Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Ballantine Dell for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest romcom by Emily Stone. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Lexie's dad left when she was a child and started a new family. Lexie thrives by never staying in one place too long and is currently working as a nanny in the Alps. But her dad just died and Lexie finds out that he left her half of his travel company. But there are strings attached, because he left the other half to Theo, who worked with her father in the company. The will stipulates that they have to work together for a year before the company can be sold. To make matters worse, Rachel, her half-sister who was born after her dad left her and her mom, is back in the picture. Suddenly Lexie has to navigate new relationships while coming to grips with the past.

I'm not always a big romcom person, but I will read anything Emily Stone writes. This was definitely a book that focuses on family, resolving the past in order to move forward. I loved the idea of the niche travel company focusing on culture and traditions, as well as Lexie's wish jar. It's a fun holiday-themed book that will have you rooting on Lexie and Theo to make it both professionally and personally. Plus, it's a reminder that it is easy to form opinions and question people's actions when you don't know the real story. Put this one on your Christmas wish list!

This was a really sweet book about a girl coming to terms as to why her father left her and her mother and all of their holiday traditions. It’s not really Christmas-y, so don’t go into it thinking you’ll be filled with the holiday spirit. All of the characters were great, and I loved the wrap up at the end. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Opposites attract in this forced proximity holiday romance from British author Emily Stone. Like all her books, this story had a lot of emotional depth dealing with Lexi's grief over the death of her estranged father who leaves her half his travel company in his will. The catch is she has to run it for a year with her new co-owner, Theo. With travel to exotic locations, the two have to figure out how to coexist peacefully and end up falling in love along the way. This was a bit spicier than I expected from Emily Stone but I enjoyed it a lot. Still fairly tame on the spice scale but definitely not a totally closed door/fade to black completely situation. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very cute holiday read with a little bit of nurtured heartbreak sprinkled in.
Lexie’s relationship with her estranged father has created a wall around her heart. She lives the life sort of like a nomad, loves to travel, & doesn’t like to settle down. I guess she was more like her father than she liked to admit. When she inherited half of her father’s holiday travel company, she must find a way to overcome her inner turmoil to be able to move on in life. With her father’s protege, Theo, by her side, they find a way to exist peacefully…though it didn’t start that way.
I loved how they both found that misperceptions can be misleading. Finding a kindred spirit in each other, they both found that they could overcome their personal setbacks when another was there to support them.
My heart broke a little at the childhood & life memories that Lexie was robbed of. But seeing her experience her dreams & reconcile the things she thought she had lost brought a new joy to her life.

A Winter Wish
By Emily Stone
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
Release Date: Out Now! ❄️

This beautifully written story of finding yourself, grief, complicated relationships and forgiveness is a five star read from me. Lexie and Theo’s story is a beautiful blend of love and loss. The tension between them is tangible from the start and I loved watching their dynamic go from barely tolerating one another to something much deeper. Lexie’s biggest struggle being her father’s abandonment and her path to accepting forgiveness really pulled at my heart. That letter from her father .. my gosh I couldn’t help but tear up. I really enjoyed how everything came together and the meaning of it all.

If you love a slow burn emotional romance books then go check out A Winter Wish by Emily Stone!

Thank you @emilystonewrites , @randomhouse , & @netgalley for this ARC ❄️🩵

Emily Stone is the queen of emo holiday reads and A WINTER WISH was no exception.

What to expect:
-not a light holiday read
-enemies to lovers
-lots of fun places to add to your travel bucket list
-topics of grief and strained parental relationships

I really enjoy the depth to Stones holiday reads, but this one was missing something I can’t put my finger on. I think I just wasn’t as invested in the MCs relationship as I would’ve liked, but I still thoroughly enjoyed and would reco adding to your tbr 💚

Thank you Netgalley and Random House - Ballantine for the arc 🎄

The hatred, the tension, the push pull, the misconceptions, the judgment…it was all there for a perfect enemies to lovers but it was missing something…

Lexi’s estranged dad Richard just passed away and when she returns for the funeral she finds out that he passed along his travel business, R&L travel, to her and his co-worker, the infuriating and good looking, Theo. Per the stipulations in the will, they must both work at the company for one year and if they make a profit, then they can sell but if they don't make a profit they are stuck together for another 5 years. What is it with crazy clauses in Wills? Every book with a Will reading scene has some insane stipulation that drives the plot and I kinda like it.

Lexi doesn't want to be a part of the company, she resents her dad for leaving when she was seven and for letting her down time and time again her entire childhood and into her adult life, while he was the perfect father for his new family and her half sister, Rachel.

Theo judges Lexi from the start and thinks she is snotty and spoiled for not answering her fathers phone calls when he reached out to her. He only knows Richard as a great business person and mentor to him and cannot fathom why Lexi dislikes her father so much and is being a brat about the company.

With a little meddling from the company's assistant, Theo and Lexi find themselves on different R&L travel trips for the company to see if they can work together to make this company turn a profit. The jabs keep coming but when all the fighting leads to some passion, can Lexi and Theo keep it professional, especially since they dislike each other so much?

The banter when they were hating each other was so good and then when it turned into flirting, it lost its luster. It was kinda blah and disjointed. I didn't really feel the connection between the two main characters. Her emotions would turn on a dime and then she always felt guilty about how she felt. I wanted a little more gusto. He held a grudge for no reason and when she called him out he just apologized and everything was washed away. Like he got a fresh start for being awful. I wanted more groveling and him fighting to get into her good graces to prove he was a good person, not the judgmental one he started out as.

The most exciting thing about this book was the traveling and locations they visited. I wanted to go on these trips and be a part of the adventure they were on. They sounded amazing! Madrid, France, Ireland- sign me up. Unfortunately this meant I wasn't as invested in their romance as much. Overall, this book was still cute and enjoyable and dealt with some heavier themes. It's a nice weekend read over the holidays.

Thank you @prhaudio @randomhouse for a copy of this
Book.

Stone always knows how to bring out the emotions and she does it again in this story about Lexie who inherits half of their recent deceased estranged father's business. She must run it with Theo, who adored her father. They are naturally enemies and don't get along and must find a way to get along.

I thought it was interesting in how they grieved differently and the use of the travel agency to help Lexie understand her dad.

I enjoyed Meg Travers' narration with Lexie's POV and would have loved to have Theo's perspective on Lexie's dad.

3.5 stars

3.5 stars rounded up.
A Winter Wish is a cute holiday romance, perfect for those that love the slowest of slow burns. I do think I liked Love, Holly a bit more from this author, but it was still enjoyable. I do always love a book with lots of European travel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance release copy in exchange for a honest review

This is story about a lost woman finding herself after bring thrown into a strange situation. The FMC, Lexie is a single, world traveling woman whose life becomes turned upside down when her estranged father dies and leaves her his travel business.
While some of Lexie‘s behavior in the beginning seems petty, her feelings toward her father and family overall, is reasonable when it’s revealed how things came to be.
Theo, the MMC, seems charming, but is also unreasonably childish in the beginning. I do feel that the relationship development between Theo and Lexi seemed real.
While the beginning of the story was very slow and a little uninteresting, once Theo and Lexie are working together and attempting to be reasonable toward one another (and some of the backstory of Lexi’s dad and her half sister Rachel is revealed) the story becomes exponentially more interesting.
I think the character dynamic between Rachel and Lexie would’ve been a more more interesting direction if developed sooner. I think Rachel’s backstory with her father and her strained relationship with her mother was very interesting perhaps more so than Lexie’s struggles. I think that Rachel history with her family is far more complicated than Lexie, although both seemed to struggle.
Overall, I really enjoyed the story and would have liked for the descriptions of the locations to be a little bit more detailed, but overall the story did make me cry and for that I’m giving you an extra star.

This was an okay holiday novel. I like the premise and the trace company sounds interesting. I’m not a huge fan of enemies to lovers trope as it’s usually way too quick of a turn around from “hate” to “love.” The pacing was a little slow for me, especially for a holiday romance. Gotta say this was just so so to me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Lexie hasn’t spoken to her father in a decade, so his death and half-ownership of his holiday travel company catch her off guard. To make matters worse, the other half belongs to the brooding executive Theo. Forced to work together, their simmering tension ignites in Spain, leaving Lexie questioning both business and pleasure.

The writing wasn’t extravagant, but it felt remarkably exquisite- sweet yet bitter, heartwarming with grit, and unadornedly festive. Though the story takes place over a course of a year, its cozy sentiment captures the winter season’s nostalgia with ease. This is the type of story you choose to read slowly under a warm blanket during a storm. There’s no rush. And the characters don’t rush either. While I didn’t hate them, I was frustrated a few times with their lack of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, Lexie’s relationship with grief for her estranged father was moving, I just wish the rest of the plot—especially the romance—balanced the tone with joyous romance.

I don’t normally feel the need to numerically break down my rating, but I could not decide what to think of this book, so here I went:

Atmosphere/setting: 4.5
Characters: 3
Plot: 3
Pacing: 3
Enjoyment: 3.5
Writing style: 4.5
Cozy holiday vibes: 4.5

3.71 so… 3.5 :)

I think Mag Travers’ narration contributed greatly to my interpretation of the story’s tone.

Perfect for you if you like:
Complex family grief
Witty but subtle chemistry
Cozy globetrotters

Similar to:
A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss
Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis (DNF)
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

⛔️chapter 26 contains explicit romance scene (open door)
⚠️explicit language (infrequent), grief, past child abandonment, death of father

This one disappointed me. I just couldn’t engage with it. Although there are moments in the story that take place at Christmas, I wouldn’t call it a Christmas book. It just didn’t give me that feel-good Christmas vibe. It may be because a big part of the focus is on parental abandonment and dysfunctional families and the complicated grief of losing the father Lexie was estranged from, but it could also be that it featured one of my least favorite themes: a main character running away from attachments for fear of getting hurt, which just means they end up living a lonely, shallow existence. I guess I’m just not in a good headspace to deal well with emotional trauma due to bad parental decisions.

So, my 3* rating is more reflective of my personal feelings than it is about the quality of the writing or the appeal of the book to other readers. With her first three books (all of which I rated 5*), Stone has earned a reputation as an author to follow, so I definitely think A Winter Wish will find a very receptive audience and I’ll look forward to her next book.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Dell through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my voluntary and honest review!

A Winter Wish was a really sweet story about taking chances and making amends. I was immediately taken by the characters and their relationships. The pacing of the second half of the book was exponentially faster than the first, and for that I dropped a star. Would have loved to see more development in the second half because I really liked this story! Pretty minimal spice but still a fun love story.

I may be in the minority on this book but it wasn't my favorite. I just found it difficult to relate to the characters.

3.5/5

Upon her estranged Father’s death, Lexie inherits half of his travel company. She wants no part of it, her partner wants to keep it. But, there are stipulations before anything can be done. Lexie is faced with growing up, forgiving and moving on.

I always look forward to Ms. Stone’s holiday books, they give me the feels and put me in the spirit. For some reason, this book didn’t quite do it for me. I’m not sure if it was the enemies to lovers trope (which can sometimes be a hard sell for me). I just didn’t feel the connection between Lexie and Theo and can’t say I was cheering for them to get together. I did appreciate Lexi’s character development and found the difficulties of her situation realistic, but the characters as a whole, lacked depth. The grief journey is different for everyone and this book highlighted it perfectly without being overly depressing. The travel company idea was an original and fun concept.

Still, I enjoy this author’s work and look forward to her next book. Thanks to Dell Romance and NetGalley for this ARC.

I did enjoy reading this and love the holiday vibe, but the enemies to lovers trope didn't work for me this time around. Enemies to lovers can be difficult - realistically how do you go from hating someone one day and loving them the next? But, when an outsider can see the sparks flying through the banter, it makes for a fun book. I did not feel the chemistry - I found that the interactions between the characters were childish and annoying. All that being said, I loved the story line. I loved the personal growth and changes in this book. I loved that Lexie learns that she has inherited half of her estranged (and now deceased) father's travel business. As she has not settled down yet, this is a big and surprising change. I loved experiencing a change in life and family and all the emotions that accompany these changes. Although parts of this book did not hit the mark, I overall enjoyed reading it.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

I really enjoyed this one! I think what I loved the most was that it didn’t feel “Hallmark” Christmas to me, because of the complex characters. Theo and Lexie endured grief, while overcoming past traumas. Watching them do that was amazing and brave. I rooted for them, and for the way that this story concluded. I loved how it all came together, and the meanings of it all. This is absolutely one to add to your Holiday TBR!

Quick 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.”

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced copy!

I really enjoyed this book. It had a unique and different story line for a Christmas romance but was really cute. It's not only a story about romance but a heartwarming story about family, trust and finding people you belong with. Lexie and Theo were alot alike but disagreed on keeping the travel business. There was a good bit of character growth as the book went along. Also a lot of emotion and feelings especially for Lexie with the death of her dad. This holiday read is well written and will tug at your heartstrings and hold your interest to the very end.

Such a great book, though at times I wanted to shake some sense into the two main characters. In December Lexie finds out her estranged father, Richard, has passed and left her with half of his company and the other half to one of his aspiring employees, Theo. They are required to work thr business for a year and turn a profit before any discussions of selling the business can commence.
Lexie struggles most of the book with her feelings towards her father. He left her and her mom for a new family when she was seven. Lexie never processed his leaving and thus flits around from job to job never putting down roots in order to protect herself from getting hurt.
Theo has never lived up to his parents high standards and has always felt like a disappointment. Prior to working at the travel agency he would also flit around from place to place and job to job. Richard was thr first person to believe in him.
Both Lexie and Theo have to come to terms with their past and learn communication can sometimes be the broken link that would have fixed some of their problems.