This is quite a short book and I applaud the decision not to try and force it to be twice the length,when it didn't need to be :)

The narration is really well done. It's a little slow for me (often the case) but 1.25x speed took care of that :)


This is a holiday romance but the two lovers are already together when the book starts and we navigate their holidays with them, from Thanksgiving right through Christmas, tribulations and jubilations alike! There are nice ancillary characters, who doubtless get their own story in other books and a gentle pace to the narrative.

It's not soppy, it's not overly spicy, it's just a nice, entertaining read/listen.

This was a cute cozy story set during the holidays. Not a lot of drama, but a fast read.
Thank you NetGalley for ARC of this book

Santa Overboard had so much potential but for me fell short. It just wanted more from the story. The character development was lacking and the plot didn’t feel smooth. The audiobook was well narrated and probably the only reason I read the book all the way through. If this was a physical book or ebook, I would probably have DNF’d it.

Santa Overboad by Carolyn McBride was a fun seasonal book. I enjoyed the characters in their quest to navigate the holidays after their own pasts have molded them into the people they are today. The narrators did an excellent job building the personalities and giving you insight as if you were there in person.

I personally thought this was a really good book I enjoyed the story There was a lot of depth to it There was some really good funny moments but also moments we could connect with the overall writing style was just really nice and you know just overall I really enjoy the story and how everything unfolded This is my first time reading a book by the author and I think she did an amazing job and I cannot wait to read more books by her

it is a cozy Christmassy read the story was okay unfortunately I did not enjoy it like I expected to I'm truly disappointed however I did enjoy the narration that why I scored it higher than I was going to originally minus points for the mention of covid I don't like it when that is mentioned

Thank you, NetGalley and Make Waves Press, for the audio ARC.

A holiday romance that I found after the holidays, but right as the snow has poured down throughout my city.

The book was full of realistic emotions and opportunities for growth. I think this quote from about 30% in does it the most justice - “Coming of age isn’t just for the young people. I feel like we’re starting over with experience.” At times this book was sentimentally sweet, but I think what it lacked was spark and passion. The thing that makes a coming-of-age fun is the zest for life with the blunders of reality, and I felt like for a romance, the passion for life needed to be turned way up.

What held up so well was setting - everything was so clear to imagine with detailed descriptions of both surroundings and knowledgeable characters. The timeline does rely on heavy mentions of the Covid pandemic. I understood using this to give a realistic quality, but it did bother me that the plot crutched on it a lot. It made the story line lack forward momentum, and there was a constant gloomy atmosphere that did not lend itself to a book marketed as a romantic holiday novella.

I enjoyed the narration. There was clear cadence and inflection for each character. Like the story it did have a nostalgic, somewhat moody quality to it.

I didn't like this. It's a cozy mystery and honestly a little boring. Thankfully I had the audio. Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook! 2 stars

I have not read the first book in the Potomac Shores series, but luckily, Santa Overboard is the kind of short story that one can easily jump into. A simple, cozy read, this holiday short focuses on a group of middle-aged women (all with unfortunately similar-sounding names) as they navigate the post-COVID holiday season in light of divorce, empty nests, and new beginnings. Stories focusing on older women can certainly be appealing to other demographics (see The Golden Girls), but none of the Bonfire Beach Babes are truly compelling enough to traverse that barrier, at least not yet. The frequent references to the 2020 pandemic also tend to have the unfortunate effect of dragging down what should be a light-hearted read.

This book kind of read like a teenagers journal. The story jumped around a lot and while some plot points were developed, others weren't. The story concept is great. The narrator was great. But I didn't want to finish the story. I almost stopped a couple of times. It felt like Covid was used like a crutch to add to the word count. There were many small references to pandemic culture and deaths of characters that didn't need to be mentioned at all. I realize this book was probably written during that time and just got published but it was overdone and took me out of the story so many times.

I enjoyed this book, it was nice to read a love story about someone close to my age. It had an interesting story and my family boats so that was a nice treat to read about.

✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨
Santa Overboard by Carolyn McBride
Narrated by Maria Marquis

⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Christmas on a cruise ship with a side of mystery—it’s festive fun, but not without a few hiccups.”

Santa Overboard is a cozy holiday mystery that delivers festive cheer and a unique cruise ship setting. While it’s an entertaining story, it fell just short of fully pulling me in.

What I liked:
🎧 Maria Marquis’s narration added personality to the story.
🎧 The cruise ship setting was a fun and festive.
🎧 Lighthearted

What didn’t work for me:
🙈 The pacing felt uneven at times, with some parts dragging while others rushed.
🙈 Abit hard to follow some plot points.
🙈 The characters, while charming, could have used a bit more depth to make them truly memorable.
🙈 Lots of COVID references.

What to expect:
🎄 A cozy holiday mystery with light suspense
🎄 A unique setting and holiday vibes
🎄 A quick, festive listen

If you’re in the mood for a simple and cheerful mystery to accompany your holiday season, Santa Overboard might be worth a try. While it didn’t blow me away, it’s a fun and festive escape.

💬 Have you read or listened to Santa Overboard? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

#SantaOverboard #CarolynMcBride #MariaMarquis #CozyMystery #HolidayReads #Bookstagram #ChristmasMystery #AudiobookReview

"Santa Overboard" was really more of a romantic novella set during the holidays than a holiday book as the title would imply. I really liked this short story and had the pleasure of listening to it on audio. The narrator's voice (single narrator) was very smooth. This story is told in third person, which was a little unique compared to most of the rom-coms I've read lately. Told primarily from the perspective of the FMC, who has been married 3 times and is wondering if she can give love a chance again, "Santa Overboard" takes place during the holiday season of 2021. Lest we forget how impacted our lives were by the COVID-19 pandemic, this novella documents that well. That said, if the words "COVID-19, pandemic and/or lockdown" are triggering for you, this is not the book for you. I really liked this book and would recommend to a friend. 4 stars. *I received a complimentary audio ARC from the author/publishing company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

This was a cute easy listen. I did feel like the plot was a little all over the place but not bad. Would definitely read some more by this author !

It could be because of the narrator but I had a hard time getting through this. I had a hard time getting into it and never finished.

A cute love story at Christmas. The writing was well done as was the audio acting. Just wasn't for me. I found it challenging to follow. Lots of changes that felt sporadic and confusing. Felt like it was going to go one direction and then that plot was abandoned at times. I didn't realize it was a second in a series, so it helds it's own which was a good thing. Heavy on the COVID-19 pandemic references.

• had to dnf this. It was just too dumn and sugar sweet and the characters did not talk like actual humam beings
• the two main conflicts (at least until the 33% mark where I stopped) was the fact that the mc's boyfriend is going away for a reaearch trip for 6 weeks and the mc acts like a toddler about it. And then she doesnt have a boat for this boat parade thing in the small town she is in. That last problem get solved within a few chapters and the first problem is honestly just dumb. MC is a grown woman with two adult children and she starts being weird about a 6 week work trip. It's like he's going on a vacation. This is his work. Also, 6 weeks is honestly not that long when you're an adult. Sure, it sucks but it's not the end of the world.
• The book was all about "female empowerment" while lamemting how terrible relationship choices all the woman are making and the way the female friendships were described were very much "you go girl" and entering deep emotional territory a la "I love you so much, you have changed my life" without it being earned at all. Granted, I believe this is 2nd book of a series so it might be earned if you read the first book.. But the second book should be one you could read without having to read book 1 in order for it to make sense.
• Honestly.. I've read fanfics that were better written than this. Sorry, McBride but this was not it.

This was a really sweet story of a woman growing into herself and deciding to let a relationship blossom after a few past failed attempts. It almost felt like this was a story of the townspeople in the first half and a romance subplot for Katie and Deke for the second half. The relationship wasn’t clearly the focus of the story until later on which seemed slightly unaligned with what I expected from reading the books summary.

Katie is a 51 year old single mom who gets asked to lead a holiday boat parade since she runs a ferry service. She has had a somewhat unlucky past with love in failed marriages and finally feels like she met someone great. When he ends says he is leaving for a prior commitment, Katie thinks she can use the holiday parade to give him a reason to stay with her instead of leave on his trip. It is a wholesome story about learning to love again and taking a leap of faith to choose to be happy.

There were small town vibes aplenty, but not really a semblance of direction of a plot until about 45% in. I wish there was more of a plot and more stakes were put on the holiday parade at the very beginning of the book.

There is a large cast of characters between the Beach Bonfire Babes and townspeople. It did make me wonder where the story was going since so many people and their stories were introduced. It didn’t feel like a traditional rom-com type of story. It felt more like a cozy story of a woman and her relationships with her friends in the town for the first half and didn’t really have much romance until the second half. The romance felt like it took a back seat to talking about life and the human experience.

There is also a large focus on the COVID pandemic and how that impacted the world and people’s general reactions to it. It is brought up in so many conversations and reflections which feels a little dated to read. I’m reading this in 2025 and most things are essentially feeling fully back to “normal.” It almost gives me flashbacks of the bad times of having to think about COVID all the time and have it center life decisions sometimes. I do think it might be interesting to read this in the future as a little time capsule to how people navigated COVID and talked about it.

It feels like the target audience for the book is for more mature women ~40+ years old since the main character talks about experiencing a “coming of middle age” in working through life issues. Her thoughts and experiences really give her maturity and rationale for her actions which I really appreciate. Katie is a strong woman who makes good, logical decisions and it is refreshing to read that.

I loved the narrator’s voice. It was easy to adjust the speed of the audiobook to what I liked and still sounded great. The narrator was very expressive and really made the story come alive.

This was a cute little short story for the holidays. However, I did find myself having a hard time connecting with the characters due to them being older than my myself. That being said, I did love the storyline, and my favorite part, I would have to say would be the description about the spiders. I love that the author didn't just make it about christmas. Instead, I felt like it was about the holidays as a whole being that the story also talked about other holiday traditions. This will definitely be added to my list of books for me to reread during the holidays!

This was a short audiobook with a cute title and cover. I was extremely hopeful for a Cute Christmas romance read and I feel bad rating this as it really fell flat for me.

Sometimes books in a series can be read as stand alones - I do not recommend listening/reading this one unless you've read the first book as there is not nearly enough back story or character development to feel a good connection to the people or this town. I will say a perk was that this FMC was middle-aged versus young. The FMC and her love interest didn't appear to have chemistry and I felt like they had issues for the majority of this short story.

The story seemed to take place after the covid 19 pandemic but there were still a few too many references to it. It didn't feel like a needed aspect to the story.

As an audio, the female narrator was decent. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity for this ARC.

2.5/5