who navigate work and life and all of their challenges. Strong character development. Happiness achieved for readers looking for a fresh story during the winter season.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having taken her first big trip at 3 years old, Lexie finds comfort in traveling and never staying in one place for too long. Until one day, she gets a call that changes everything. Her dad, who she’s barely spoken with as of late, has died and left her half of his holiday travel company.

Now Lexie is stuck for at least a year with Theo, her father’s handsome but ill-tempered executive who got left the other half of the company. As they spend the year determining what will become of the company, something else begins to bloom outside of a business partnership.

Could this be different? Could she actually stay in one place and feel comfortable? Maybe all she needs is a wish.

Loved this one. It’s not the same premise at all but I kept thinking about the movie The Leap Year while I was reading this one. This is definitely a VERY cute holiday read.

This is the kind of “romance” story I really like- where there are several other dramas going on whether it’s family stuff, career stuff or a mix of it all. Lexie is a very likable character and a good representation of women her age who are at a crossroads in their lives. An interesting inheritance makes this a fun and easy read.

A Winter Wish was a witty, emotional novel that I devoured in less than a day! It hooked me from the beginning with the charming cast of characters (hello Theo) and the journey of self-discovery that Lexie was bound to embark upon. I was expecting this to be your average romance novel, but it delivered in so many other ways. The detail of travel that allows for a few surprise twists and turns throughout, was one of my favorite additions to the storyline. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a sweet, touching read!

I appreciate the opportunity to read this before it is released; thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

I love a romantic comedy around Christmas time! This one got me excited! I really enjoyed Always, in December. I think Emily Stone is a good writer.
I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Lexie finds out her father, who she has not spoken to in a long time, has passed away and has left her his traveling company. Problem is that he also left half of the company to his employee, Theo. From the beginning, Lexie and Theo cannot not see eye to eye on the future of the company. But with time, the two just may be able to work together to help the company and at the same time, work out their feelings for each other.
I did enjoy the storyline I just felt that at spots, it dragged a little bit for me. Overall, A Winter Wish is a good holiday read.

#NetGalley #AWinterWish

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of A Winter Wish.

Lexie is a traveling wanderer who thrives on new places and meeting new people. She has an estranged relationship with her father that has causes abandonment and commitment issues for her to deal with. Theo had a fine childhood but it was not full of warmth and support which he grapples with as an adult. Together they are forced to run a travel company and they have to figure out eachother but also what they want for themselves.

Overall this was a sweet story with a minor Christmas/winter theme. It was a slow start but the end carried great emotion as the characters discovered themselves and processed their hurt.

A Winter Wish is the enemies-to-lovers story of Lexie and Theo. When Lexie’s estranged father passes away, he leaves his travel agency to Lexie and Theo and they, of course, can’t sell the business until they’ve run it successfully together for a year.

At the beginning of the novel Lexie was pretty immature and selfish and her growth came pretty late in the story. Theo wasn’t as fleshed out as a character and I wish we had learned more about him. The story was somewhat slow-moving but I stuck with it and enjoyed the book.

I liked that the agency planned trips around local holidays. I would have taken a couple of those trips!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House - Dell for an eARC. Opinions are my own.

This was my first Emily Stone novel and while speaking with other book club friends, they said this was not her best work. I do not have a frame of reference with that. This book was a quick enemies to lovers Christmas time romance. There was not a lot of character depth in my opinion and I didn’t relate with Lexie. Overall, the book was a cute read. Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! A Winter's Wish by Emily Stone is a charming holiday rom-com that can be enjoyed all year long. If you love a good 'enemies to lovers' troupe, you will enjoy the story of Lexie and Theo. The premise is fun and the novel is well written with well developed characters. If you're a rom-com fan, add this to you TBR!

This was a delightful, emotional novel that I enjoyed much more than I was expecting to. I thought I was in for a light winter romance, and while it is in part that, it's also a deeper book about grief, acceptance, and grappling with your own identity. Lexie wasn't my favorite narrator, but she was relatable in some ways, and it tugged at my heartstrings to read about her journey of discovering her late father and trying to learn how to forgive him. I also really liked some of the supporting characters, like Rachel and Ange. And, of course, Theo was a sweet, sweet man who I just fell in love with. The writing was good and I enjoyed the travel aspect of the storytelling. I'll definitely recommend this to friends when it comes out!

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to review this! I've loved Emily Stone and I am a big fan of Christmas in July reading, so this was right up my alley!
This story is a romance between Lexie and Theo, enemies to lovers who have inherited a company from Lexie's recently passed father that specializes in traveling around the world for holidays. First and foremost, I loved the company. This concept is so unique and I love that the author took celebrations from areas that aren't as well known. The romance itself was a real slow burn that was maybe PG-13 in spice: a few sentences here and there but otherwise relatively tame. I loved the interactions and snappy dialogue between Theo/Lexie: their transition was really believable, and their interactions never felt forced.
But at its heart, this story is about grief and fatherhood: what defines a father, how someone can be a father figure in different ways, how grief lives in each of us. I really enjoyed these concepts and thought it really anchored the story.

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: death of parent, strained family relationships

I felt like this story was a little more than a holiday romance. Did it have elements of Christmas in it? Yes, but what I really love about it is the travel destinations the characters take in this story and the story about mending relationships. Lexie’s dad has died all of a sudden and is leaving her his travel company but she doesn’t want it because she didn’t have the best relationship with her dad. He left their family, remarried, and she basically cut him off from her life. His death makes her revisit memories of her childhood with him, and how her love of travel actually stems from him. Lexie has a fear of commitment because of her dad but her stance is questioned when she meets Theo, who seemed to be close to her dad and worked for him.

Lexie has a lot of issues to deal with when it comes to her dad’s memory, her half-sister Rachel, and this new guy Theo. I love how the company becomes a found family for her though and maybe Lexie didn’t have a relationship with her dad, but she has a best friend in her mom. I enjoyed how the author tackled the issue of commitment and wanting to be free to move around as opposed to staying put in one place.

I thought the romance was cute and progressed nicely from rivals, to partners and to something more. I actually loved how they would travel to destinations together – I was thinking what a cool job to be working in a travel company!


Final Thoughts:

This was a fun, heart-warming, holiday romance story and I look forward to reading more from this author!