Reviewed for A Book Nerd, a Bookseller and a Bibliophile.

A Dash of Christmas is hands down my favorite book from Samantha Chase! it had everything I wanted in a romance story that is set during the Holidays. Carter and Emery were so freaking hilarious and their whole situation was such a unique spin on " love to hate you, hate to love you" romance.

A Dash of Christmas is the prefect book to get you ready for Christmas, the fact that a big component was focusing on a family cook book was so intriguing, having Carter and Emery fight on what recipes to include made it even better. One of my favorite lines after Emery convincing Carter to try something that she likes is : "Welcome to the Dark Side. We have empty calories." I was literally eating up (no pun intended) all of the hilarious banters that happened throughout the book between Emery and Carter.

This book was multifaceted, it also touched upon a very serious topic that has been circulating around the media lately, what I appreciated from Samantha is how she utilized this to make it a story on Emery coming out stronger and more powerful at the end. I also enjoyed how Samantha showed the struggle of a relationship, not everything is cookie cutter, Carter and Emery fight but also empower one another. Their interaction sometimes was so deep for instance when Carter is expressing to Emery how he sees her;

"" You're the strongest woman I know. And when you go home, you need to remember that and not let anyone try to convince you that you're not. You're strong and smart and beautiful, and they're all intimidated by that. By tearing you down, they make themselves feel stronger. Show them what you're made of, Em. Prove to them how wrong they are.""

We all need a Carter in our lives. I loved this book and it was the first that i read from the Montgomery family series. I am now very interested in the rest of the clan and can't wait to read about all the other couples who were mentioned in this book.

“From rivals to lovers, 5 stars”



When I sat down to read A Dash of Christmas, I was like Johnaka, why the H-E-double hockey sticks are you reading a Christmas book in September. I mean, I know I do some weird stuff but that’s a little early even for me. But then I cracked open A Dash of Christmas and realized that it wasn’t a Christmas book, but a book about getting ready for Christmas. I soon fell into the story and was smitten with these two. One thing is for sure I think if you take a chance on these two you will love it as much as I did.

Emery’s life is not what she thought it would be at this point. Her life is basically shattered around her feet and she doesn’t know how she’s going to pick up the pieces. What she didn’t expect was the help from an old acquaintance. When Carter shows up she’s ready for a fight, because that’s what they are known for. But what if they turn all that fire into something else?

Carter is tired. Opening this fourth restaurant is slowly killing him. Add in the fact his mother wants a holiday cookbook out of him. When he stumbles upon Emery he doesn’t know what to think aside from the fact he hates what she’s going through. But that annoyance he used to have towards her has shifted. Is he willing to take a chance on love and is Emery the one?

Plot-5/5

Characters-5/5

Heat-5/5

Writing- 5/5

Overall-5/5

Samantha Chase has done it again! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I have another favorite read! ‘A Dash of Christmas’ is a wonderful, heart-warming frenemies to lovers romance with the magic of Christmas woven in beautifully.

I adored Emery and Carter’s banter. Loved how they each pushed and pulled and just brought out the best of each other in every way. I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow. I will warn you, though, you may find yourself a little hungry with the mouth-watering descriptions… of the food you dirty devils, lol. Samantha gives you all the feels but keeps the details to your imagination.

Please, oh please, do not let this be the last of the Montgomery series. They are such a wonderful family that I have grown to love dearly. I’m sure Eliza and Monica can find someone to work their magic on!

Loved, loved this story and the characters were wonderful. This story had everything I wanted for a holiday romance. It definitely put me in the spirit (and I know I will read it again before the holidays are over!!). It was wonderful from the first word to the very last one. I always think I've found a favorite then Samantha writes a new book to take its place. This is definitely a must-read, even if you haven't read the other Montgomery books (but you really should). I'd give it more stars if I could.

This was a sweet story, but i found it a little slow. I liked Emery and Carter They have know each other for many years and they have a quirky kind of relationship where they push each other buttons. They don't communicate well and leads to a lot of misunderstanding. No real angst in the story and it included lots of family members from other books I couldn't figure out. I think not reading the other books might have been a hindrance, but just a little. The book was missing the spark that would have kept me happy. I like it but didn't love it.

This is the final book in the fantastic Montgomery series. I’ve enjoyed reading each story develop with matchmaking being a central theme as to how each couple gets together. This time, Montgomery matriarch, Eliza, focuses on her son, Carter and his childhood friend, Emery. Their story, like all of Chase’s stories, is wonderful and fun to read. I hate to see the end of this fun series about an entertaining family. I think this last book just might be the best, which says a lot. As with all the other books, I would say it could be read as a stand alone. It’s just more exciting if you have read the others since so many characters from throughout the series pop up in each book. I am grateful to Samantha Chase, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Samantha Chase has written a phenomenal story full of heartswooning moments. She really did save the best for last. Full of love and breathtaking moments. When she puts pen to paper her words always dance write off the page and straight to my heart forever to stay. In A Dash of Christmas we get the final Montgomery book. This alone makes me sad. I adore the Montgomery family.

In A Dash of Christmas we get Carter Montgomery's story. Carter Montgomery and Emery Monaghan have known each other since fifth grade. Carter and Emery are rivals. When Emery agrees to help Carter work on a project things begin to heat up.

I really love A Dash of Christmas. It is the perfect ending to a phenomenal series. I enjoyed watching both Carter and Emery overcome their struggles and come together. Carter and Emery's story tugged at my heart strings and will forever have a place in my heart. Samantha Chase captivated me and mesmerized my heart from page one all the way through the end. I was left with a sense of belonging. I felt as if I were a part of this family. I laughed and felt my heartswoon several times. A Dash of Christmas took my breath away in a great way. The chemistry between Carter and Emery is undeniable and unforgettable. I loved being able to catch up with other members of the Montgomery family. The secondary characters were so amazing. It is so bittersweet that this is the finale book in this series and my heart is sad to see the Montgomery's end. However, all great things must come to an end. I could not put this book down and found myself reading it in one night. Since reading it I have read it a second time. It's just that phenomenal. A Dash of Christmas is the perfect Holiday romance to get you in a romantic and Holiday mood. Grab your copy and fall in love with A Dash of Christmas as so many other's have.

Samantha Chase continues her wonderful stories of the Montgomery family. Each book seems better than the previous one and I have enjoyed everyone that I have read. While it is a series I don't feel that you would be lost starting with this book. Samantha Chase does a great job of building wonderful families with fun story lines. A Dash of Christmas gives us a bit of Thanksgiving and Christmas. A Montgomery family home run!!

I was given an advanced copy for review purposes. The opinion is mine and mine alone.

This is a Netgalley ARC review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Samantha Chase continues her Montgomery Brothers series with this book set around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have not read any of this series but that will be changing soon. This book was so good.

Emery and Carter have the best banter that continues throughout the book. Carter is an alpha male and Emery is definitely an alpha female. The two of them are combustible.

Eliza and Monica are moms that I would love to have. They are meddling and funny.

The food descriptions are mouth watering. Samantha Chase's descriptions of the holiday decorations make me wish it were already Christmas.

I've said it before about her books but I could see this being made into a Hallmark movie.

Deliriously In Love With This Book! I loved this swoon-worthy, sweet, sexy, and incredibly entertaining, enemies to lovers story. I loved reading it and fell completely in love with Emery and Carter. This was such a heartwarming read and it left me with a huge smile on my face.

After a life long rivalry since fifth grade, these two are brought together when Eliza Montgomery uses a charity cookbook to throw them together in hopes that her scheme of matchmaking will result with a love match.

Emery Monaghan is in a middle of a scandal, when her fiancé of two years, Congressman Whitman is accused of multiple accounts of inappropriate sexual behavior. Unable to continue her everyday life, or standby her man, Emery is thankful when Eliza calls her with a job and a place to hide out. Of course there is a negative as well. Having to work alongside Carter Montgomery. But she was ready to to help him as a favor to his mother.

Carter Montgomery is struggling with what his next step will be with his restaurant business. After having great success with his other restaurants, he just doesn’t know what to do with this one. His other problem was his mother and the charity cookbook she had requested his help with. What he thought would be a few recipes and a foreword, was snowballing and his mother just wasn’t taking no for an answer.

When he arrives to the family condo in Manhattan to find Emery Monaghan, and then finds out why she was there, he was furious with his mother. He had known Emery since elementary school and she had always been a pain in his ass. She would make him crazy, annoy the hell out of him. There would be no way she would let him win with this cookbook project.

But what these two never saw coming, through their snarky comments, filled with competitive attitude, and their rage while arguing, was their instant magnetic attraction, that consumed them with heat. Heart racing, desire, delicious anticipation, an eagerness that over whelmed them. These two are just so deliciously happy, so deliciously sexy, and so deliciously infuriating together. And when they kissed it consumed them. A slow simmer was bubbling up to something more, and it was glorious to watch as these two come together.

Don’t miss this Fantastic story about family, traditions, and love. And the cutest little pug named Maylene. ;) ;)

Love love love! The Montgomery family is phenomenal! Carter has watched his siblings fall in love and thinks he is an exception to the matchmaking. Little does he know his mom disagrees. Emery has been his rival since high school. When she needs a place to hide, thanks to her fiancée, she doesn’t realize how much her life really is going to be turned upside down.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I hate it when a really good series ends so hearing this would be the last of the Montgomery Brothers novels was a little bit bittersweet, but Samantha Chase couldn't have given the family and the series a better send off than this seasonal frenemies to lovers story.
We've seen renowned chef and restaurateur Carter Montgomery before, most recently when he played confidant and cheerleader for Christian during his battles with their father. Emery was new, an old grade school arch-rival of Carter's, in the midst of a personal and media crisis after her fiance was exposed as a sexual predator and serial cheater. She needs a place to avoid the media while she puts her life back together and Carter needs help with a charity cookbook he's promised to put together for his mother ... and the rest, as they say, is history.
But it's also a very poignant story of Christmases past, of family love and family drama. It's also about those special Christmas memories - ornaments and holiday foods and the presents we always wanted to find under the tree.
Best of all, it's a love story - sweet and hot and tender with those occasional flashes of irritation and anger that help turn the fairy tale into a real life romance.
I loved A Dash of Christmas, and like those special ornaments and holiday foods, it just might be one of those holiday traditions I'll find myself pulling out again next year ... and the year after until it becomes a fixture in my Christmas celebrations.

Samantha Chase does it again with a great story filled with wonderful characters all wrapped up with a Christmas bow in A Dash of Christmas, the tenth book in her Montgomery Brothers series.

Carter Montgomery bucked family tradition and became a very successful chef and restaurateur. His mother, Eliza asks for assistance with a holiday cookbook, and Carter thinks he can just "phone it in," but Mom is wily. It is just the tool for her to do some matchmaking!

Eliza has offered the family condo to Emery Monaghan as a refuge after a scandal with her fiance blows up in the news. When Emery says she wants to repay the kindness, Eliza has the perfect solution. Emery will assist Carter and use her marketing skills to make the holiday cookbook a winner - and the die is cast. Emery never backed down from a challenge where Carter Montgomery was concerned, and Eliza is counting on that.

Chase draws Carter and Emery into a loving relationship as fierce as their rivalry. In exploring their respective strengths and weaknesses, they find that they complement and complete each other.

Comfort food, family dynamics, sweet romance and Christmas - what more could you ask for?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and I heartily recommend it!

Rivals from growing up, but now they need to listen to their hearts. Carter, a successful restaurateur needs some down time, so he heads to the family apartment only to find his rival from his school days, Emery, who needs some space after a scandal involving her past boyfriend. Carter's mom is now asking for them to come together for writing aholiday cookbook. All I can say is the Montgomery matchmaking is at it again!!

They are both stubborn in their own ways and the banter that they throw at each other, will have you laughing out loud. The chemistry between the two is ideal. They both have baggage that they need to overcome before moving forward. Do not read this book hungry, I could have easily gained weight while reading all the delicious foods.

It's sad to say goodbye to the Montgomery family but what a great ending!! You can read this book as a stand alone, but I loved the whole series!!

A Dash of Christmas is the 10th and final book in Samantha Chase's Montgomery Brothers series. I feel like I have been waiting for Carter's story forever and now that I have read it I can say it was worth the wait!

I absolutely loved Carter and Emory's story. Samantha Chase hit it out of the park with this one. It was wonderfully written and I did not want it to end. I read it in one sitting. I am sad this is the final book in the series but I think the epilogue almost made up for it! Definitely pick this one up when it releases on 9/24.

Started out a little slow in the story but about a third of the way it picked up steam and I couldn't put it down by the end. A great start to the holiday reads.

A Dash of Christmas by Samantha Chase is book #10 in The Montgomery Brothers Series. Christmas books are one of my favorite type of books. Even though this is book #109 in the series it can very well be read as a standalone but reading these books in sequence makes them more amazing. I was drawn in from the very first page until the end. I did not want to put this book down. This is once again is another a homerun for Samantha Chase. The characters are well developed and likeable. This story is very well written. I enjoyed catching up with some of the other Montgomery characters. This book will definitely keep you turning the pages it did me I ended up reading this in one sitting. If you like a friend to lover storyline this is definitely a book for you. I highly recommend this book to everyone you will not be disappointed. This was a very enjoyable read.

The Perfect Holiday Read!

I love a good Christmas story...but I prefer to read them after Thanksgiving so when A Dash Of Christmas began in the fall I was so happy - the best of both worlds a Christmas story in September that wasn’t only set at Christmas!

Then I actually started reading the book and I was even happier! Carter and Emery are middle school rivals who find themselves sharing an apartment during a turning point in both their lives.

I loved watching Carter fall for Emery and not fight it just as I loved watching Emery see herself through Carter’s eyes. I was a little sad that this was to be the last Montgomery book but then that epilogue 😍 it made everything right in their world and made saying farewell so sweet.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.

Carter and Emery’s love story was amazing, emotional, and proof that there is a fine line between love and hate or foe and friend. I absolutely loved A Dash of Christmas by Samantha Chase book ten in her Montgomery Brothers series. Carter Montgomery, a successful chef and restaurateur, is unsure which road to follow next; stay the path and keep things the way they are or look for a new challenge and change things up. He decides he needs some alone time to figure things out but his matchmaking mother has a different idea. Emery Monaghan is in a bad place. Her no-good, cheating fiancé has embroiled in his scandal and she needs a place to hide from everyone; media included. Carter’s mother, Eliza, reaches out and offers her a safe haven, which it is, at least until Carter arrives; her childhood nemesis. Carter and Emery have spent most of their lives as rivals so sharing an apartment would be a major challenge. Spending time together Carter and Emery discover how similar they are; stubborn, passionate and independent. What they didn’t expect was to find a shared attraction and chemistry that was not only off the charts but sparked fireworks. Following their hearts mean Carter and Emery need to find someone who is their soul mate; their perfect fit; the yin to his yang. Before these two former rivals can commit to love and a future together they both need to figure out what their next move, career-wise, will be.

Ms. Chase provided an emotional tale rich with sexual chemistry, amusing banter, strong family connections and endearing characters; providing Carter and Emery a little Christmas magic along with a chance for happiness, a future together, and everlasting love. I highly recommend A Dash of Christmas to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Gah! These Montgomerys. They manage to hit me straight in the heart every time, but this one is even more poignant and touching. Carter and Emery's story had me all verklempt and made my eyes leak more than once, darn it! The big bunch of Montgomerys have such a strong sense of family that the writing amazingly brings to life so it feels like I’m right there in the middle of their teasing and banter, like I’m recalling the nostalgic memories right along with them and I’m a integral part of the new memories they’re making.

Carter Montgomery and Emery Monaghan have known each other since the fifth grade, but theirs has been a relationship of rivalry and competition rather than camaraderie. It’s not until Eliza Montgomery decides on some well-intended matchmaker meddling in her son's life that Emery is back in Carter’s life, agreeing to help Eliza by working with Carter on a project for charity. And if you know anything about the meddling matchmaking generation of Montgomerys, you know that Carter doesn’t stand a chance.

Carter and Emery are just so dang fun, with their witty, sassy banter and the delicious push and pull (or shove and grapple at times). Their chemistry is hot and sizzling, despite most details being left to the reader's imagination, and their journey to forever is heartfelt and full of emotion. I adore both of these characters and devoured their story, eager to see how it played out.

If this is your first introduction to the Montgomery family, don’t worry. These books all stand alone, so you can start with any of them. Fair warning though, once you read one you’ll want to read them all, and you’ll love the cameos of characters from other books showing up in the one you’re currently reading. Carter and Emery's story is truly special. Maybe it’s the whole family being together again, or the Christmas theme, or the delightfully entertaining, heartstring-tugging relationship, but these two worked their way into my heart and left me with not only a happy sigh but a silly smile, as well. If you want a book that stirs your soul, makes you grin and leaves you with all those warm, wonderful feelings of Christmas, this is definitely the book for you!

*I read an early edition of this book freely and voluntarily, having made no commitment to provide feedback and receiving no compensation of any kind from any source.