Spicy: R

Storee Taylor has been away from Kringletown for many a year; the perpetual yuletide cheer that she loved as a child just rubs salt in the wounds of her adult heart. And one of those is Cole Black, her great-aunt Cindy’s handsome neighbor. The boy she had such a crush on has turned into a bit of a Grinch actually. But when Storee and her sister return to Kringletown to help Cindy after a recent fall, Storee finds herself entered into the annual Kringle contest and she is determined to bring glory to her family name and take down Cole. Highjinks ensue along with stolen kisses and secret makeout sessions.

As this is a Megan Quinn book, you know it is going to be a fun, sexy holiday romance but it is also a sweet story about families, real and found. It’s about second-chances and coming to terms with your past. Though this is heavy on the Christmas theme, you can definitely read this anytime of the year. And I ready for the rest of the inhabitants of Kringletown to fall in love (e.g., I want Max’s story next).

If you want book to give your hoe hoe hoe vibes, this might be right for you. A scheming great aunt tells the family she is sick so her niece will come look after her OR her niece will enter into the town's Christmas competition and compete against her childhood crush that she would see every year at Christmas.

This cheesy, steamy, small-town holiday romance got high marks for leaning heavily into the Christmas spirit and traditions. I loved the Christmasey town and Christmas Kringle contest that served as a main plot point. I also liked how the tropes shifted throughout and kept me on my toes.


My biggest issue was the length. I didn't realize until this book that I don't believe a holiday romance should be longer than 400 pages. Time is not on our side in December—we're busy people—and all I really want from a holiday read is quick(ish) story.

Cole was kind of all over the place imo. He went from being moody, rude, and Grinchy (but not in the way you think once you learn his backstory) to being soft and sweet, but lots of spice.
The main side characters were really adorable and quirky.

The vibe and antagonist switched about halfway through and almost felt like a different book from the first half.

I really did enjoy this book, I was really in the Christmas mood this year!

Meghan Quinn's How My Neighbor Stole Christmas is a fun and humourous holiday romance! It does a great job at balancing the funny moments with the more serious ones, and had great characters throughout. Even the side characters are just as great as the main ones.

3.5/5

I laughed a lot. The grandmother was very well written.

Neighbours/enemies to lovers… secondish chance romance

The competition parts where sometimes too long and until they reconnected took some time but once they did…

Chefs kiss

This was a simply ridiculous bit of joy to devour over the holidays. Does any of the plot feel realistic? No. Does it need to? Also no. Great vibes, great time.

I don't usually hate books, and I do usually love Meghan Quinn's books, but hoo boy is this bad. I genuinely cannot think of anything good to say about this one. Thanks to Bloom Books and NetGalley for the early access for my honest opinion, I'm just sorry that my opinion is to bypass this book.

Thank you @read_bloom @netgalley for the review copy!

📖 Storee goes to stay with her great aunt to help her recover from an injury. While there, she gets roped into entering the annual Christmas Kringle contest. This doesn’t sit right with her aunt’s neighbor, Cole, so he enters the contest too, just to beat her.

💭 This one started out a bit slow for me, but once the Christmas competition started, I was hooked. It was so funny that I caught myself laughing more than once. I loved the banter between Storee and Cole. I loved the little Christmas town and all the holiday cheer. It got a little corny about halfway through and I wasn’t crazy about the epilogue, but I did really enjoy it. If you’re looking for a spicy and funny Christmas romcom, I highly recommend adding this one to your TBR.

📚Read this if you like…
Dual POV
Christmas competition
Enemies to lovers
Fake dating
Spicy 🌶️
Banter

Cute and quick holiday read! Loved their back and forth bantering and how funny they both were. The spice was great, though I expected a little more from that infamous candy cane scene 😝

If you are looking for a spicy, open-door, holiday romantic comedy, look no further! I saw a lot of buzz about this book on Instagram so I was determined to read it for myself. It features an enemies to lovers romance, fake dating, and a found family. I love that the story is centered in a small town that really gets into the Christmas season. The two main characters are competing against each other in a holiday competition to become the next Christmas Kringle of Kringletown. Even though they are competing, things quickly heat up and they find themselves unable to resist each other. I loved this book!

I didn't finish this book. It took me over 3 weeks to read 50% of the book before I finally accepted that I just needed to abandon it. While it was a cute concept and silly, it was SO slow and boring and the characters were all quite annoying and weird. The references to the grinch were fun and silly but got repetitive. The games were boring and slow. I heard the second half gets mega spicy and a little freaky but it wasn't enough to entice me to keep reading.

Very cute, Hallmark-y Christmas rom com! I enjoyed this and liked the neighbor romance. Would recommend!

Meghan Quinn is a great romance author! I always appreciate her zany characters and humorous writing. This book was decent, though it wasn't my favorite by her. Cute if you want a holiday romance to read. If you like Hallmark movies, this is a great pick for you!

I can always count of Quinn for some laughs and steam! This did not disappoint! She will forever be my go to for any holiday or sports themed read! 🎄🎅🏼🤶🏼

This was my first Meghan Quinn book and she is now one of my must read more Authors. HMNSC was hilarious, nostalgic, cozy, a perfect Christmas rom-com that wasn’t too cheesy. She did such a wonderful job tying in all of the Grinch references and I loved the little poems at the beginning of all of the chapters and throughout the book.

You know when you pick up a Meghan Quinn book, it’s going to have some spicy spice and this one is no different! What I loved most about this one was the extreme competition and hilarious banter between Storee and Cole. They both enter the Christmas Kringle competition determined to win and their antics had me laughing out loud! If you love enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, and witty banter, this one is for you!

Unfortunately this was not the Christmas romance for me. It had the promise of a fun and steamy holiday romcom, but it was lacking in both romance and comedy. In a hate to love romance I still want chemistry and tension between the mcs when they hate each other, but I didn’t get that from Storee or Cole. And then once they cross into being lovers, it was like a switch was immediately flipped and they went from 0-100 without any buildup or questioning what these new feelings are between them. One page they hate each other and the next they were in love. I also wasn’t a fan of the writing style and it felt a little cheesy which I think could’ve worked if I liked the plot and romance more.

This could have been amazing. But the way the two leads talked, I couldn’t. It was like two 13 year olds in adults bodies. It had so much potential to be the perfect holiday rom com, but needed less 13 year old angst and more adult edits

I have never read anything by this author, but I will be looking out for other books they write in the future. I really enjoyed the story as well as the pacing of the story.

Meghan Quinn is one of my favorite romance authors. I always appreciate her zany characters and humorous writing. This book was decent. It wasn't my favorite by her but cute if you wanted a holiday romance to read. If you like Hallmark movies, this is a great pick for you!