Let me start this off by saying, have you seen the Target Santa commercials?! This was adorable and such a fun, unique take on a Christmas romcom! I will admit, at first I wasn't sure how I felt about reading a story where the MMC has a thing for santas, but this was fulled with fun banter, spicy hot scenes and just the right amount of feels.

It has:
✨small town romance
✨banter
✨age gap
✨Christmas puns.

Narrator Review: The narrator was fabulous and it made the book even better in my option!

Thank you Julia and team for my ALC.

The Fake Santa Apology Tour is a fun and pretty silly holiday novella! Novellas like this work a little bit better for me when they're pretty spicy. While this one did have spice towards the end, there was just a lot going on and I wasn't necessarily super in the mood for the silly premise at the time I listened.

Thank you to Dreamscape Select for the ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’ve only read a few of Olivia’s previous releases (a couple of the Honeywood theme park ones), which I liked. I definitely need to read more of her titles! I enjoyed this one and it reminded me that I keep meaning to go back and pick up all her other titles, which I’ve already purchased several of…

The Fake Santa Apology Tour was short (not quite novella short), and a quick and easy read, but it sure packed in a lot in those few pages! It had a lot of drama and emotion, which I definitely didn’t expect from the blurb I breezed over.

Birdie Mae had a traumatic experience as a child, which all began after an encounter with delivering a letter to Santa at age 11, and meeting Nick, who assisted her in her stealthy delivery to the mall Santa. After the terrible life that followed, she only dated fake mall Santas, until the day she happens to run into “him” again, across the country in the most unlikely place and situation. She has to figure out how to forgive him, apologize to the fake Santas she dated (not them, but stand-in substitutes), and forgive her traumatic past... and Nick, who she always blamed for everything.

A beautiful story, extremely unique and unexpectedly emotional, steamy and fantastic! Definitely a great recommendation for the holiday TBR. I’m glad she’s finally had it released in audio, even if it took a few years. Narrated by Isabelle Turner, I enjoyed this new-to-me voice.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the advance listen copy. This is my honest opinion.

I am on the fence either way this one. I liked the writing and the characters but the romance was a little off for me. I had a hard time getting the image of an old Santa out of my head. Great narrator.

📚 The Fake Santa Apology Tour by Julie Olivia
🎧 Format: Audiobook
🎙️ Narrated by: Isabelle Turner
📕 Genre: Novella, Contemporary Romance
📖 Read: December 2024
✨ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

‧₊˚✧ 𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑺 ✧˚₊‧
ꕥ Small Town
ꕥ Holiday Romance
ꕥ Snowed In

This didn't quite work for me, but I liked the writing and there were a few funny moments. For a novella, the plot was a bit complicated and very weird.

I didn’t mind the narration, I thought that was pretty well done.

Overall, this had cute moments, but at the end of the day it was kinda forgettable.

𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥.𝘢𝘯𝘥.𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨/

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Select and Julie Olivia for giving me the opportunity to listen to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is one of my favorite holiday novellas!
It's so unique and fun.

I read the ebook last year and was excited to listen to the audiobook.
🎧 audiobook thoughts - Isabella Turner did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. Her narration added to and enhanced the story for me.

📖 story thoughts:
I totally adored this Christmas novella 🎄
The banter was spot-on and it was just super fun overall!

I definitely wouldn’t call this a second chance romance , since Birdie Mae is 11 when they first meet 😂 I love that they both had such an impact on each others’ lives without even knowing it.
While it’s nearly impossible they’d actually meet up again like they did, I loved Nicolas & Birdie Mae’s history & present stories.

It’s a challenge to tell a full story with a novella, but this one got it right!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my #gifted ALC.

3.5 stars

A cute Christmas Novella with some cheesy moments.

Birdie meets Nick briefly as an 11 year old trying to sneak a letter into Santa’s pocket at the mall. An encounter she’ll never forget.

Years later she’s heading to a Christmasy small town looking for inspiration on writing her newest spicy Santa book. She encounters Nick again and her world is briefly flipped upside down.

I loved the chemistry between Birdie and Nick. They each carried emotional baggage that had affected their past relationships and I loved watching them work through it together.

Her apology tour was a little cheesy for me.

Romance Content: 2 Open-door scenes

Thank you Net galley for this advanced copy. I expected a cute Christmas story with the title and cover but the story didn’t hook me in. It has a Groundhog Day feel and a tad too graphic for me. The story line was cute just not for me.

This was an enjoyable holiday themed novel. I thought the narrators did a wonderful job bring the story to life. I thought the author did well tackling deeper emotional trials while maintaining levity.

I love the time of year when Christmas novellas drop!
The Fake Santa Apology Tour was a cute, quick listen and I enjoyed it. However, it definitely felt like a Hallmark movie which I know some people are super hesitant about (but not me!) I wish the chapters had varied in perspective but I understand why they didn't; that's just a personal preference.
It was definitely something fun and light-hearted. I'd recommend it to anyone trying to get in the Christmas spirit (especially if you like the idea of a flirty bartender but make him look like a hot Santa.)

Thank you to Dreamscape Select and Julie Olivia for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

this audio was cute cute cute! I love Julie’s writing style. it’s all the vibes of a Christmas shortie. whimsical and sweet and steamy! loved it.

3 Stars I don't think I've ever heard the word "Santa" so many times lol The Fake Santa Apology Tour is a fun holiday novella and one of the most interesting Christmastime stories I've read. I liked the characters, but because it is a novella we didn't get too much into their backgrounds. I would've loved to have explore more about why Birdie Mae had a love of Santas and for more time to see them fall in love since it was rather quick. A fun read!

It started with a crazy concept but it all made sense and I loved the originality of the storyline!

We follow Birdie Mae as she rights all the wrongs to her santas of Christmas past. After being cursed with bad christmases she has had a spate of temporary flings with men that dress up as Father Christmas. It seems to be her “thing” and let’s not yak someone’s yum 🤣

Turns out the Santas she dated were pretty young and hot under the costumes !

She meets Nick, the store elf who cursed her all those years ago and they both head on a journey for Birdie Mae to clear the negative Santas out of her system.

The storyline was crazy but I was on board!

Filled with festive fun and romance, why the hell not !


The tea ☕️

🎄- festive romance
🏘️ - small town
❤️ - opposite’s attract
🦊 - silver fox MMC
#️⃣ - age gap
🌶️- 1.5/5

I can not even begin to tell you how adorable this book was! Just incredibly darling. Loved every page! Highly recommend.

Julia Olivia is my queen of cozy, feel good reads- so having her have a Christmas book is basically a cozy explosion! And this was so cute, and such fun premise. I mean a spicy Santa-niche romance writer who only dates Santas and a man with some Santa vibes who actually HATES Santa? You know it's gonna be full of banter and fun.

Heroine Birdie is aficionado- not only does she write spicy Santa books, but she exclusively dates men of the Santa variety...mall Santas, stripping Santas, actor Santas, you name it. So when she meets Nicholas, the sexy older bartender with Santa white hair and beard, a man who now loves Christmas, he could be a great catch. Except....the man hates Santa.

This novella is so fun and sweet- and like most Julia books has a charming and impactful emotional layer to it as well. This is not overly spicy (and it's a super slow burn), but the romance and banter and humor and heart are all so delightful. It's full of small town antics, some Christmas magic, and that trademark Julia Olive quirky charm.

The audio is a great listen. The book is all mostly one POV (with Nicholas getting one chapter at the end), so the single narration works well for this one (though I'd love to have heard Nicholas' voice lol). Isabelle Turner brings lots of humor but also a lot of heart to the performance, and really beautifully brought this fun romcom novella to life.

This is a wonderful holiday book! Full of Christmas fun, cheer and love. I'm so glad I got to read it!

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Select for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly this was a fun little novella! I wasn’t sure what exactly to think when I read the synopsis but it was fun! I think the novella length was also perfect for this story.

I could see this being a hallmark or Netflix holiday movie as our FMC goes around apologizing to fake Santa’s about her ex boyfriends who were all fake Santa’s. And our MMC helps her do it. I also thought this was a good reminder of how the same experience/interaction can vastly affect different people like it did here when our MCs met 20 years ago.

This one is out now and available on hoopla and maybe Libby? Thank you to the author, netgalley, Penpal PR and dreamscape for my gifted copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

This was cute. A fun twist on the usual Santa smut. I enjoyed the setting and how they both kept their cards close to the best so to speak. The ending was absolutely adorable. I’m glad it wasn’t any longer than it was and the narration was done well.

I loved this Christmas novella by Julia Olivia. It’d been on my list of Christmas books to read since last year so I was so excited to receive the audiobook of it. Julia Olivia is one of my auto-buy authors and this one was another beautifully written rom-com. The perfect way to start the holiday season.

"Yes, here he is, old Saint Nicholas with blue eyes and dimples ready to slay harder than a knight after a dragon."

If you like lighthearted, funny, and emotional holiday romances with a touch of forced proximity and miscommunication, this is the book for you!

"The Fake Santa Apology Tour" gave me an enemies to lovers trope, which is a trope I love to read, again and again. With its quirky, laugh-out-loud, and slow-burn spicy romance, this novella might be the perfect addition to your holiday reading list.