Short and not so sweet! This was spicy from start to finish. A fun lil romp around the holidays in classic Tessa style! It was a fun lil escape and I look forward to reading the other novellas.

📖 ARC/ALC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @brillancepublishing and @amazonpublishing for an early copy of Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐/5
Release date: November 12th, 2024

Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220389465-merry-ever-after?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Td9tZ231sG&rank=2

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑


I haven’t read a Tessa Bailey in a while, and I am reminded of why I stopped reading her works. While she does write the smut on this one quite okay, I feel like they’re a bit too much in this short story that the main characters’ emotional connection doesn’t shine through, it’s like they’re just lustful for each other and nothing else. The story is already too short for what it is so I was looking for substance and emotional depth and connection between Luke and Evie, but none of that was in this novel, just a lot of insta-love and emphasis of how big ang huge Luke is.

And goodness, if you tell me this is a Christmas romance, at least make it Christmas-y! A romance set during Christmas time isn’t a Christmas romance unless there’s an extra flair of Christmas about it!

Thankfully, this is the second book in the series and not the first; I would have been thrown off and not read the entire series altogether if this one came first.

Will continue steering clear of Tessa Bailey’s works; I think her writing is just pure smut at this point.

Giving two stars because I did enjoy the narrators’ voices here, especially Luke’s; his super deep voice actually translates to how much the book emphasizes on how “big” and “huge” his character is.

OMG... here for the giant farmer with the ripped jeans and the baby whispering softness and the immediately he falls first vibes. I'm in love with Luke. He's got a little blush and a big heart, and that's all it takes for Evie to question all of the walls she's built. She's trying to be a good single mom, but when she sees how well her son responds to being cocooned by the giant farmer man with the giving heart, she puts herself out there. It's a risk that's worth taking for a merrily ever after.

Adding that Connor Crais is SUCH A GOOD FARMER LUKE, this will be a fun one to revisit each holiday season! I'm not sure if I've ever listened to Summer Morton narrate before, but she was a solid narrator as well!

Whether you read or listen, if you love Tessa Bailey, this will be an instant yes please!

Thanks to Brilliance Publishing for the ALC and Amazon Originals for the eARC.