3.75⭐
1🌶️
Tropes: divorce, starting over, brothers best friend, second chance, friends to lovers.

With her divorce newly finalized, Nahal has no choice but to ask to stay at her brother’s house when her flight is cancelled due to bad weather. Levi says yes, under the condition that she agree to spend Christmas with him at their parents house. Except unbeknownst to her, Levi’s best friend, Nic, is also staying there while he looks for a house.

The chemistry between Nahal and Nic is sizzling and the spark are flying, but when an unexpected person from Nic’s pas shows up, Nalah shuts down anything that might be brewing between them.

For the most part, I enjoyed this story. It wasn’t quite up to 4 stars for me though. I wish there had been more backstory and character development though. I had so many questions to the point where I felt like I was lost while reading and would need to go back and reread to know what was happening- but actually it’s that the author hadn’t given you those answers yet. I know that’s an important part of writing a story, that it unfolds for you as you read but I think it was that it happened so much for me that made me notice. For example, it wasn’t until nearly the end that out of the blue the author mentions that the FMC used to dabble in home design, and then suddenly she’s building a home design company. It also made me feel like I didn’t know the characters so I didn’t really connect with them until the end. They were confusing to me.
That aside, I loved the plot idea and especially that the MCs aren’t 20 year olds or even early 30s. I also thought it was well written.

This was a boring book to me. It had far too many slow parts, and the plot was meh. I wasnt even rooting for the main character, so to me the characters were not well written or well developed. I think it needs more work in all honestly

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and especially the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review of the book!!

This was devastatingly boring. The romance failed to come off the pages & the plot could not engage me.

Nalah's is finally free from a 15 year oppressive marriage. Her holiday plans are thwarted when her flight gets cancelled leaving her with no choice but to temporarily squat at her brother's place till she can make said trip. His best friend Nicoli is also staying for a short time. Three years her junior, he's always had a crush on her. He doesn't like seeing her upset and even though the ink is barely dry on her divorce papers he wants/needs to shoot his shot.

Even though I won't consider this insta-love per se, I felt that things developed rather quickly. I would have loved this if it was a bit more drawn out giving the chance for a more realistic and deeper unfolding of the story. That being said, I enjoyed it all the same . There was chemistry, there was some drama and strained relationships with a parent. All this made for an interesting and quick read.

Will keep my eye out for more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley, author and publisher for the chance to read and share my thoughts on what I would describe to be a really sweet book.

Great book. Characters are well developed. The plot was realistic. I highly recommend this book. I can not wait to read another book by this author.