I absolutely loved this novel.
Such a great story with defined characters and a great plot.
What drew me in the most was how fleshed out the characters were
The writing style was fluid and relateable.
The cover was fascinating as well.
A reviting read overall
Definitely recommend adding this to your TBR!

Loved the book and the series. I love going to Christmas Mountain. I love the friendships. Makes me want to find the town for a visit. Definitely another winner as usual for Susan Hatler.

An excellent friends to lovers romance during the Christmas season. It was a delightful read.
Many thanks to Hatco Publishing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This novel was exactly what was needed to celebrate the season...the plot and setting was intricate enough to keep me enticed with the story and the characters. I am glad that I received the ARC ebook in time for this past Christmas!

This is a good book. The two main characters are Ruby and Connor. Ruby owns a dog spa. Connor works at his family’s bank. There is an attraction. They have known other all their lives. They constantly see each other. They start dating. They both have issues but together they figure it out and fall in love.

Feel good Xmas and winter vibes throughout. A very comforting warm story and likeable characters you'll be glad to spend time with.

The sweetest story of friendship developing into true love. Ruby owns a doggie spa which is starting to outgrow its small town building. A local Christmas competition has just begun with a chance to win a new renovated building off Main Street. Ruby must win but Connor, her best friends brother is also in the competition to win the building for his family’s bank. They’ve always been in each others lives but now they’re up against each other. What will this competition do to their friendship?

I loved this little Christmas story, it made me so warm and happy inside. The doggie spa was perfect and I loved all the doggie characters as well as human characters. The competition fit the classic Hallmark feel for the book which is just what I was looking for in this story. I loved how the characters friendship blossomed in quite a cute natural way. I love a childhood friends to lovers, set it at Christmas I’m even more sold! I felt like I lived in this small town with them as the writing made me feel like I was transported there.

An irresistible slice of escapism and a joy to read. Compelling, absorbing and highly entertaining. Fast-moving and fun! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book! A sweet Christmas romance that was absolutely perfect to read! Likeable characters in the story! Definitely picked up this book!

3.5 Stars
The Christmas Competition was a sweet “feel good” small novel with all the traditions and feelings of Christmas. The story is built around Ruby and her Doggie Spa and a Christmas Competition to win a huge, bequeathed building. Of course, every business in the small town of Christmas Mountain has a use for this building! Ruby’s Doggie Spa needed the space to expand her “stuffed in a shoebox” business to better serve the animals of Christmas Mountain.

Creativity was blossoming around every corner as each business competed for the spectacular prize. What would your business do to gain the most votes?

Ruby and friends designed a ‘Build Your Own Snow Woman Competition.” Many residents of the small town turned out to build and decorate their own Snow Women. Ruby christened a winner and hoped that her business picked up the most votes.

I had difficultly staying with the story in the beginning. An adorable coupling of the protagonist and Conner (the banker’s son and her best friend’s brother) gave some punch to the manuscript. Conner was also in the competition to “make his daddy proud.” Although the romance portion of the book was somewhat predictable, it still added a great deal to the storyline.

The storyline and characters were unique, and well developed. I genuinely liked each character and rooted for their successes. Talk about a ‘beach read,’ this was a ‘cozy sleigh ride,’ complete with warm blankets hot coco.

I enjoyed the book, it was fun and light-hearted. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good holiday romance.
I look forward to reading other novels by this author.

Susan Hatler, Hatco Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this Advanced Reader’s Copy. This is a voluntary review, and all comments and opinions are entirely my own.

This book was a quick read that was fun but not truly entertaining. At some points the plot didn’t make complete sense. The order of events was about as unbelievable as a hallmark movie. BUT, it was cute and warm.

I enjoyed reading The Christmas Competition by Susan Hatler. The characters in this story will warm your heart. Happy Reading!
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

This was a great short novel. I really enjoyed this storyline. It was great that it contained a small dog grooming business full of little dramas. I loved how they had to compete to win a building. It was an exciting and well developed story. The author did an amazing job at packing everything you want from a full-length novel into a short novel . There was plenty of great atmosphere and tension. I loved the characters, especially how well they developed, and everything was realistic. The book had a great pace to it, and it felt complete with a great unexpected ending. I love all the dramas and unexpected events in this story. It was great fun to read, and I certainly recommend reading it as it was so close to getting full marks. I just loved experiencing all the emotions that this book brought out in me.it is definitely a brilliant page turning novel that I was able to finish in one morning.

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such a wonderful story that made me feel so good. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this fantastic author.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-christmas-competition-by-susan-hatler-hatco-publishing-4-stars under ladyreading365

Ruby's stuck in a catch-22. Her Divine Doggie Spa and Training is doing so well they've outgrown their space but she still can't afford a bigger place. When it's announced that the winner of a Christmas spirit competition will get a newly renovated building for their business, Ruby's found the solution to her problem because she's all about the Christmas spirit. The only problem is her long-time friend Connor is also in the competition. To complicate matters further, Ruby and Connor are finally acting on the feelings they've had for each other.

This is a sweet long-time friends to lovers story that would make a great Christmas movie, especially with all the Christmas themed shops on Christmas Mountain. There were so many sweet moments between Ruby and Connor as they discovered they felt more than friendship towards each other. It was fun to see characters from the other Christmas Mountain books show up.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Hatco publishing, via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I watch a lot of Christmas films and sometimes the storylines can feel a bit repetitive, but I absolutely loved this storyline. Not only is it not the usual enemies to lovers trope, but it centres around a Doggy Spa! This book gave me all the Christmassy feels. The plot, characters and setting are well developed and entertaining. I'll definitely be adding this to my rotation of festive reads.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC.

Who says a little competition is a bad thing?
For Ruby and Connor that competition leads to a prize they didn't anticipate they truly needed... each other.

This title gave me all the warm fuzzies I look for in a holiday-themed book. You get drawn into the story with lovely characters and plot lines.

Heartwarming, sweetly sexy and laugh out loud fun small-town journey that was filled with intriguing charters, witty banter and simmering passion.... was a great read from beginning to end. An emotionally thrilling roller-coaster small town holiday adventure packed with lots of heart.

This is a sweet holiday friends to lovers romance story set around a competition to win a building that each of our couple has a reason to want to win. Lots of humour in Conor and Ruby’s story.

If you read any book written by Susan Hatler you are going to get a great read. This is a lovely Christmas story full of emotion and very good strong characters. Always a pleasure to read and I am giving it 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

sweet holiday story as Ruby falls for her best friend's brother. . sweet Christmas story I always enjoy Susan Hatler books