**Rating: ★★★☆☆**

"Santa Overboard" by Carolyn McBride presents an intriguing holiday adventure filled with festive spirit and unexpected twists. The plot centers around a group of characters who find themselves embroiled in a Christmas mystery that adds a unique touch to the season. While the writing is engaging and captures the whimsical essence of the holidays, some character development feels a bit shallow, leaving readers wanting more depth. Overall, it's an enjoyable read for those looking for a lighthearted holiday escape, but it may not leave a lasting impression.

I regret that this audiobook didn't resonate with me. The frequent mentions of the pandemic, lockdown, and COVID-19 overshadowed the main plot, making it difficult to fully engage with the story. The abundance of side characters added complexity and at times made it challenging to follow the narrative. However, amidst these challenges, I found enjoyment in the beautifully depicted Christmas traditions within the book.f Christmas traditions in the book.

The plot of the story sounded fun but although it’s light, I didn’t find it particularly humourous. I liked the descriptive writing and the explanations of the various ‘Holiday’ traditions. I, however, found Katie, the main character, really annoying. She’s just too whiny but she does have some ‘powerhouse’ lady friends!
The narration of the audiobook is clear and well paced.
(2.5 rounded up to 3/5 )
Thank you to NetGalley and Make Waves Press for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook ARC.

À quick light book to listen to. The plot, however, was a little on the weak side with a slight obsession with Covid and it's aftermath. I didn't really identify with the characters either which didn't help. I did find my attention drifting at times and had to go over one part as I fell asleep! The narrator's voice was quite gentle and soothing. I haven't listened to many audio books but an eye op has forced me to revisit so this form of literature is ideal in such circumstances.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although it was a more "mature" single mom of a college girl, love story (I am in the younger age group compared to this😉), it was such a nice book.

If you need a Christmas-y heart warming story with some laughter this book is for you!

@carolynmcbridewriter also has another book called The Cicada Spring out. Looking forward to reading that one.

Thank you @netgalley for letting me listen to this book through you.

Santa Overboard By Carolyn McBride is out now for you to enjoy this upcoming holiday season!

Narrated by @soundslikemarquis , which did an amazing job!

I firstly want to thank the author Carolyn McBride, her publishers Make Waves Press and @netgalley for allowing me to receive an arc copy of this audiobook.

Next up, I want to congratulate the author on her choice of narrator. Maria is not someone I have listened to before but I will definitely be looking for her name when choosing future books to listen to. She adds the depth to the characters that you need to truly enjoy an audiobook I think.

Now the book itself. This is a light hearted, funny short story that leaves you with a fuzzy feeling inside. I liked how all the main characters are middle aged, like myself. It made the story more relatable for me as we have a much more relaxed pace of life and a very different outlook on many things. Most of us come with baggage of some sort, it's just how we deal with it that differs. This isn't just a love story though, it's about family and friendships and the important part they all play in our lives. The importance being to strike a happy balance between them.

#SantaOverboard #audiobook #carolynmcbridewriter #arc #NetGalley #bookreview #soundslikemarquis #potomacshores #makewavespress

💭My thoughts: The narrator did such a good job! Listening to this book made it more appealing in my opinion. It was a cute fast read. I just wasn’t a fan of the covid storyline. It was mentioned a whole lot. I think it made me ignore the plot and pay attention to the covid dialogue so it made the plot fall flat in my opinion. I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series.

Whilst there were some lovely moments in the book, sadly for me the characters (despite being in their 50s) felt quite juvenile, as if I was reading a coming of age story. Katie (the FMC) especially was hard for me to relate to or like as a person, unfortunately.

Centering the book in "real world" 2021 meant there were a lot of mentions of COVID, and those parts felt over the top, like the obvious was being spelled out a bit re vaccines. It almost felt like the author was trying to foist an education about vaccines on the reader.

However a good part for me was that I found the descriptions in the book just enough that I could vividly imagine the scene, but not too much that I couldn't have a bit of creative licence in my head!

As I listened to this as an audiobook, I also wanted to comment on the narration, which I enjoyed and felt helped the descriptions come off the page and lodge in my mind.

Overall, I would give this book 3 stars. The writing and audio were good however the characters felt shallow and fell flat for me.

I was not able to finish listening to the audiobook. I tried but I can’t relate to the story and the narration. For that, I am not rating this book. Thank you for sharing me this audiobook.

⭐️: 3/5
🌶️: 0/5

Santa Overboard picks up right where Cicada Spring left off! I liked seeing the continuation of Katie and Deke’s story. You have all of your favorite characters from Cicada Spring, plus some new friends!

Short, sweet, and to the point, this novella still manages to fully capture the found family and coming-of-middle-age themes. However, there is a lot of rehashing of the plot of Cicada Spring. I think that the backstory was a little unnecessary and the story would have read the same without it.

Overall, a cute Christmas story with deeper themes!

p.s. Thank you Carolyn McBride and NetGalley for the audiobook!

If you’re looking for a kind of “coming of middle-age” story with heavy reference to modern times (read COVID pandemic), this will suit you. The writing was good and the narration for the audiobook was very engaging and easy to listen to. The pandemic and geographic location were both important to the plot, which means they were referenced very often. Personally, that didn’t suit me. I think this is probably just coming down to genre not matching my taste, but I’m glad that I tried it. Audio ARC provided by Make Waves Press and NetGalley. These thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF
i hate to dnf books, especially when they are this short, but this audiobook wasn't working for me from the beginning. i hope it will be someone else cup of tea!

Overall: 4
Spice: 2
Narration: 4

Yay midlife women!

Katie Young is settling in to her new life in the small town of Occoquan on the Potomac River. Her friend group, the Bonfire Babes, have built a thriving gallery and she's expecting delivery of her own ferryboat to launch a new business in the spring. The holiday festival should be smooth sailing, but when her love interest Deke decides to avoid the holidays for a work trip and her boat delivery is delayed will the whole thing be a wreck?

I was thrilled to read a book with characters the same age as me and still fall into the Romance genre! I will definitely go back to read book one and follow this series as this one was very well done. I thought the trials of a single, yet empty-ish nest, mom was realistic and relatable and I LOVED the Bonfire Babes. I've been realizing in my own life how women need to gather with other women more and this proves that point. I'd really like to join their group! Highly recommend to any romance readers, but especially those with a couple gray hairs.

This was a cute story about finding yourself and figuring out life when you are older. I enjoy these types of stories because they are so relatable! I really liked all the characters in this story. The mother-daughter relationship was cute! Plus the friends! There is a lot of pandemic talk, as it seems to be set towards the end of “returning to normal” but it wasn’t anything too heavy. Overall, super fun story for the holiday season! I enjoyed the narrator as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Make Waves Press for the ALC.

This was a really fun audiobook! The narration was great and the story was fun. There were a few points where I wanted The story to move along but I don’t think that was the books fault but more than I wasn’t in the mood for reading that day. It is a relatively short audiobook at only 5 and a half hours. But it you are like me and listen at 2x speed you can easily finish it in an afternoon!

If you’re in the mood for a cozy Chrismas-ie escape to help get you ready for the holidays, Santa Overboard by Carolyn McBride is just the one!

Normally, I gravitate toward stories about young love, so diving into a tale featuring the slightly more ‘mature’ single mom Katie, was a fun new twist!

Set in the charming town of Occoquan, this book feels like a warm hug with its holiday cheer and endearing characters. Katie’s journey of rediscovery, complete with a little festive mishap or two, is sprinkled with heart and humor, and Maria Marquis’s narration truly brings the story to life, making it a delightful listen that perfectly captures the spirit of the season.

It’s light, fun, and just what you need to get into the holiday mood—perfect for a cozy night in with a cup of cocoa! If you’re looking for something to warm your heart this winter, don’t miss out on this charming read.

A huge thank you to @netgalley and Make Waves Press for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook!

2.5-3

I think Covid was mentioned every over paragraph and I couldn’t handle it anymore by the end. I get mentioning once or twice since it clearly impacted the characters but time after time bringing it up and saying the same thing.

It was a novella so a short and quick read. The characters were ok and the main romance was cute. But not sure this was enough to bring it higher stars.

I wrote the same thing on the first book of this series but I have very strong feelings about the COVID time in our lives and books that drag it back up evoke a crappy response from me. This one was better and discussed it a bit less but it still just put a bad taste in my mouth and that dampened my feelings for the book and the plot. Cute ending, thankfully!

I utilised the audio copy of this book. This is a great story. Very different and captivating. Definitely overboard with Santa overboard.....
Faultlessly narrated and perfect to curl up to with a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

I appreciate getting to listen to this audiobook. I really enjoyed the narrator. The story on the other hand was not great. I thought the Covid plotline feels too out of date with 2024. Maybe it won’t matter in a few years though. The couple was older in life so it was interesting but not relatable or good enough to keep my attention. I was able to stick with it since it’s short