So, I read the ebook of Holiday Hostilities by Katie Bailey, and I loved everything about it. Katie is one of my go to authors so when the audiobook came out, I jumped at the chance to listen to it. The audiobook was fabulous. I felt the narrators brought Olivia and Aaron to life in such a beautiful way. They made the humor, tenderness, and swoon found in Katie’s writing shine.

Aaron and Olivia have known each other since they were teenagers when Olivia’s brother Jake became Aaron’s best friend. When Olivia moves to Atlanta to be near Jake, she is not happy to be near Aaron too. Olivia hates Aaron. She thinks Aaron is a womanizing playboy with a huge ego. Olivia believes Aaron hates her too.

Aaron knows Olivia hates him, but he isn’t sure why. He does NOT hate Olivia. He actually loves to push her buttons and get reactions out of her. He loves every interaction he has with her.

When Aaron offers to help Olivia with a problem in exchange for helping him with something, Olivia starts to question all her opinions about Aaron.

The banter, teasing, and chemistry in this book were on point. I adored both Aaron and Olivia from the first page. I laughed and smiled throughout the book. I also swooned too.

Aaron’s voice was so perfectly masculine. He really embodied how good and kind Aaron was through his voice while also showing how Aaron was a hot pro hockey player.

Olivia’s voice was so good. Her pacing and tone perfectly matched the vision I had for Olivia when I read the book.

The audiobook is so well done and perfectly complements this fabulous story. I need to listen to more audiobooks by these narrators. They were so good.

I really liked this cute holiday romance story! It was cute, swoon-worthy, and laugh out loud funny, and I was hooked from the beginning

I really enjoyed this hockey romance! It refreshingly defies the usual grumpy-sunshine dynamic, with the male main character taking on the golden retriever role and the female main character as the grump. This fresh twist on the trope adds a unique charm to the story.

There were quite a few moments in the book that truly had me laughing, and I often found myself smiling while reading. The banter throughout is a definite highlight and keeps the story light and engaging.

The characters grow and develop naturally as the story unfolds, with more layers of their personalities revealed along the way.

The Christmas aspect of the book also stands out—it’s not what you’d typically expect in a festive story, offering a refreshing take on the holiday theme (no spoilers here!).

I listened to this in audiobook format and found the narrators to be a perfect fit for the characters. They were enjoyable to listen to and really brought the story to life.

Even when two people find themselves at odds, deep down they sense a connection that binds them. It's only through open communication and vulnerability that their love can truly blossom. A character who once appeared indifferent can transform into a deeply caring individual, showing that understanding and empathy can break down even the toughest barriers.

I own this book in every format. Katie Bailey never misses. The audio of this added such dimension to the characters. Narration was crisp & clean, easily adaptable to different speeds, too. 5 stars all around!

I LOVED this audiobook! The narrators were great and the love story was great! I love tension and build up and this one had it! Plus the reverse grumpy x sunshine was great!

Hockey romance
Christmas timing
Childhood rivals to adult enemies-to-lovers
Brother's best friend
Reverse grumpy x sunshine
Fake dating
Golden retriever boyfriend
Clean romance

I loved this audiobook! Usually I shy away from holiday-themed books because they feel rushed or like a money-grab, but this is a fully fleshed out story that just happens to take place at the holidays. The story centers around Olivia, a flight attendant who despises the holidays due to some childhood trauma, who moves to Atlanta in order to be closer to her brother who plays on the Cyclones hockey team. The two of them grew up with Aaron, another player on the team who Olivia has always low-key hated, who offers Olivia the use of his home while the team is on an extended road trip. I loved Aaron and Olivia and all of the Cyclones teammates and truly hope that Bailey writes more of this series with the other players and not necessarily at Christmas. Now I'm off to make sure that my library buys some! Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the listen in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me an audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I will say that I enjoyed this book - Olivia and Aaron had nice tension, especially with their history of "hating" each other, and I found myself liking their chemistry. Overall, this book fell flat for me. I was skeptical when I realized it was a fade-to-black romance (on top of being a holiday romance) since I don't read many, but I've enjoyed them in the past, so I read on.

I will say that the conflict in this book did not do it for me - why didn't Aaron and any of the other athletes get a restraining order against Brandi? She was literally stalking and harassing him???

I wish we had also gotten more time with the plot instead of just one week - things didn't feel like they were progressing naturally to me. The declaration of love felt too rushed for me and I couldn't keep myself in the story.

Overall, it was a nice holiday read and it was cute, but it wasn't my favorite.

This was such a great book, and the audio was so so good! Katie Bailey is a new favorite of mine, thank you so much for the chance to listen to Holiday Hostilities. It's going to be a yearly read and listen now!

I love this series & this team! Holiday Hostilities is book two in the Cyclones Christmas series, with Season’s Schemings being book one. A connected set of side characters are also in the adjacent book, The Quit List, which technically falls between these two stories. However, you could pick up Holiday Hostilities and fully enjoy reading it without having read either of the other two books I just mentioned.

I loved that this was an enemies to more story, yet it was actually partly an unrequited love story on Aaron’s end, as he had been interested in Olivia, his best friend’s younger sister, since high school. This book had such great banter and some beautiful and pivotal moments between the two. I adored the way Olivia’s eyes were opened to who Aaron really was. Once Aaron and Olivia began to spend time together and then opened up about the past and the misconceptions they both had, their communication began to be one of the best things about the story.

Olivia had some huge hurts from her childhood that had followed her for years. Aaron was able to help her confront those things and rewrite the way she saw the holiday season. I loved the way he was there for her in any way she needed him to be.

I listened to the audio book version, which was very nicely narrated. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sweet, closed door romcoms from this series have a little bit of language in them, however, it is still very minor and only occurs occasionally.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is book 2 in the Cyclone Christmas. Funny enough I was reading book 1 "Season's Scheming's" when I got approved for this Arc so it was meant to be. You don't have to read book 1 it follows different people each book. But why wouldn't you read both.

This was a fun holiday book (which I don't normally read holiday type books beside this December I've read maybe a handful) but it isn't fully a Christmas book just takes place around the holiday season. Olivia and Aaron have known each other since high school where they got along cause he's her brothers best friend and after 1 party everything has changed and she has hated him ever since and its his mission to pick on her at every chance. Oliva has decided to move to where her brother lives and plays hockey with you guessed it Aaron also plays for. As she settles into her new city and her new roommates from hell she gets into a grove and getting to see her brother more and unfortunately Aaron. But when a stalker is making Aarons life a living hell he needs help and the only option he sees is Oliva to help cause she hates him so theres no one there could ever be feelings.

What could go wrong? or Right?

This is a fun cute series so far and I highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley for this Audio Arc in exchange for my honest review.

4.5
💜 Brothers best friend
💜 Hate to love
💜 Emotional
💜 Christmas romance
💜 Loads of banter
💜 Closed door

Loved this audiobook so much definitely a favorite this holiday season! The audio was really well done as well.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ALC!

I’m a fan of enemies to lovers trope and Katie delivers! Thanks to a NetGalley advance read, I did read this series out of order, but to no surprise, I enjoyed this book! Aaron is a great main character, his attention to his best friends sister, Olivia, made me swoon! The fun banter adds to the chemistry!

As a Swiftie, I also enjoyed the subtle Taylor references and lyrics!

Holiday Hostilities is book 2 in the Cyclones Christmas series featuring Aaron Marino and Olivia Griswold.

Aaron and Olivia have known each other since high school and have consistently bickered to no end. Aaron plays for the Atlanta Cyclones NHL team and is a teammate of Olivia’s brother Jake.

Olivia is a flight attendant and has spent the last 8 years stationed overseas but recently decided she wanted to be stateside again and close to her brother. She accepts a job working out of Atlanta and moves to town.

She has terrible roommates and eventually winds up moving in to Aaron’s house and also agrees to help him with a stalker situation. But will the close proximity show them that they actually care for one another or will they part ways at the end of their agreement ?

I thought this was a fun Christmas read and I really enjoyed the characters and the struggles they overcame together ! This is a closed door spice novel but I found that the story doesn’t need it to be great !

The audio edition was super fun too, I loved listening to it after reading!

I just finished reading "Holiday Hostilities," and wow, what a fantastic experience! This was my first foray into the hockey romance genre, and I was pleasantly surprised. While it maintained a respectful closed-door intimacy, the slow-burn romance was incredibly captivating. The connection between the characters felt genuine and developed organically, leaving me completely invested in their journey. I especially appreciated the author's skill in building the tension and anticipation without resorting to explicit content. The heartwarming storyline perfectly complemented the festive Christmas setting, creating a truly magical reading experience. It was the perfect cozy book to curl up with during the holidays. I'm eagerly anticipating more books from Katie; her writing style is engaging and her characters are well-developed and relatable. I highly recommend "Holiday Hostilities" to anyone looking for a charming and heartwarming holiday romance.


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Such a cute romance!! It wasn't super "holiday-themed" but I did still enjoy the romance between Aaron and Olivia, especially with the "it was always you" trope done well!

For those who have previously read this author, I did feel like this book had more language throughout than her other books and a couple of man-part jokes that weren't what I normally expect from Katie.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media for my complimentary alc. All opinions here are my own.

4.5 stars.

I had originally planned on reading the first book in the Cyclones Christmas series, but then I was lucky enough to receive an audiobook ARC for Holiday Hostilities and was too impatient to wait, so I decided to listen to this book first.

The tropes were so well done in this book. We had the brother’s best friend trope, which we all know is so much fun, especially when the main characters have known each other since they were kids. There was also hockey romance—us book girls' newest addiction. And mutual pining, which was done so well that even I could feel the longing they had for each other. And so much more.

I love that our main female character, Olivia, was the grumpy one instead of Aaron, the main male character, who was portrayed as a womanizer and arrogant but turned out to be the complete opposite. He was very caring, observant, and a true gentleman. He definitely became my new book boyfriend.

I recommend this book if you love:
- Hockey romance
- Reverse grumpy x sunshine
- Golden retriever boyfriend
- Mutual attraction
- "Hating" each other since they were kids
- Fake dating
- Brother’s best friend
- Christmas setting
- Enemies to lovers

Absolutely fantastic! The story was so well done and the audiobook lived up to the level of the book! The narrators were excellent! They brought this book to life! I didn’t think i could love this book more, but then i listened to it and I totally did.

Thankyou Netgalley and Publisher for this cute audiobook!
Four words: perfect read for christmas!
i am not the person who actually likes the trope "brother's best friend" but this one made me think that how cute it could be! how one could have feelings for you all this time, especially if you're like me who loves "he fall first and harder" so lets go girlies!! because this one was full of flirty bantering, sarcasm, bit of enemies to lovers (except for it wasn't really that) and also grumpyXsunshine, how perfect these all are.
I really enjoyed listening to it except for the fact that in the start it felt like female narrator is moaning or trying to be seductive THAT GAVE ME ICK but i got used to it after 3-4 chapters.
i also didn't knew that there's a cyclone world and it was the second book, i will defo read the first one if i get that somewhere and if there'll be any next coming on Netgalley IM REQUESTING FOR THAT OBVIOUSLY