Perfect Christmas read: The Holly Dates by Brittainy C Cherry

Synopsis

All she wanted for Christmas was a boyfriend for the holidays…
All he wanted was for her to take her crappy first dates elsewhere…

Quirky Holly Jackson was unlucky in love, yet her romantic heart refused to give up her search for companionship—even after her fiancé left her at the altar on Christmas Eve.

Grumpy restaurant owner Kai Kane wanted nothing to do with love after his last relationship crashed and burned. Romance was the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately for him, when an eccentric Holly kept entering his restaurant nightly with a different first date, his annoyance grew.

When Kai volunteered to help Holly find a suitor it was for one reason only: to get her out of his restaurant and on to a second date with someone at a different location.

Once Kai became Holly’s dating coach, her confidence grew.

It was all going great until Kai became increasingly jealous of the connection Holly developed with another man. The more Holly fell for Kai’s pick for her, the more overprotective he became.

Kai quickly realized that all wasn’t fair when it came to love and the holidays.

He was going to have to step up his game if he wanted a shot at the ultimate prize—being Holly’s favorite date.

*The Holly Dates is a steamy, full-length romantic comedy that will put you right in the holiday spirit

Review

4,5 stars

I never request ARCs anymore but for a few chosen ones and when I saw that Brittainy had a holiday romance coming up, I knew that I had to read it! And I was right!

If you are looking for a cute, smart and heartfelt Christmas romance with goor people as characters, I’ve got you covered!

The book begins with Holly’s wedding when her fiancée is dishing her for her best friend. Cue in Brittainy’s superb writing with her summing that day up with

“The event turned into a modern day Shakespearean tragedy. Daniel and Cassie left me standing confused, heartbroken, and alone.”

Traumatized, Holly swears she’ll never date anymore.

But one year later Holly is feeling so lonely and just doesn’t want to go back to her family for Christmas without a boyfriend. She just couldn’t stand their concern and pity.

And here I am sharing another excerpt of Brittainy’s prose because, God, I love that woman’s writing! Also it fits Holly’s mood so perfectly!

“Falling into cuddle season, I was hunting for someone to keep my mind distracted. They could’ve kept my body distracted, too, if we’d reached that level with one another. It had been almost a year since a man had intimately touched me. Sure, I had dates, but it never got to the intimacy level.”

OK I promise I will stop with all the quotes, well nearly, but know that I highlighted tons of passages in that book! Not bad for “just” a Christmas romance hu?

Holly is trying to find her happiness on dating apps but coming back from a bad date, she’ll have a “meet ugly” with Kai, one of her neighbors and owner of a brand new restaurant. I loved the “meet ugly” as opposed to “meet cute”. Holly being a romance author, we’ll have tons of reference to romance lingo and tropes. I had a blast reading these!!!

We will follow Holly and her bad dates, taking place in Kai’s restaurant. Soon enough, Kai will coach Holly on her dating strategy. But as the synopsis is saying, soon enough Kai will realize that he too wants a shot at being Holly’s date!

I truly loved the characters in that story!

Holly is not only a romance author but she also is a booknerd. I so identified with her when I saw her readwalking as I do! She also cries at the drop of a hat or rather at sad squirrels and that made me thinlk of me too! I think Holly is my kindred spirit! As often with Brittainy’s heroine, Holly has a sunny personality. She has been hurt and is still bruised, a little bit unsure and that endeared her even more to me.

Holly has many sweet quirks, a great laugh , is generous too!

My second favorite character was Kai of course.

He began as a grinch, a hot lumberjack of a grinch. One that could certainly crush watermelons with his thighs according to Holly (I snickered at that reference of Instagram videos). Kai has been badly hurt, by his family and by …someone else that I won’t name. But basking in Holly’s light, that ice of heart will soon come to life.

My third favorite character was Mano, Kai’s young brother.

That kid made me snicker with his will to have Kai go in therapy and being wise and silly at the same time. I even wrote “That little sh!t! I am grinning like a loon!” after one of his schemes to help thing s along!

After the meet ugly we have friendship and as Holly would say, that’s growth. I adored witnessing Holly and Kai’s interaction. Reading about their past and seeing them heal slowly throughout the book. And for those wanting some spice in their reads, Brittainy delivers too!

Frankly, reading that book was like eating candy cane: a real treat! Thank you Brittainy for trusting me with your baby!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie