Santa Overboard by Carolyn McBride is a lighthearted Holiday Rom-Com that occurs during/post Covid. Overall the characters were enjoyable and entertaining. This book was a quick easy listen. I felt like I was in/watching a TV soap opera! I did expect it to be alittle different based on the title, was hoping for alittle more “get me in the Christmas Spirit feel”. Overall it is a nice quick read if you need something for a travel day.

Thanks to NetGalley and Make Waves Press for the ARC of the audiobook SANTA OVERBOARD by Carolyn McBride, narrated by Maria Marquis.

I thought this book was a cute Rom-Com, set by the Potomac river at Christmas time. The characters are the residents of the small town of Occoquan and the main character, Kathy is supposed to deliver Santa on her new ferryboat.

This is a feel-good story with Christmas family traditions, humour and love.

I also enjoyed listening to the Narrator Maria Marquis for the first time.

I really enjoyed this book. Katie, is trying to start over after the pandemic and her friends are working through the fall out as well. Not a spicy romance but a very warm and fuzzy holiday story. Set around the Potomac river, during the holiday season. The only thing that was a little bit of a turn off was the constant mentioning of the lock down and covid. It was a little bit of over kill.

I was really looking forward to reading Santa Overboard to get into the holiday spirit, however this book was not quite what I was looking for. There are some elements in this book that I appreciate, one being an older female main character, it can get a bit old in the romance genre of every fmc being in their late teens/early twenties. In Santa Overboard, the female lead is in her 50's and has been married 3 times, I can appreciate this. One thing that this book is lacking is the connection between the female lead and the male lead, I honestly did not feel it. There wasn't a lot of depth and character development in my personal opinion. I would have liked to have see a little more depth into the male main character and his story.

When I had a little glimmer at the reviews prior to reading this I saw a lot of people saying there were so many Covid references. I figured that maybe some people are just over it or don't want to hear about it and it's not a big deal to me, it won't take away from the story, however I was wrong. There was a Pandemic, shutdown, COVID, death reference when it didn't need to be there. I felt like it was a little too much, which took away from the book's overall atmosphere. I know we should not judge a book by the cover but when I picked this book it was all based on the cover. I thought it would be a cute, funny, feel-good romance, but the constant reference to the Pandemic left me with a sinking feeling that I was not fond of. Covid was a rough few years and very stressful, as the reader when I picked up this book I was expecting something more light-hearted and fun not serious and slightly depressing.

Overall this book may appeal to the reader who is looking for a short, romance that has some cozy Christmas vibes with some more serious elements. This book has a fun small-town atmosphere, but the plot and development were not for me.

Thank you to Net gallery and the author for this arc copy of the book. This is my own honest opinion on the book. I really enjoyed listening to this audio books it was a quick fast read. I managed to read it in one day. But the only thing that really bugged me though out the whole book was that the author kept mentioning the Covid pandemic though out and I am not been nasty I don’t need to read about Covid 19 in books after the world lived though it. I liked the strong female bond between the women in this book as I was lovely to read about and see women work well together. The love interest was done really well and am glad they both got their happy ending with each other but i would have liked to read more about the romance if I am being honest. This audio book was read so well by the narrator and I would listen to this narrator again. I would really like to give this author another go in the future xxx

Santa Overboard by Carolyn McBride

Santa Overboard is a contemporary fiction book about a group of friends and the area they live in. This is a cute fast story with no real conflict or action, other than minor occurrences.
Pros. Fast story. Some cute points. Liked the prayer sessions at the end of their beach gatherings. I liked the way the women are coming together to create businesses that can support each other and the town they live in. I enjoyed the group of friends. I like that it centers on a different age bracket than twenty something’s and brings in some of the issues that are associated with that age. I liked the mention of traditions and the family cookbook. I liked Deke again in this book.

Cons The Covid storyline. I understood the last book because it was the reason her mom passed away, but continuing it in this one was too much. The timeline also didn’t match with the last book. In this book she is talking to her brother and he says he can’t come for Thanksgiving because he was just there in the spring when their mother died. The book also mentions the trial from the previous book. If she died in the spring, and everything was closed until June and later with Covid, how was the court case heard so quickly, maybe my timing is off but I felt like the timeline was much longer in the Cicada Spring.. I didn’t pay attention to the blurb of the book and thought it was a cozy mystery, that aside I would have liked it had it centered more around the holidays. Instead it fell flat. Had I not read the previous book, I would have no connection to the characters in this book at all as no development is made here. The Santa Overboard was minor compared to the continuous mention of Covid. It pulled away from the story and was just unnecessary.

Overall I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series, especially if Covid remains a central theme. If that had be.en left out, the book would have been better.
I enjoyed the narrator, which kept me listening.

This book was really quick to get through. Mildly entertaining, but not too exciting.

I appreciated the strength of the female friendships and the normalcy of their entrepreneurial activities.

Most of the romantic books I read are about younger ladies, so this story about a middle aged group was a nice change of pace for me.

I felt like the resolution of the conflict with the boyfriend was too rushed. It didn’t feel realistic that all would be resolved with one gesture.

The constant talk of his mustache and covid was giving me the ick…

I thought this would be a really cute book for people to read in December but unfortunately it turned out to be underwhelming and nothing to write home about.

Little plot, hard to connect to characters in anyway and wasn’t really invested in our main couple.

The narrator's voice was pleasant, so I think this worked well as an audiobook. However, there were a lot of side characters for such a short piece and too much going on, so it was a little hard to follow as a result. Although I liked that the MC was older because it's a nice change of pace, I was not at all a fan of her reaction to hearing that Deke was going to be gone during the holidays (to volunteer as he has done for the last 17 years - I mean seriously? Who does that?) and quite frankly, at that point, I felt like telling Deke, dude, go find someone who actually values you because she does not. So.... no, this book didn't really work for me overall, but there was some humor and it did have some holiday feel-good vibes, so I bet other people will like it.

This book ended up really surprising me! It was such a nice and cozy read, full of Christmas vibes and traditions.

In my opinion, the main characters seemed pretty realistic. They had life problems and worries I could relate to. I also really enjoyed the Ucranian character's passages explaining some Christmas traditions they have there. I think it added a nice diversity touch to the story.

The only down part for me was the amount of COVID references throughout the book. I believe the story is based a few years ago, which seems appropriate and relevant, but it does bring back not so good memories. It ended up sounding a bit exhausting.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narration. Although the male lines/speech style seemed a bit cringy sometimes, it was a nice experience overall.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

I listened to this audiobook and from the off I just knew it wasn’t going to be for me, I didn’t like the characters or the plot line particularly or the way it was written if I’m being completely honest. I didn’t find myself warming to anyone throughout and just didn’t really get the point of it all, I’m really not a fan of the miscommunication trope which didn’t help either. Overall, I didn’t hate it, and it had the odd redeeming moments but I won’t be recommending it.

Thank you to @netgalley for the Advanced Listening Copy- all opinions are my own.

Who can resist the cover of Santa Overboard: A Potomac Shores Holiday by Carolyn McBride? It is colorful, vibrant, action-packed and funny. The book itself didn’t come across that way to me; it doesn’t sound the way it looks. This novella is the second in the Potomac Shores series. The cover of the first book, The Cicada Spring, looks more like what reading the book feels like and I think they would have done better by having them match.

I love that the main character, Katie, is 51 years old and has kids in college. I like that we have apple cider in the crock pot and make Christmas cookies. Katie has old friends, new friends and a boyfriend Deke- there are many, many people and names in this book and while it is standalone, it may be beneficial to read them in order.

I read other reviews and readers thought writing about Covid was “too soon”. I didn’t feel that way at all, but I kept a tally and know going into it that you are going to hear the word pandemic at least 12 times, Covid 5 times, lockdown 5 times, as well as quarantine. vaccinations and social distancing each a couple of times. If that is not your thing- be warned, although it didn’t bother me one bit.

I think there is a type of person that likes this kind of book. It reminds me of the book The Seaside Sisters by Pamela M. Kelley, where it’s a little low energy, slow moving, maybe a bit boring. A lot of tell, don’t show. In The Seaside Sisters, the game cornhole was fully explained. In this one there were many lessons about the history of the area, places in the area, historical figures, The Nutcracker, and birds. There was even “in x year… this happened.” I’m guessing people talk like that, and those are the people who would like this book.

It was read by Maria Marquis, who sounded right for the role.

3/5 stars
3 hours 55 minutes at 1x on audio
Door: off page
Locations: Occoquan, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC area

NetGalley Arc

This was a cute story about female friendships but unfortunately it’s set during the covid pandemic while I struggle with in books. But I did find the author used in a good way to support the story/plot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author/publisher for a copy of this audiobook.

I am still getting into audiobooks however, the narrator did a great job. This story was not one that I would recommend. It didn't give much of a holiday vibe that I was expecting and it mentioned the pandemic way too many times for my liking. It was like they were focusing on that plotline more than the characters or giving them a life not revolving around it. It was hard to get into the story but still wanted to finish it.

A sweet story full of Christmas cheer. Katie is has had a rough go of it. A daughter at college, a three time divorcé and the loss of her mom have her questioning everything. After suffering through the trying times of COVID she is trying to find her way. In this new world. Christmas traditions old and new , great friends and a new love will see her through. There is light after dark. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily

what a cute holiday short read. I loved the characters and the story.. The ending is perfect. I even learned a little science reading this.

3.75 stars

This was a really cute, sweet, later in life romance/holiday story. The women in this series are great and it made me wish I had read the other books in this series before venturing on to the holiday novella of this world, but I wasn't too lost. You can tell there's a lot of history between these people and this book give a nice gloss over to give you the jist of what you needed to know, but it left me wanting. I'm almost certain that the wanting was my fault for not starting at the beginning.

This is the perfect light fluff that I imagine people want to read around the holidays and if you're caught up on this series, it'll be a great Welcome Back to check in on all your favorite characters.

Maria Marquis did a wonderful job narrating. She really gave Katie character and a sense of wonder.

Thank you, NetGalley and Make Waves Press for the ALC.

I enjoyed this book, but it didn’t capture much of a Christmas vibe. It wasn’t as funny as I’d hoped, and the “Santa falling overboard” part was a minor aspect of the plot. The pandemic was mentioned too often for my liking, which made it harder to stay engaged. While I don’t mind pandemic themes, this felt excessive. On the bright side, the narrator was excellent and made the audiobook enjoyable.

Thank you to Carolyn McBride, NetGalley and Make Waves Press for an Audio Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Carolyn McBride, NetGalley and Make Waves Press for an Audio Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This short story (under 200 pages) was a refreshing read from the usual holiday romance novels. The main characters were not college/late 20's which was a nice change from the usual books of this genre.

Aside from the characters, the story itself was hard to connect with. The constant mentions of the pandemic made it that much harder to enjoy the holiday escapism aspect books often bring and snapped me back to reality every time it was brought up. This aspect was entirely not needed in my opinion and did not add any depth or substance to the story.

I would be interested to read more from this author if this element was left out of her future novels but unfortunately this brought my rating down at least one full star.

The narrator however was very easy to listen to which made for a very enjoyable listening experience! I would search out more audio books narrated by Maria Marquis for the future!

Santa Overboard was a quick, easy listen. The narrator did a great job, but I think I was missing something by picking up this little novella without reading its predecessor. I'm deep in pull ups and preschool schedules, so I don't think a story focusing on single or widowed women with grown children really landed its target in me.

Because of that, I don't think it's really fair to comment too much on the plot line because I don't think I'm a great person to evaluate the happenings of women in completely different stages of life - especially ones I've never been through.

But I will say that in 2024, finally on the other side of Covid being a global pandemic, I was very very very very tired of hearing about vaccines and vaccinations and Covid and that was one of the parts of this book I disliked the most.