When the first book ended and I read the description for this one, I have to say I was really intrigued. I couldn't picture where the author was going with this, but it worked out for the best. It's one of those rare times where I think the sequel is better than the first entry.

The first book leaves us knowing that Kris is heartbroken after unknown events occur with Iris, his best friend and love interest for the first book. Fresh off of that, this book picks up only a few months later and we see both the winter holiday negotiations wrapping up and Kris trying to understand what his role in Christmas is now that his brother is in charge.

A lot of this book centers around self discovery and comes with many complex and raw emotions including anxiety, depression, self loathing, and panic attacks. The portrayal of mental illness is handled rather well and it was really relatable to my own college years.

Loch is introduced as the new romantic interest and there's an enemies to lovers plot going on here. I'm not going to lie, I ate that up. The romance, the angst, the conflict are all pretty juicy and up my alley. It's very Hallmark-esque in how smoothly things go throughout the book, but if you're here you know that from the first one anyway.

I will say, my biggest issue is that the main course of plot events takes place in less than a week. It's very rapid in terms of developing a connection and I wish it had been fleshed out across a longer period of time.

That being said, I enjoyed this so much. It was a nice guilty pleasure read and I hope the author revisits this world again. I love how creative it is and there's a lot of opportunities to expand on other holidays that I'd love to see.