This is the second in the First Responders series by Adele Buck. This can be read as a stand alone, but some of the characters are introduced in the first book.

Thea is an ex-firefighter turned social media coordinator for the fire department. Simon is a Librarian and the social media coordinator for the libraries who has been contracted to teach Thea the world of social media. As the two work together they realize they went to high school together and Thea was Simon’s high school crush. I did like how Simon really helped Thea learn how to best film videos and make posts for the fire station’s social media. I could tell that he really cared about her. I didn’t love that their past, especially high school issues, was brought up often, but they did have to work through their issues then to grow in the future.

The characters deal with complicated relationships with family and friends, job insecurity, and mental health struggles. Both characters had a lot of emotional baggage to work through as they grew. Communication between Thea and Simon is a struggle at first, but gets much better as the characters develop throughout the book.

Both families holiday traditions play a roll in this book. They struggle the demands of family and have to decide what is best for themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

CW: Very spicy and mild language

It was such a cute and fun read. It was easy to follow and had a great array of characters. I look forward to reading more by the author

A cozy low stakes holiday romance.

I think a lot of readers will relate to Thea. She is trying to find a new career and she is being helped by Simon. They get off to a rocky start but after their communication issues are resolved their romance blossoms. I found them to be cute.

Not much happens plot wise but I think that worked for the type of story this was. It's meant to be read on a winter night and give you the warm fuzzy feelings. It's a cozy read.

There are some steamy scenes but nothing explicit.

This is a second book in a series but can be read as a standalone.

A lovely read that will be perfect for the holiday season.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and lovable. The pacing was perfect and left you wanting to read more. I can't wait to read more by this author!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a good book!!! Such a good story and great writing style. This was my first by this author and will not be my last! Such a cute holiday romcom!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Their romance was light-hearted and fun, and I appreciated that even though they appear so different at first glance, they're similar where it counts and appreciate their differences.

A lot of components of the novel really resonated with me, a thirty-two year own Italian-American Librarian, so it was fun to have a book consist of so many references that I could identify with.

One glaring issue that I left in a note for the publisher is completely overlooking Christmas Eve and the Feast of Seven Fishes as a major Italian tradition. So many other little details about Italian-American culture were presented and authentic, but missing this one in a holiday romance was so obvious and weird. It's the only thing holding me back from offering five stars, but it's been really bothering me. I understand that Thea and Simon spending Christmas Eve together is important to the plot, however even mentioning the tradition and/or why her family doesn't do it anymore would be a lot less weird than omitting the tradition completely after spending 80% of the book talking about Italian-ness.

This was alright. I enjoyed the reversal of typical/'traditional' roles -- ie the woman was the firefighter, the man was the librarian & social media coordinator. The characters were alright, but it just didn't stand out to me. There wasn't really a spark to the relationship. The dialog was a bit stilted and I do LOVE communication... but it felt almost too in your face like 'look we are communicating' as they grew closer. It was OK. It was pleasant enough to read, but I wouldn't rave about it to a friend or press it into someone's hands to buy or borrow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This may sound silly but, it feels like if "grammar nazis" was still a socially acceptable term, but there was a literary form of it, that would be our characters in this book. We have an ex-firefighter and a librarian, both of whom will bring up things like "gender essentialism" and the word "literally" as it is used colloquially - and these two phrases came up...multiple times within the first few pages. Like, mention it once offhand, fine, I get it, we have a grumpy librarian who is presumably a stickler for these things, but I felt like the multiple mentions really stuck out to me.

That being said, I do love a good ole' back-in-the-day high school crush scenario - and the characters in the novels each individually feel very real and fleshed out. Their hopes, dreams, fears are all well-represented in a way that feels reminiscent of an Abby Jiminez novel. The two are forced together for a social media campaign for the town, whilst battling the evil forces for a conservative old librarian who seeks to thwart at every turn.
This book was well written and thoughtful, even if the characters felt..a tad unrealistic in their speech (see above). Definitely a recommend for Abby Jiminez fans who want that touch of serious sentimentalness.

There are times in life when you need a low stakes cozy romance. The Anti-Social Season certainly touches on tough topics like anxiety and the trauma of life as a first responder, but only with gentle strokes. If you are a reader that prefers more teeth to a story, this is not a novel would that recommend. It portrays the growing relationship between a former female firefighter turned social media creator and the reserved librarian whose job it is to show her the ropes.

Not a lot seems to happen, but sometimes that's okay. This book is a cozy hug, especially if you're having a bout of anxiety yourself. The story has heart, but lacks depth. Overall, it was still an enjoyable time. I would rate it at a 3.5, but am averaging it up because comfort reads can be hard to find and this one delivers on that need.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this charming story!

So this the second book in Adele Black’s first responder series. And honestly, I liked Fake Flame a lot more. This one is the story of Thea and Simon. They went to high school together. He had a crush on her and she doesn’t remember him. They are working together to train her to be a social media coordinator for the ES department. The amount of weight they put on who the other was in high school is a bit much given they are in their 30s now. But overall there just wasn’t enough conflict to keep me engaged. It’s is two people that meant through work that date it just fell a little flat. But again I loved Fake Flame, so I will absolutely check out the next one in the series. (I read an ARC).

As someone who used to work as a social media coordinator who started off knowing NOTHING about it, I resonated with this book. The dialogue between characters needed a bit of work but overall I enjoyed it and loved the romance themes.

This was such a cute and spicy holiday romance. The characters were very relatable and likeable. I loved their love story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This is the second book in Adele Buck’s First Responders series. The first, Fake Flame, was a fun read that I read and reviewed earlier this year. And the Anti-Social Season carried through on the tone of the first book. As with many romance series, reading the prior book is not required to follow along, but it is fun to see past characters again.


Thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.


The book moves right into the action of the novel. Complicated family relationships, mental health, and job insecurity are all dealt with throughout the book. The narrative switches between Simon and Thea’s points of view, which is helpful as miscommunication or misreading is a frequent problem for them.


I didn’t fall in love with this book and Simon and Thea. The dialogue felt a bit flat for me. And their past in high school is brought up quite a lot. Both are in their 30s and Simon, at least, seems to still dwell quite a lot on high school, even though he has put in obvious work to be different from that time in his life. And with all the emotional baggage that both characters confront, their quick progress in moments of emotional turmoil to physical intimacy honestly feels unwise, like neither has the opportunity to process their emotions or even really think about what they need to communicate to the other. However, the author clearly does try to avoid that or show the progression of the characters as they start to recognize the pitfalls that are tripping up their relationship. I wish the book was longer so that there was more time for things to develop, such as the processing of the emotional changes and the side characters who are only very briefly seen but seem quite fun.


This is definitely a Winter Holiday romance. Both mention and celebrate family holiday traditions, especially Thea’s Italian ones. They have many cute moments and there is a lot of sweetness in this book as they navigate job stress and family drama. Thea and Simon clearly care about each other. This is a quick, fun holiday read with a good deal of spice.

As a person who loves social media and then hates it the next moment, this book was so entertaining. I liked the characters being forced to work with one another and the attraction between them. I think Buck did a great job with the overall pacing of the story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Great cover as well!

Second book in the First Responder series. I have not read the first book, and I don’t think it was needed (although I may go back and read it now).

Thea and Simon knew each other in high school, but not well. Now adults, Simon is assigned to help Thea learn more about social media for her new job. They don’t really seem to connect at first, but once they learn to communicate better, things start to align. Lovely holiday romance plus some steamy scenes.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for The Anti-Social season to come out October 22, 2024.