I wanted to love this book so much as it is a Christmas themed book which I usually love. The synopsis made this book seem so good, and I loved the cover but I found it to be very boring. I wasn't able to get past about the 12% mark so I DNF'd it. This book was just a huge no for me. I have seen plenty of positive reviews, so you might want to give this book a chance. .A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Will they. Won't they... two perfectly flawed and a bit jaded in love adults embark on the office Secret Santa tradition and explore new dynamics that challenge their previous experiences and open them up to new possibilities. Boss and employee romance set in Australia. A few typos or possible phrase patterns that I was unfamiliar with. Overall a solid read.

Thank you to Victory Editing and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book. Here are my honest thoughts and review.

This was the cutest holiday read! I loved the concept of Secret Santa—it gave the characters the perfect excuse to interact, think about each other, and explore their feelings. The employee-employer dynamic in this holiday romance was so compelling—I devoured it! Jamie, you are the sweetest and most misunderstood man, and I adore you!

While Carolyn and Jamie’s relationship did develop quite abruptly, I think it worked because they already had feelings for each other before the story began. That said, I would have appreciated more "showing" than "telling" at the start to better immerse me in their dynamic. Luckily, the story progressively improved as it went along.

Despite its short length, this book managed to tackle heavy topics like being the child of a toxic parental relationship and dealing with the aftermath of cheating. While it wasn’t the most overtly Christmassy read, the holiday setting worked beautifully to move the plot forward, creating natural opportunities for the characters to interact beyond typical boundaries.

Overall, this book is short but packs a punch. It’s sweet, emotional, and a perfect pick for a quick holiday romance!

This was mixed for me, there was a lot of good family backstory for the characters but it moved in fits and starts and felt like it all of a sudden was different than it was. Anyway,I liked it but it wasn't smoothe readin

I couldn't get into this one. While I read the first third in one sitting, I felt really uninvested. Then the romance starts to form but feels forced and kinda ridiculous.

My biggest complaint is the FMC. I found her completely unlikable. Her inner monologue was cringe worthy at best.

— ∘♡༉∘ — 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 — ∘༉♡∘ —
౨ৎ𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 ♥ 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲౨ৎ
౨ৎ12.12.42 ౨ৎ

— ∘♡༉∘ — 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 — ∘༉♡∘ —
🌶 - spice (more chillis the spicier it is)
🔥 - the burn (more fire the faster the burn)
✨ - the star rating
ꔫ — ∘♡༉∘ — ✩ — ∘༉♡∘ — ꔫ
🌶
🔥
✨✨✨✨ .5
ꔫ — ∘♡༉∘ — 4.5✩ — ∘༉♡∘ — ꔫ

This was such a cute both pining after one another SLOW burn 🔥

I honestly couldn’t put it down and loved every minute of this one!

I do feel there should be some 'mild' trigger warnings for this book for certain aspects and things that happen in during the plot.

This is a SLOOWWWWW burn. both characters pining after one another not realising the other has feelings both mutually want the same thing but never knowing. I loved how the development happens but i did feel myself saying 'come on kiss or something already!'

there is some spice in here but its very minimal. Over all id give this a 4.5 out of 5 personally as i did indeed enjoy it

ꔫ — ∘♡༉∘ — 4.5✩ — ∘༉♡∘ — ꔫ

***Thank you to Victory Editing for the eARC via NetGalley***

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trope: Workplace Romance

I want to start with the critique I have. I feel there were some heavy topics discussed and there were not any trigger warnings.

Trigger Warnings
- Cheating (in the past)
-Miscarriage
-SA

Overall, I enjoyed the story! As someone who works in the corporate world, I found myself in shock by what things would happen in their office. As someone who also works in HR, I found myself laughing at how preposterous it was.

I did love that the author introduced us to side characters and truly gave them their quirks. I loved how protective Jamie was over Carolyn. When he found her in the bathroom after the fashion show, I was swooning at how he was her knight in shinning armor!

This was such a fun Christmas read!

I thoroughly enjoyed Caz and Jamie and appreciated the pace at which they were developed individually and as a couple. They built up to their full connection slower than we often find in such romances, and while they did a bit of the traditional feeling repelled from each other it wasn't in an adversarial way. I get frustrated with the "despise to love" troupe when it keeps throwing up roadblocks between the main love interest and this wasn't that. I can relate to characters who question whether they could be the recipient of someone's affections enhanced with a little childhood baggage added to the mix. There was a little spice but it wasn't predominate.

Complex Christmas romance with a wide cast and several sub plots, never a dull moment. Some serious topics including sexual assault and harassment, infidelity, IVF, miscarriage, and depression are handled with care - and histories of parental mistreatment may hit some triggers, but are handled well. A rollercoaster of insecurities and baggage leads through it all to the HEA you want to see.

I was truly looking forward to this book. Books set around Christmas are often wholesome and pure, so I was very excited for a sexy, steamy workplace Christmas story. Full transparency, I got 35% into the book and was not able to finish. I will not move forward leaving a review on my bookstagram as I do not want to encourage very public, negative reviews that may be hurtful to the author. I know that a lot of work went into this book. However, I do want to provide open and honest feedback that may help with growth for future opportunities.

Some points that made me DNF:
The writing of this story felt very juvenile. Instead of sexy and steamy, it felt like reading two horny teenagers and often felt very misplaced. Every moment someone was wet, or someone was hard with usually no reason. It was constant and unrelenting. The writing felt like it lacked a sense of maturity and taste.

There were an excess number of characters and found it very difficult to keep track of all of them + their connection to the characters.
In addition, this is a workplace romance but that doesn’t need to include the absurd and inappropriate sexual conversations brought up in the workplace. This office was a walking HR violation.

The constant reminder that Carolyn’s father created fear and trauma surrounding sex. While I think it is important to discuss this trauma and how it affected her. It felt often out of place and was constantly being brought up. If a hard on was mentioned, so was Carolyn’s father. This is such a sensitive topic that I do feel could have been handled better.

I also know there is an event later in the book involving sexual assault. There absolutely needs to be trigger warnings for this book as this could be very triggering and traumatizing to readers.

I would be interested in reading books from this author potentially in the future but I think there needs to be more thought put into the development of the characters and the plot. In addition, there needs to be trigger warnings as some topics could be very triggering and harmful to readers.

*An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was pretty cute, but some of it read like a first draft. I think it just needs some polishing, especially of the dad plot, and it would easily be five stars.

This book was fun and delightful. The conflict didn't seem as much of a plot point as with other rom coms and that was a great change of pace. I liked both Carolyn and Jamie and was glad for their growth throughout the story.
The ending definitely jumps up on you and there are definitely some conversations we missed that I wish we'd gotten to see, but it was a fun, cute holiday rom com.

What a cute, lovely, spicy, slow burn, holiday rom-com this is!
We follow Carolyn, a sports journalist that is crazy about her boss. And Jamie, Carolyn's boss, who is also crazy about her. They're both not into Christmas, but they draw eachother for Secret Santa. What do you get your secret, forbidden crush?
The characters are so well thought out. Love the fact that they are smart, vulnerable, lovable people with the same kind of issues to work through. It's also refreshing that any issues they have with eachother aren't drawn out for the dramatic effect. It has amazing tropes, a nice pace, even a sleazy father! I really like the way this was written.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jezebel Nightingale and Victory Editing for entrusting me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a solid 3.5/4 star read for me. The story was cute, the characters were enjoyable, and the progression was well-paced and believable.

My only critique for this was that there were a notable amount of grammatical and punctuation errors. I know there was a note in the beginning saying that it wasn't a fully edited piece, but the errors I encountered were a bit too noticeable for my liking.

Overall, however, I enjoyed this and thought the author did a really good job with the overall story.

Thank you for the ARC copy!

Secret Santa by Jezabel Nightingale starts off as a super cute and fun story. Watching the characters get flustered around each other and fawn over one another, despite barely knowing each other, was absolutely charming. The slow build of their mutual attraction creates a delicious tension that’s beautifully resolved when they finally give in to their feelings.

However, their pasts weigh heavily on their minds, and the many "what ifs" play a significant role in shaping their relationship. Seeing them work through these challenges felt a bit formulaic at times, but it was still an enjoyable journey. This book perfectly embodies a Hallmark-style workplace romance, delivering all the warmth and sweetness you’d expect and some light spice.

Wonderful holiday story! I loved it front start to finish. Great way to start the holiday season. I loved the chemistry between the characters.

Carolyn works as a sports reporter for an online magazine and is attracted to her boss, who she also draws for Secret Santa.

Um, I finished it - which I found surprising. This book could do with a few rounds of edits; I found the sentences staccato, the story isn’t dynamic (in fact it is chaotic - going in several directions at once) and the spice feels forced. The whole book is edgy re: steamy conversations and scenes but it feels gross as it happens all the time: at work, between friends, and between the MMC & FMC. The MMC will have just heard or seen something fairly troubling but he will look at her and think something super sexy. It was weird. All that being said, I kept reading. I think that the story itself has potential and I wanted to find out what was going to happen, but it just needs so much work.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

When I started this book I didn’t know what to except honestly. I thought the book was very entertaining, there was a lot of drama, I liked that part. It was also interesting to have a Christmas under the sun of Australia. One of the biggest negative point of this book for me was how they would think of each other sexually at the most random times, like horny teenagers. I also dislike how the FMCs would sometimes have pick me comments and not even question herself (and I also understand and acknowledge that she’s a product of her environnement).
To sum up, it ’s a story about a horny Boss and his horny employee with both major daddy issues.

I was so excited to read this book. Based on the synopsis of it, I had high hopes that it was going to be my new favorite holiday read. Only to be very sadly disappointed. I forced myself to finish it so that I could leave my honest review - but I did want to stop reading it about 25% through.

I found this to be a confusing story - it was very hard to keep track of who was who due to all the side characters. I also think it was very odd that once the two main characters fell in love, the book turned more into a ‘relationship with your parents’ type of story. I was confused as to why it went and ended in that direction. I also wasn’t fond of the way the author kept repeating the female main character’s constant self esteem issues. I think if the author would have only mentioned it a couple of times, it would have been fine but when it’s mentioned as many times as it is in this book, it’s almost as though the author was trying TOO hard to get that point across.

If you need any trigger warnings, mine would only be that there is sexual harassment in this book (depending on how you portray it).

Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan, I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it. I am interested in reading more from this author, maybe this was just a fluke!

Secret Santa follows Carolyn Harrison and Jamie Fitzsimmons. Two people that seem to have a shared hatred for all things Christmas and holidays. Carolyn has has a crush on her boss for ages but never felt she belonged in his circle but little does she know, he feels the same way. Because they work together and with his standing to the media, she's never felt she could act on it. Plus, her conservative father built a lack of self confidence in her at a young age. Jamie has had a crush on Carolyn since he first met her, but he has a set of rules for women after some of his own trauma and refuses to act on it. Fate seems to step in and when they get each other for Secret Santa at the office, they're forced to find out a bit more about each other.
Tropes include:

🎅 Workplace Romance
🎅 Tragic Pasts
🎅 Holiday Romance
🎅 Oblivious to Love
🎅 Emotional Scars

I really flew through this book. Secret Santa wasn't the typical cookie-cutter Christmas read. Both Carolyn and Jamie suffered from majorly toxic parents and how that had such a lasting impact on both of them moving forward with their own relationship together was really well done. I think anyone would enjoy this if they're looking for a Christmas read with a splash of spice and a lot of drama. My only issue with this book is the lack of trigger warning for elements of cheating, miscarriage, and assault on page. Luckily, I wasn't triggered by these themes, but they still really took me by surprise.

Thanks to NetGalley, Jezabel Nightingale and Victory Editing for the ARC! 😊