It’s Christmastime again in Heartbreaker Bay!

When Sean O’Riley shows up at the Hartford Bed & Breakfast for his older brother’s bachelor weekend, he’s just hoping to make it through the weekend. What he’s not expecting is to come face to face with the woman he lost his virginity to a decade ago—a woman he’s never really forgotten.

The last time Lotti Hartford saw Sean, she told him she loved him while he said nothing. Now, ten years later, she’s just looking for a good time. For once, she wants to be the wild and free one, and Sean – the good time guy – is the perfect candidate.

But as the weekend continues, Sean realizes that after a lifetime of being the hook-up king, he’s ready to find happily-ever-after, and he wants it with Lotti. But will she open her heart to him again? As Christmas sweeps through the little B&B, he can only hope love and magic are in the air.

SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

Holiday Wishes is 4.5 in the Heartbreaker Bay series.

As usual, Jill Shalvis is a go-to writer for holiday romances (or any romantic comedies for that matter). In fact, I just did a review of her full-length novel Chasing Christmas Eve, which I adored. You can read that review here.

Despite the fact that Holiday Wishes has everything you could want in a Christmas novella, I found myself a little disappointed. Maybe it’s because I expected more of Shalvis’ trademark humor (although the talking parrot did make me laugh), but a tone of sadness, perhaps melancholy, seemed more prevalent. There seemed to be more focus on people lost, which may have been intended to add sentimentality.

I loved the characters of Sean and Lottie and wanted to spend more time with them. I liked their backstory, that they were each other’s firsts, and how that may have colored Sean’s world and affected his “player” persona. Maybe it’s because they had so much possibility that I would have loved to have seen this as a full-length novel instead.

Regardless Holiday Wishes is still a lovely story, filled with cute moments.

Despite the fact that Holiday Wishes is part of the Heartbreaker Bay series and has characters from the previous novels, it can be read as a standalone.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

rating:

4 butterflies out of 5 butterflies

About the Book

Holiday Wishes
by Jill Shalvis

Series
Heartbreaker Bay

Genre
Adult
Contemporary Romance

Publisher
Avon Impulse

Publication Date
November 7, 2017

About Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.