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.

“Hers for the Weekend” by Helena Greer follows the fake relationship of Tara and Holly as they attend the wedding of Tara’s former girlfriend. This is a quirky story full of unique and quirky characters in an unusual and quirky setting. Tara is a rather prim and proper Charleston attorney while Holly is an itinerant waitress. The quirkiness revolves around the wedding venue, Carrigan’s Christmasland and all the resident quirky people. This is an interesting read and funny, especially once your brain sorts out all the players and their various backstories. I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice it to say that there’s a happy ending or two in this book. Tara and Holly find themselves, cakes and snowmen are constructed, and quirky characters continue their quirkiness.

Finishing this feels bittersweet because it’s the end of Carrigan’s (for now), but also I’m pretty sure Tara and Holly are my favorite of the series (and not just because there’s lesbians lol). The thing I most looked forward to was seeing more of Tara and Cole’s friendship because their bond hits my heart so good, and I loved how much Hers for the Weekend delivered on that front. As mentioned in the acknowledgments, this is as much a book of platonic love as it is about romantic love, and it filled my heart with so much joy and warm-fuzzies seeing Tara realize just how loved she is and that she has a family, a community that has her back and wants to fill her sails rather than trying to keep her small and stuck in a mold that doesn’t fulfill or grow her. Holly is also such a great counter to Tara in so many ways because she comes across very sunshine, but she’s really rough on the edges and has a tendency towards cutting words and actions when she’s hurting. I was on the edge of my seat as I neared the end to see how Tara and Holly would be able to work out their relationship, and in the end it was so satisfying and loving and I love this world, this community Helena has created in this series.

The blurb sounded super cute and I really liked the cover. The story unfortunately was hard to keep track of for me and there were so many side characters and then the MCs talked about wanting to use different names and started doing it which threw me off. I also felt like it was assumed we knew things sometimes based on the conversations. Then I definitely wasn’t expecting fade to black with how much they talked about sex before it even happened. Not that it’s a bad thing but just was expecting more steam from all the talk. While they had sexual tension the chemistry itself was lacking. Overall, I was hoping for something a little different and more out of this one.

A road trip to an exs wedding - was there ever a gayer setting?

Hers for the Weekend chronicles the romance between Southern Belle Tara and edgy, but gorgeous Holly, who hails from the wrong side of the tracks. The two couldn’t come from worlds that are more different- about the only thing they have in common in a sizzling physical attraction to each other. Tara is convinced that she could never date a woman like Holly because of "southern societal expectations" of her (a lesbian, so called rainbow sheep??).

The connection between the MCs did feel a bit shallow at times, and Tara tolerating some seriously homophobic bullish*t felt a bit tired by the end. Overall though, it was a decently quick and pleasurable read. Didn't realize it was part of series - will have to go back and read the rest!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Strokes for the ARC!

Title: Hers for the Weekend
Author: Helena Greer
Genre: Romance
Media: ebook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️

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Favorite quote: N/A
Sum of this book in 5 words or less:

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Themes: only one bed, fake dating, sapphic relationship

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Thoughts:

Short summary - Tara is a lawyer and Holly is a waitress at the diner Tara frequents. They hatch a plan to go to Tara’s ex’s wedding together, fake dating.

I honestly feel like these two barely even fake dates, they kiss very early on. These two were adorable and I’m glad that they were able to stay together in the end and sort out their differences.

I found parts of this book hard to keep up with who we were talking about because of the amount of characters. There were so many people in the revolving door of this book and it was hard to understand at times.

Overall the core couple was cute but the book just fell flat for me and I found myself skipping parts.

DNF @ 50% sadly.

I had such high hopes for this book based on the cover and the description but I just did not love the characters and was overall just really bored. I didn’t feel like Tara and Holly had any chemistry aside from their physical attraction to each other. I almost felt like maybe they needed more background and buildup to really keep me hooked. I kept getting so lost with all of the characters being introduced and it made things even more difficult to get through. Maybe the last 50% was better but I just could not bring myself to keep pushing through.

I have been dying for Tara's POV since first reading Season of Love, and this book doesn't disappoint!

Tara is a rigid debutant lawyer in the south trying to live up to her parents and southern societies expectations, going so far as to plan for a marriage of convenience, not love.

Holly is a waitress with a passion for baking but never stays in one place too long to make any real connections with people.

Tara is invited to her ex fiancé's wedding and doesn't want to go alone so she asks Holly to go with her, Holly agrees because she doesn't want to go home to her family for Christmas. They fake date, kinda fall in love BUT things go awry as they do in romcoms!

I loved that none of the characters were perfect. Their struggles were real and human, I could see bits of myself in both Holly and Tara.

Carrigans is so magical. I wish I could spend every Christmas there. Why can't it be real?? This book was so cozy, I'm sad it was the final book in the series, but I know I'll be rereading them again!

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC.

Thank you for the ARC!

I so wanted to love this book but it was just okay. I was so excited because the cover was lovely, it was a lesbiam romance, and had fake dating. But I found that there was not much chemistry between the characters which made me not really root for them to end up together.

Overall, I definitely had to skim thorugh parts. Thank you for the opportunity to read!

Warning: some spoilers are in my review.

Hers For The Weekend is the third in a series of books centered around characters at a Christmas tree farm and vacation destination called Carrigan's. This particular novel primarily takes place before and during the wedding between the two main characters in the first book (Miriam and Noelle). It has been about a year and a half since I read "Season of Love", so I honestly didn't remember much about one of the two main characters in this book - Tara, who is the ex of Miriam. The same can be said about Cole, who is Miriam's best friend but also Tara's platonic soulmate who plays a bigger role in Hers For The Weekend. While you would definitely get more out of this book if you've read the previous two novels, it isn't necessary; the characters from those books are written well enough in this one to give context (and really boost the characterization of Tara).

I enjoyed this book so much that I stayed up too late reading it some nights. The fake dating trope was fueled by very strong mutual physical attraction between Tara and Holly. Before anything physical actually happened between the characters, instead of a slow burn it was more like someone lit a match with little self restraint, and I giggled with some of the inner thoughts written on the page. The queer found family with the Carrigan's crew almost made me tear up on a few occasions because of how strongly they were bonded. I also liked the age group of the characters; everyone was in their 30s.

Of course, there has to be conflict in order to be a resolution and a happily ever after in these types of books. The events of Tara and Holly's pasts more than explained how their current personalities clashed, and they definitely had some growing apart and growing up to do before either was ready to be a good partner. I didn't really care for how wealthy Tara is, but there were a few jokes that slightly made up for that.

I'd read this one again, especially for the dynamics between all of the characters.

Tara is focused on her job and likes control. Holly is a free spirit who works a a local bakery that Tara goes to often. When Tara has to attend a wedding, she doesn’t want to go alone. Holly doesn’t want to go back home for Christmas for her family to play matchmaker. The two form a pact to go to the wedding together and pretend to be a couple. Both going into the pact to get something for themselves, they find themselves torn by a decision of wanting to be together. As the wedding approaches, Tara and Holly are forced to face some internal issues which brings hard decisions.

Hers For The Weekend was a cute sapphic romance, but I needed more. I did feel a little bored at times and the characters truly lacked depth. The story also felt repetitive for me.