Olivia and Aaron are the those two people who are just in denial of how much they love each other because one time the other did something that got the other mad and it just all went haywire! We adore these two so much! They way Aaron showed his feeling and did all the things to make Olivia feel special and loved, Katie Bailey just knew us Hockey Romance Girlies needed this man to be in our universe. they are truly just meant to be!
We loved being able to meet them and thank you for the opportunity!

I listened to the audiobook and the narrations were amazing.
This book is a fun, closed door, rom-com.
The first 40 % of the book are a little silly because they don’t explore their dislike for each other very well and it seems kind of pointless. But then we actually get an inside on their background together and apart, it becomes so much more fun.
There is a ton of found family and close circle of friends that give a wholesome vibe to the story.
For my taste it lacked something to get me to love this book.

Unfortunately I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. I read a few chapters and it was a bit more of a college age group read. It felt a bit immature for the late-twenties age group of the characters.

The narrator was good! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Holiday Hostilities is a fun holiday hockey romance with characters who are lovable and more complex than a typical romance. It's a good followup the the first book in the series, which was a personal holiday favorite. If you're looking for something light and fun, this is it! Enemies to lovers who were just misunderstood. Definitely would recommend and I'll read more Katie Bailey in the future.

Olivia is a woman going through a significant life change - and no step of the way goes smoothly.

Moving back to the US from London? (idk why you would want to but I guess loneliness is a fair reason) Check
Roommates from he||? (I'm talking practicing bagpipes at all hours of the early morning) Check
Brother's best friend who she hates? (who always seems to be around just to bother her) Check
Excellent banter? (this clearly stems from some serious chemistry) Check

This is a closed door romance, but honestly when there is chemistry so sizzling in books I don't miss it and this was one of those cases, because you KNEW these two were going to get it. There were also tender heartfelt moments too.

The FMC doesn't like the holidays as a direct result of childhood trauma (parents constantly fighting and getting divorced around the holidays) leading her to be resentful. But the absolute sunshiny golden retriever that is her brother's best friend and hockey teammate is determined to change her mind about the holidays.

This was funny, sweet and a wonderful little holiday romcom! It was my first by Katie, but won't be my last!

I'm a fan of Lee Samuels as a narrator - he always delivers on making for an enjoyable listen. I'm not sure if I've listened to anything by Abigail Reno, but I really enjoyed her performance too!

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Bailey and Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

Wow, this was a new to me author and I loved this one SO MUCH. I loved how this touched on so many important topics while staying light somehow at the same time. I definitely can’t wait to read more with this author!

Katie Bailey delivers another hot hockey romcom with Holiday Hostilities. I really enjoyed Seasons Scheming’s last year and was excited for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of this story. I have to say, Abigail Reno and Lee Samuels did a fabulous job capturing and bringing to life Aaron and Olivia. It was really easy and enjoyable to listen to them and I felt like they really just got these characters and made it feel like I was right there watching their story unfold. I'd listen to the audiobook version again.
Olivia hates Aaron who is one of her brother's best friends and teammate. She's a bit rough around the edges at times, but as the story unfolds you find out why she is so against Christmas and some of what makes her tick. Aaron was the hot, charming, golden hockey player. He's trying to maintain his image and solidify his position as captain of the team when a crazy person tries to disrupt his life in a most inconvenient and icky way. I thought the plot was unique and an interesting way to go about driving this enemies to lovers, fake dating, close proximity kind of book. I love that, for Aaron though, nothing has ever been fake when it comes to Olivia. He totally fell first and I liked that a lot.
This does have a lot of mild swearing throughout the whole book. There's mild innuendo and a semi-steamy kiss (fully clothed) in a shower. It's not open door, but it is on the edge of closed door if that makes sense.
I received an advance listening copy of this book from Netgalley and Dreamscape Media. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Olivia and Aaron start out as enemies, but add a bit of time during the holidays and forced proximity, good ol’ fashioned banter and electric chemistry and their story becomes a great rom-com with the sweetest happily ever after. This closed-door hockey romance features dual PoV, great development and connection between the likable and relatable main characters and a whole lot of humor (ahem, looking at you, Nana with your nosiness and Triple J with your mashed potatoes). The author has such an amazing writing style and can weave a story that makes my heart full of love and happiness-perfect for this busy time of year.
The duet narration was a great choice and the narrators did an exceptional job! There was emotion and inflection at all the right times, and really made for an enjoyable and entertaining experience!

I love Katie Bailey’s books! This is book 2 in the Cyclone’s Christmas series, but can easily be read as a standalone. Aaron is such a flirt/tease but has a heart of gold. And who wouldn’t melt at seeing such a big hockey player crocheting. ❤️ I enjoyed watching Olivia finally see Aaron for who he really is, not just what she thought she saw. And their first kiss…wow! I enjoyed this book so much I read it on Kindle then listened to the audio.
The narrators on the audio version were fantastic! They made it feel like I was listening to Aaron and Olivia, not just someone reading a book.

While I didn’t realize this is a second in a series; it can totally be read as a standalone. I honestly would not have read this if not for the push from other bookstagrammers; doesn’t this cover scream spice? Well it’s actually an adorable, funny, and totally ridiculous (in the best way) closed door holiday romcom,

There’s only one thing Olivia Griswold hates more than Christmas: her brother’s best friend, Aaron Marino.
The NHL’s favorite playboy has hordes of adoring fans, but to her, he’s still the cocky jerk she’s loathed since high school.
But when Aaron hears Olivia’s spending the holidays with her roommates from hell, he offers her a place to escape to.
His place, to be exact.
In return, all she has to do is be his date to his hockey team’s Christmas gala. It seems simple enough, but Olivia soon discovers that sleeping behind enemy lines is a dangerous game—especially when the enemy looks like that.

This book was such a pleasant surprise. The plot may be out there at times but the banter and crazy antics had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. While Christmas is the main part of this story it is still present and makes this a great one to read this winter. I just loved everything about this book including the narration and i definitely want to go back and read the first one now.

He crochets as a pregame ritual and then gifts to children in hospital.

📚 hockey romance
📚 brothers best friend
📚 forced proximity
📚 one bed
📚 enemies to friends to lovers
📚 dual POV (duet narration)

🌶️🌶️

“Hate is much closer to love than indifference”

|Thoughts|
It’s nice that at least the mmc is mindful of her original horrible living situation, because her brother is completely hopeless.

“How dare you turn up here on Christmas Day under the guise of seeing her. Just to yell at me.”

Found this to be a sweet story and whilst nothing seemed overly memorable, it did have some cute interactions between Olivia & Aaron.

Did take some time to get to the main plot of the story (40%), but once we got there, the forced proximity was great.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Holiday Hostilities
by Katie Bailey
Narrated by Abigail Reno; Lee Samuels

I received an ARC of this audiobook through Netgalley.

This was the perfect holiday time romance! Olivia disdains Christmas and her brother’s best friend, Aaron.

From the get go it is clear that these enemies are really a great love waiting to happen.

The banter is so pivotal to what makes this audiobook great. I found myself chuckling along frequently.

This is the holiday romance to listen to if you want a way to de-humbug- ify yourself.

I love the key elements to this audiobook: self- deprecation, humble thoughts, romance, memory, NHL, gentle teasing, and loyal lasting friendships.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants the perfect holiday listen!

I loved listening to this book and revisiting these characters. The story is fantastic. The chemistry Aaron and Olivia have is electric. The audio narrators do an excellent job with these characters and bring them to life with their expression and tone. Abigail Reno and Lee Samuels were perfect to read for Olivia and Aaron.

I loved listening to the scenes I enjoyed in the book. There is one I won’t soon forget. I enjoyed so many things in this book and listening was a great way to remember them.

I received a NetGalley link for the audio from the author. All views are my own.

⭐️ 4/5 🌶 1/5 🎧 4/5

Lord, have mercy, I can't have a shower without thinking about Aaron Marino 🥵

Since I'm in my hockey romance era, and it's almost Christmas, this seemed like the best ARC to pick up. And oh boy, was I right!

Tension, angst, a dash of enemies, flirting, pining, and a whole bunch of eye fucking.
It was captivating, funny, exciting, and swoon worthy.
This was a case of a second chance romance, but the missed opportunity in the past was a case of miscommunication. They both thought neither wanted the other, but when they realised they were wrong, they dived head first into their love.

💜 Second Chance Romance
💜 Brother's Best Friend
💜 Hockey PLayer MMC
💜 Forced Proximity
💜 Slow Burn

🎧 AUDIOBOOK: I loved the audiobook too. It was done with 2 x narrators, both of which were very good at expressing their main characters, as well as their side characters. I definitely recommend the audiobook for people who prefer audio. This duet style is exactly how I love my romance audiobooks to be done.

🎙 Narrators: Abigail Reno & Lee Samuels

This was such a fun listen! I loved both of the narrators and thought they fit their characters well. They also did a really great job with the other characters in the story in the story as well. This was a great holiday romance and had all the best tropes, enemies to lovers was done perfectly! I enjoyed their dynamic and how they eventually came together in this one!

✈️ brother's teammate
🏒 childhood frenemies to lovers
✈️ slow burn, closed door
🏒 forced proximity

This was really cute, but ultimately is missing a WOW factor for me. Low-angst, easy to listen to, and very sweet.

Rain: 3.5 ⭐️

I loved this! A perfect Christmas romance. The banter was witty, and the characters were likable and realistic. Definitely read this one at Christmas!

I absolutely loved every single second of this audio book! And to be listening to it whilst on the run up to Christmas was so perfect!

I absolutely adored both of the characters and as much as I was loving the nemesis side of their relationship and all the bickering, I was so happy when the finally opened up and all the cutesy romance started to unfold. I really enjoyed the brothers best friend side of this book as it is my absolute fave trope, the way it was done was perfect and I liked that we got the whole friendship with Aaron and Jake since sometimes that aspect gets missed out. Also getting to see Jake’s full reaction of their relationship coming out was also something that can sometimes be taken way to extreme or just brushed over but this definitely felt more realistic and believable.

For me my absolute favourite part was Christmas Day! Jake with his mum and nana was so cute but Olivia finally getting a Christmas Day she deserved and finally finding her Christmas spirit was so nice to read.


I really think that this book should definitely be added to everyone’s Christmas TBR.

So damn cute omg I haven't read many holiday books this year but this takes the cake it was so fun to listen to it has so much witty banter and it was ice hockey too I mean call me happy

This story is fabulous. It’s got a good balance of Christmas themes mixed with other content, making it not an exclusively Christmas story.
The characters are fun, and of course there’s the hockey aspect.
This audiobook was fantastic and the narration really brought it to life.