I LOVE BIRDIE MAE AND NIC!!! This audio is absolutely PERFECT! I loved getting to revisit this little novella 🥹 it makes my heart SO HAPPY! It was one of the first Julie Olivia books I ever read!! So I’m grateful for the ALC!!


Thanks to Pen Pal PR for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!!

Looking for a completely Christmas read this year? Pick this one up. The Fake Santa Apology Tour was filled with humor and puns that made me chuckle. The plot flowed well and was quite interesting. I highly recommend the audiobook as well!

Thank you Julia for my gifted audiobook!

3.5 stars.

"The Fake Santa Apology Tour" by Julie Olivia is a pun-filled age-gap Christmas romp with great characters and a lot of chuckles. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a blast reading this book because I did. It is very fun, and will certainly put you in the mood for the season. It is a fast-paced, quick novella with lots of Christmas cheer in the form of multiple Santas, sorrys, silliness, and gift giving (*raises eyebrows up and down*). It's slightly kooky, but I didn't mind at all. There is also a little sentimentality here, too, which I appreciated to break up all of the jokes and romantic antics. The main characters, Birdie Mae and Nick, have excellent banter and chemistry with one another. I really liked the narrator, Isabelle Turner. She does a great job reading this book! It's not my favorite Julie Olivia tale, but it's still very good. I recommend it for all of your holiday reading needs!

Thank you to NetGalley, Julie Olivia, and Dreamscape Select for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I just finished a fun holiday book, and it really reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife! It's such a sweet story about two people who fall in love, proving that age is just a number. I loved how it captured the magic of their connection!

This novella was a quick, fun, and quirky read! I enjoyed the narrator a lot, she added so much depth to the characters. As with all of Julie Olivia’s books, this one was naughty and nice. The spice was just the right amount. If you enjoy the age gap trope, add this one to your TBR!

It was a good novella - I would have liked it better if it was dual POV. Nice length. This was my first book by Julie Olivia. I will be reading more.

This was a very cute Christmas story I knew who he was before she did though lol it was romantic and sweet and the epilogue was beautiful

The concept of this book is so wacky, I loved it! A Santa look-alike who hates Santa and a woman who only dates Santas is a weird match but it works here. I had so much fun with the concept and the characters. There's banter, age gap, small town vibes and a little bit of kinky spice. Plus tons of Christmas puns! What's not to love?

Narrator Isabelle Turner did wonderfully. I enjoyed her voice and thought she did a good job.

Would recommend if you are in the mood for a quick holiday novella with laughs and spice!

Such fun, interesting, and funny holiday story. The writing as always beautiful and meaningful with so many great quotes. The narrator did amazing job with this one! All voice changes are so good and perfect for this book.😍
If you looking for small town, holiday romcom with all fun Christmas themed moments this one is definitely for you 🎄

“What can I say? I like the idea of a fantasy man doing fantastical things. It’s all a lie in the end, but who cares? All men tell lies, after all. At least these guys are up front about theirs.“

Quite possibly my favorite Christmas book ever.

What I liked:

This is fun, short, sweet and delightfully steamy. I love Birdie Mae and Nick - the chemistry is palpable with these two.

The setting: the little town is so dang cute, and why do I want to try a peppermint beer now?

The narrator is fantastic.

What didn’t work for me:
Absolutely nothing.

The Fake Santa Apology Tour is a great small-town romance that will get you in the holiday spirit. When Birdie Mae was eleven, she had a run-in with a mall Santa Elf named Nickolas. Birdie Mae believes that day was a curse and it's the reason she hates Christmas as an adult.

The story picks up twenty years later, and thirty-one-year-old Birdie Mae is a published author and a serial dater of Santa Clauses. She usually dates them for a short time and then moves on, only to date a new Santa next holiday season.

Birdie Mae gets stranded in a small town on her way home for Christmas and when she goes into a bar for a drink her very own Christmas curse is her bartender. I enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers scenario. Nicolas tries so hard to find out why Birdie Mae is hesitant to date him and he really does a lot to make her feel good. He makes her start the Santa apology tour where she apologizes to Santas for everything she has done in a form of therapy.

My biggest hangup with this book is simply just a “me” problem. The beginning of the book is twenty years earlier, we know Birdie Mae is eleven but we don’t know Nicolas’ age. We know he is under 18 and older than 11 but old enough to work so my guess is 15-17. So let's just say 17 that would make him 37 during the story. He is just described as someone who looks so much older and I could not get past it.

Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape for the free ALC. My opinions are being left voluntarily. What a fun and unique Christmas book at first I didn't understand where it was headed or why we started in 1999 but understood the importance later on. The audio was well done. The length was perfect.

4.5/5☆

If cheesy was a book, this would be the one but it was still a fun time. The Fake Santa Apology Tour is a quick, Christmas read filled with fake Santa's and holiday cheer and humor. Admittedly, I likely would not have chosen this book if it was a full length novel but I liked it for what it was; short, sweet and to the point.

The narrator did a great job with this one and I enjoyed listening.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select | Julie Olivia for access to the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this book!!

What a great book! I enjoyed this one a lot!!! I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters. Great writing style!! This was a first by this author for me but will not be my last!