Thank you to Netgalley, Forever and Helena Greer for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up!

I loved this book! I hadn’t had the best luck with this author in the past but I decided to try again because the description sounded right up my alley and I’m glad I did because this one did not disappoint. Both main characters - but especially Tara - are wonderfully complex and complicated characters I couldn’t help but root for. I appreciated the chemistry and the banter between the main characters. Overall, I high recommend.

3.5 rounded down

I enjoyed this book a lot! It had such an enjoyable cast of characters, a lovely setting, and so many of my favorite tropes that it ended up being a very comforting read! I ended up reading it without having read the previous books in the series, and I did occasionally have the feeling that I was missing out on some additional context and enjoyment in certain scenes, but overall, this was still quite good as a stand alone and you definitely don’t have to read the other books first to enjoy it!
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Summary:

Tara has worked hard to cultivate her perfect image and life, and she’s not about to embarrass herself by showing up to her ex’s wedding solo just because she’s not prepared for a real relationship. Thankfully, the cute waitress at her favorite café is happy to step up and be her fake girlfriend for the wedding activities.

Holly has been crushing on her favorite customer for ages and she’s ecstatic when Tara invites her to be her plus one at a wedding. She’s sure that this will be the perfect time to get closer and have some spicy fun. It’s her ideal situation, after all. Quality time with an attractive woman, and a planned end date in sight so there’s no risk of anyone trying to tie Holly down.

It’s the perfect, short term shenanigan. Except everyone keeps saying that there’s magic in the air at Carrigan’s, and it’s the place where everyone goes to fall in love…
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This book had a lot of really fun and enjoyable moments and it was a nice, entertaining, and comforting read. It took me a bit to get into the story, however, since I really didn’t care for Tara at the beginning and several early scenes and moments were a bit frustrating to me. There were also certain moments throughout the book where characters said or did things that just felt off to me and made me like them a bit less, at least for a chapter or two. I feel like the second half of the book mostly made up for the parts I struggled with at the beginning, however!

This book was full of fun tropes, which made it both satisfying and very predictable, but it was really the characters and the setting that carried the story for me! I also really liked the emphasis on platonic love and found family.

What worked for me:
- A lovely setting.
- A charming extended cast of characters.
- Fun tropes.
- A cute love story.
- Found family.

What I struggled with:
- I didn’t always like the main characters.
- I occasionally found myself questioning whether the main characters actually were right for each other?

Overall, this was a fun, light read and I plan to go back and read the other books in the series!

I initially had really high hopes for this book but it fell short. I love the book cover and was really hooked in based on the blurb. I felt like the flow of the book was a little choppy and dull, the storyline felt like it dragged at times. I did like the main characters but struggled to deferentiate them at times in the storyline. I really enjoyed the family dynamic in this story and it was overall really cute, I just expected more.

I liked the individual character growths of the MCs, the author absolute did not hold back on their stubbornness and panic and finally their healing at the end, when everything blew up, and I loved reading it!
++ The found family dynamic was top tier!

Personally, I did not pick up on a lot of chemistry between the MCs which is a shame coz I loved them so much 🥲 I would have liked to see more on-page emotional interactions and pining between them

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

This was a delightful wrap-up to Greer's trilogy! You DEFINITELY need to read the first two so that you know all the characters. I just wish Carrigan's was a real place!

I posted this on my Goodreads but can't seem to grab a link on my device.

I went into this book ready for anything. The blurb was so enticing, and the characters sounded great.

Then there were so many secondary characters I was getting a bit confused.

The pace was slow and made it harder for me to just sit down and enjoy it.

This was a good read with a lot of great developed characters, the face to blacks were a little confusing given how sexual the conversations and descriptions were.

Cute and kitschy to wrap up the wonderful Carrigan's Christmas Land. It was a fun story but I don't feel is a stand alone since there were a bunch of characters that carried over and if I didn't know who they were previously it would have been whirlwind of names and relationships that I was trying to piece together.
The ending was well done, I enjoyed that it wasn't a straight to HEA ending and there was work being done by both characters. I do enjoy Helena Greer's writing and the flaws that the characters have is realistic without making a character I dislike.
The book felt a bit more rushed than the others and some plot points felt thrown in. The chemistry felt a bit lacking, Tara's growth was the bigger premise and was pleasing to see. If this was a platonic romance story between Tara and Cole I would have probably loved it a bit more
Tropes in the book are the fake-dating, one bed, opposites attract, closed door romance
Thanks for the Shenanigans!

I adore this series and these characters. Slight downvoting for miscommunication because it always grinds my gears, but it’s worth it anyway. ♥️

Unfortunately most aspects of this book didn't work for me. I loved the premise and was very hooked by the cover, but the character/story development felt like it needed work. I didn't feel that the main characters or the side characters were solidly developed, and often got lost in who's POV I was in. The resolution of the main characters' relationship at the end felt semi realistic due to the indicated time passed, but it felt like we missed out on their growth in their time apart.

I’m a sucker for fake dating trope. This one did not disappoint. Tara received an invite to her ex-fiancés wedding and had to find a date. Holly (waitress) agrees to go with her as her fake date to avoid dealing with her own family. This was a sweet, opposite attraction romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC.

Having read the other two titles in the series, when I saw the cover and synopsis, I was interested in a trip back to Carrigan’s as well as reading Tara’s story. Backstories are alluded to, as opposed to laid out - and since it’s been a while since I read the first two books (which I didn’t care to re-read), I did feel a bit lost with the array of secondary characters whom I didn’t recall.

The chemistry between the two mains wasn’t apparent to me and the serious lack of sexual tension was annoying. This is also a fade to black story, so don’t expect spice (or steam).

The platonic love in this far outpaced the romantic, in my opinion. Though the romance aspect fell flat for me, the best part of this was Tara’s personal growth, her friendship with Cole, and catching up with the Carrigan’s crew.

This isn’t listed as being part of a series, but I would strongly suggest reading the first two titles because otherwise you’ll have no idea about the dynamics in place.



Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the DRC

3.5

Looking for:
~ lesbian MC and LI
~ fake dating
~ road trip shenanigans
~ found family
~ not so perfect characters
~ wintery back drop
~ & theirs cats ( I love it )
you should definitely give this book a read

Ngl it took me until about 40% in to realize that this is the 3rd book in a series ( and one I have been wanting to read for a while) and I was kinda confused when it started because I was like I feel like I should have known this already ( ya thats because I didn’t put two and two together) but after a while I was into it. I really enjoyed Tara as a main character even tho she did say somethings that had me looking at her side way but overall she was def my favourite character ( she just spoke to me since page 1). I loved the found family in the books so much especially her and Cole friendship/sibling dynamic, it was really amazing to be apart of. All the little events in this book were entertaining and fun to read, I almost teared up for Tara near the end ughh. I did enjoy some of Tara and Holly moments but I wasn’t fully into their relationship ( that’s just a me prob I believe). I did catch myself laughing too many time to count tbh because these characters are actually kinda funny and their relationship with each other is so cute.

Some thing I didn’t enjoy was that sometimes Holly rub off on me wrong because of what she would say and act but it works out in the end so I can’t be to mad ( I feel like that was her character so I can’t really fault her to much for it but if I can point out when Tara was wrong I can point out when she was too).

overall if your looking for a cute, lesbian romance set around Christmas time ( ohh how can I forget, they are attending tara’s ex girlfriend wedding in Carrigan aka christmasland) I would recommend giving it a try.

( honestly I might reread this during Christmas time to get the full vibe cause I can only get so far with a christmas playlist)

thank you Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. :)

Knowing this was a sapphic fake dating trope led me to set the bar pretty high from the start. However, I am actually devastated I wasn't sold on Tara and Holly, their relationship arc was extremely frustrating to me, and I felt very unsatisfied by the resolution. The real shining star and redemption of this entire book to me was Tara's personal journey of acceptance of love and friendship in her life, specifically the bond between her and Cole. Their love for each other made me sob and cemented the found family as the better trope and love story in my eyes. Overall, I enjoyed this book as a way to wrap up the series (if it is truly over!) as I was very fond of the group of characters we have collected along the way. As a romance, it fell flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for this ARC!!

Overall: 3.75
Spicy: 1

Trying to live for others makes your life miserable. This story takes you along for the ride of what it looks like to be fake with those in your life and you get to your breaking point and the front drops. This was a relatable story as I feel most of us do this on a daily. Especially, when your family doesn't accept your lifestyle. I just wish there was more spice.

A joyful celebration of community and found family, and of a place in which that community can thrive as unique individuals, as partners, as blood relatives, as lovers, as makers and creators, and, perhaps, most of all, as seekers of belonging, even when—especially when—they don’t have their lives all figured out. The opposites-attract romance gets the story rolling, but Greer braids that plot with several others, diving into conversations about queerness, heritage, marriage, ambition, family, friendship, identity, and the many ways we forge a sense of “self,” despite, and sometimes because of, the mistakes we make when we’re young. A significant amount of page time is dedicated to the continuing relationships from books one and two, so I definitely recommend reading the series in order rather than picking this up first. Greer provides all the essential info, but the flow of events and emphasis on community rather than coupledom suggest a reader is already invested in the broader story world and expansive cast of characters as this portion of the narrative unfolds. Told with lots of heart, and with a passionate love for her world and characters that comes through the prose, this one's a good fit for readers who always wanted their own Island of Misfit Toys, even though we all know, those misfits are perfect as is.

This was such a fun and easy read and I really enjoyed it a lot! I loved the story and the characters a lot! If you need a quick read, this is it!

This book was one of the best romances I have ever read. It had all the attributes I loved for a couple, including a healthy relationship and an end that had me begging for more. The fake dating in this book had me kicking my feet and giggling. The chemistry between Holly and Tara was exactly what I hoped this book would have.

this was a good book! i honestly wanted to read it because of the cover because it is really cute, but the book was good! i liked the characters and plot!

3.5 stars! Thank you netgalley for this copy for an honest review! I started off really liking this story, it definitely had its cute and enjoyable moments but I think at times I became kind of lost and wasn’t able to follow along because of the different side characters and it just got really confusing for a good bit of the story. I think this story really had so much potential to be good and it was I think it was just feeling very boring at times to the point where I got uninterested for a bit!

This book wasn’t listed as part of a series on goodreads or amazon, and it absolutely should have been. I don’t recommend picking up this book unless you’ve at least skimmed the other two books by this author. There are so many side characters and nods to previous interactions that I just couldn’t keep up with why something was significant or why all these people mattered.

Ultimately, Cole was my favorite character and his friendship with Tara was really sweet. I didn’t enjoy the “romance” since it was a week of mostly fake dating and a months long separation after a public altercation. Tara’s story could’ve been told without Holly and actually it may have been better that way. The ending wasn’t really satisfying, and I don’t feel compelled to go back and read any of the other books at this point either.