What can I say? It's an Elle Spencer book and she does not disappoint! Holly is a writer for a network romance series. Her ultimate goal is to see the production of the gay Christmas movie she has written . When she goes to Hawaii for Christmas, she runs into Meredith who is one of the network executives that also happens to be her "unattainable" crush. After Holly comically rescues Meredith's lingerie at the airport carousel, they meet again at the the resort they are both staying and have a holiday fling. When they get back to work, they try to continue the relationship but several work "situations" get in the way. Will Holly ever be able to have her movie produced and possibly have a happy ever after?
This was a quick, funny and enjoyable read. I loved all the humor and was laughing out loud throughout the book. Also, all of Holly's friends (especially Gwen) were such a great and necessary (comic relief) addition. Very well done!

I am embarrassed to admit this is my first lgbtq romance, but I loved it. Very quick read, a total Hallmark movie, a fun love story, and Christmas! This author is new to me and I will be checking out more of her stuff, for sure. Likable characters, breezy writing, and a just-cheesy-enough plot. Five big stars!

Reading this book is like watching a Hallmark Christmas movie. It has all those cheesy elements of a holiday movie, but who doesn’t love that? :p

Holly is a screenwriter for Wifetime Network (*eye roll*), who has an ultimate dream to create a gay Christmas movie. She had a crush on her boss, Meredith, and just like a rom-com should be, they accidentally met and had a holiday together in Hawaii. Their relationship started to build from there, but they need to keep the relationship to themselves due to strict workplace relationship policy.

Sometimes I feel the story portion for Holly’s friends a bit too much, even though their interaction was actually hilarious and fun. I would love to see more of Holly and Meredith. But as a big fan of rom-com who loves a grand ending, this story definitely delivers. Be ready to feel those warm and fuzzy feelings from a snowy, holiday small town.

I actually expect more in terms of the story dynamic since Casting Lacey is one of my top favorite romance books. But overall, I really enjoy reading this book since it gives me a perfect escape during these strange and uncertain times.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75!!!
“Our audience isn’t ready.”

Many writers of all kinds in different medias have heard this many times. Rejected for having “too progressive thoughts. From sex, to gender, to race, it’s a never-ending fight for good representation for oppressed communities. In our main characters case, Holly, a lesbian whose the expert writer of holiday romcom movies for the WifeTime Channel, with his brutally hilarious flatmates, says that her biggest dream as a writer is to write a gay/sapphic holiday movie in the WifeTime Channel, a network whose audience caters to straight women.

But that’s not the only thing that’s in Holly’s mind. Meredith Drake, her coworker she has the biggest crush on. Holly, a (somewhat) proud grinch during the holidays has always gone to Hawaii for the past few years now to “celebrate” the Holidays, away from anything that involves Christmas. But what happens when she sees that Meredith is also on the same flight as hers?

Although I felt a little thrown off by the book cover because I’m more of a “judge a book by its cover person” (i know i know), this book was really a nice surprise that I really enjoyed it, and it even made me a little teary towards the end. It was so great for my gay heart and the book cover doesn’t do it justice. I also feel like the book could’ve gone through another run-through so that some of the dialogue felt a little more natural, but I still really appreciate how Holly feels so strongly about giving the LGBT+ community the good representation that they 100% deserve through holiday movies. Kudos to Elle Spencer for making such a good character-driven novel!

You like sapphic books? The holidays? Something sweet, steamy and heartwarming? Then, this book is for you!

This had me at “Wifetime Network.” The book is a light, fluffy novella which is exactly what I want from a holiday book. Holly is a delight and a half. She is absolutely hilarious and I love that someone who hates holidays, writes Christmas movies. As someone who very happily flies across the country to go to the beach for Christmas in order avoid being in my hometown in the snow and who generally does not enjoy holidays, Holly spoke to me. I loved all the references to the cheese of Hallmark and Lifetime movies while the book was in and of itself delivering the same level of cheesiness.

I do think this book had several issues of which I only care to mention three. 1. I’m usually someone who enjoys secondary characters in books but Holly’s friends did nothing for me. They all blended in my mind and I just didn’t care about any of them or think they particularly added to the story. 2. The conflict between Holly and Meredith that splits them up for a time just didn’t make sense. Like it was beyond the limits of absurdity allowed within “Romance Reasons.” 3. Somehow the 11 chapter holiday novella which probably should have taken place over the span of a month covered 2 years which meant that there wasn’t a lot of depth to be found.

This was my first book from Elle Spencer. She’s someone I would probably read again if the opportunity presents itself. Overall the book was an enjoyable distraction while waiting for GA and PA to finish counting their votes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Bold Strokes and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. The things I really enjoyed about this book were the main character, Holly, and the chemistry between her and her love interest. It was cute and hot, I especially enjoyed the first part of the book where they meet and get together. Holly was a great character to root for, she was funny and relatable and I would love to read more about her and Meredith, who sounded incredibly hot tbh.

On the more critical side, I don't think the two time jumps in the story helped in terms of building the relationship and would have preferred to see their time together expanded upon than the manufactured (and kind of out of character) angst at the end of the book. I also thought there were a few too many indistinct side characters for such a short book.

Overall, a cute and easy Christmas f/f romcom read!

I’ve not really been in the reading mood this past week - but it’s really unlike me to take as long with a book as I did with this one - despite it being an easy read and not particularly long - I just found there wasn’t really anything that encouraged me to keep reading instead of doing something else.

The first 30-35% of the book moved along quite nicely. We meet Holly who works at the Wifetime network writing a popular Christmas movie series - Evermore. One of the executives at the network is Meredith, whom Holly has a crush on. Holly grew up in a town devoted to Christmas, and subsequently finds an affinity for Hawaii at Christmas. Fate brings Meredith and Holly together in Hawaii.

After this part of the book - I found myself experiencing a whiplash effect more than once, and confused me just as much at times. There is a dream episode that I thought was real - which then lead me to believe that things that are written to have actually happened were dreams, which meant re-reading to ensure I had accurately understood things. The parts of the book where angst and tension are introduced felt like jolts in the storyline and felt contrived.

Once Meredith and Holly are together, we don’t actually get to see much of this - except for some significant moments in their lives, making it too slow burn for my personal tastes.

I liked some of the secondary characters, but some just baffled me. The part of the book where Holly returns to her parents home is very sweet, but could have been shorter and still have been effective in the storyline.

All in this was a book with great potential, that in some places, especially at the beginning, managed to live up to it, but more often than not felt disconnected. If you love holiday romances there is likely to be enough enjoyable things here for you to give this a go.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a pure delight. It's sexy, Christmasy, and fun as hell. It's every bit as great as a Holly Hudson Wifetime movie and I loved absolutely every second of it. If this could be it's own Wifetime movie I would DVR it so I could watch it all year 'round.

I unfortunately DNFed this around 40%. I really wanted to like this book and I love the concept - I want to see more sapphic romcoms, especially sapphic Christmas romcoms.

Unfortunately I didn't really connect to the characters, and I find it hard to connect to romance books that emphasize sexual attraction and don't have as much of a focus on romantic attraction, which was the case with this romance. The sexual attraction was really the focus of the book, and I didn't feel connected to the characters even outside of this. I wanted more relationship and character development, and maybe there was some later in the book but there wasn't enough in what I read to make me want to continue reading.

I think others would enjoy this book, but it was not for me. I do hope to see more sapphic romances (and sapphic Christmas romances!) in the future.

Holly wondered if maybe that was part of the problem. “It’s shortsighted,” she said. “And the network name is so ridiculous, I can hardly say it out loud.”

Holly Spencer is a seasoned script writer for Wifetime Network with 5 successful seasons under her belt. One thing eludes her - the only story that she truly wanted to write and see on screen, her very own gay Christmas movie. With the network’s constant rebuff of her proposition, she was ready to call it quits till the co-worker she had a crush on, Meredith Drake came into the picture.

What happens when you put two women with mutual attraction in pole positions in a heterosexual network? Lesbian drama! This book is a hilarious read and perfect for the upcoming season. Holly has some really quirky neighbours, dialogues between them were witty, engaging and cracking. This leaves one’s imagination as to what is spoken behind closed doors of the author’s household.

A highly enjoyable read, the plot was lighthearted and easy, the sex scenes were sexy and a delightful prelude to Christmas.

I just reviewed The Holiday Treatment by Elle Spencer. #NetGalley

The Holiday Treatment was a really cute holiday read and just what I needed to get myself in the holiday spirit. The main characters Holly (short for Holiday) and Meridith are coworkers at the Wifetime network, a funny play on my mom's favorite Lifetime channel. Holly writes much loved Christmas movies but vows not to write any more until the network agrees to make a gay movie. Holly and Meredith spend a wonderful unplanned vacation together in Hawaii, where they develop feelings for each other. But when they get back to the real world and Meridith gets promoted business comes in the way of their relationship.
While this story is lighthearted in lots of ways it does tackle some very serious issues such as the discrimination that the LGBTQ community still faces today. I really enjoyed the cast of secondary characters that were Holly's neighbors and family, although I think we could have spent less time with her friends and more with Meredith. I loved Holly's hometown and the experience she had there when she returned.
The romance between Holly and Meredith was definitely the center of this story. It was mostly told from Holly's perspective and we got to understand a lot about her background and how she got to be the person she was. To be honest I wish I'd gotten more background on Meredith as well, but it didn't really hurt the book.
I really enjoyed their romance. I loved the funny meet cute in the airport and the humor that they shared at the resort. I really like that the author handled the fact that they worked together in a realistic manner. I liked that they talked to each other through out the book and there wasn't a
I must admit the book did remind me of a Lifetime movie with the up and down emotional rollercoaster of Holly and Meredith's relationship but I think that was what the author was aimimg for so she was definitely successful there. I always love a grand gesture in romance and there was a great one here. There were some really sweet emotional moments between Holly and Meredith and I enjoyed watching their romance evolve. I was rooting for them throughout and looking forward to finding out how the author was going to make it work.
Overall it was a nice, easy read and I enjoyed it. It was a good start to my holiday reading.

This is my first book by Elle Spencer, and honestly, I wasn't going to read it at first.
Then I heard the author read from it. Twice. I knew I HAD TO read it after that. It just seemed too funny to miss.

I laughed so hard, I woke my partner up on more than a few occasions. The easy solution would have been to not read it in bed, but it was exactly what I needed before I went to sleep. (Sometimes you don't want to go to sleep feeling all angsty and twisted up inside, right?)

I laughed, I cried. I bonded with both Mer and Holly, and her parents. This is an adorable story filled with hope, humour, heartbreak and a main character who seems to have it all. But doesn't. This is filled with ups, downs, and quirky and memorable secondary characters you'll hear long after you've finished the book. Yes, it's fluffy and hilarious. But after the year we've all had?
It's exactly what I needed.

I started out loving this book about Holly, a screen writer for Christmas movies who hates christmas and Meredith, the manager at the channel Holly's working for. The plus side was a very funny main character you could get a connection with. And that is also the downside: 1 main character you could get a connection with. Since it's written in third person POV and only Holly's I stil have no idea about Meredith. I think I would like her, but her actions in the second part of the book are so different from what I thought I had deducted her character to be that it made me lose the connection to the romance.
In the first part there is a developing romance you can follow along with (and sometimes chuckle aloud) but then it's hardly any scenes between Holly and Meredith anymore, just between Holly and her, granted interesting, group of friends. There's this whole path with dates and whatnot we're not included in, just a mention that we're 6 months further in time and then all of a sudden the break up over an action that makes no sense. At all. The ending was a swoon worthy, cheesy chrismas style romance scene, but it fell completely flat because I just didn't understand Meredith and her motives.
This book has great potential and I love the way Elle Spencer writes her character with humor and realistic dialogue, but I do prefer getting to know both characters. Or at least understanding their actions.

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

Elle Spencer has come to be a favorite for her hilarious hijinks and crazy cast of characters. This book came out at exactly the right time of year, when everyone is gearing up for all the holiday movies. Holly and Meredith certainly have their fair share of ups and downs, but this is a fun way to spend a few hours.

Holly works at a television network and she is the head writer for the Christmas movies they produce. She has a major work crush on a new boss. While on her annual I-want-nothing-to-do-with-Christmas beach vacation, she discovers that the object of her work fantasies is also there.

This book was just OK for me. I understand that Holiday movies are all mushy and implausible and you really just need to enjoy the ride. This book seemed as if it was trying to follow that same network holiday formula. I just didn't find myself in the spirit and I don't think it was that I was reading it during Halloween.

I liked Holly and her name and the town she comes from. It made sense why she would try to make her way out in a world away from all of that festivity and alleged intolerance. Her tendency to babble and say things out loud was quirky and endearing at first.

There was a lot of attention paid to Holly's friends. I didn't like those characters and I just wanted to hurry through those parts to get to the real romance of the story.

I think the main reason I couldn't get into the spirit was because I didn't feel the love. It seemed to me like it was mostly a physical connection. It didn't help that we didn't get a real deep dive into the background of her boss to understand her motivations for the conflict of this story. The ending was completely rushed and I could not believe that all could be forgiven so quickly.

Overall, it was OK despite what seems like several negative thoughts. I've really enjoyed all of Spencer's books. She writes well and develops interesting scenarios and dialogue that are worth your time reading.

I recommend to those who like to read about romance, Christmas, sunny vacations, and cheesy endings.

4*

The Holiday Treatment as got Hallmark written all over it! The story, a romantic rom-com as it all! Funny story which keeps you entertained, the characters are all very likeable and there's very little 'drama'.

I just wish I'd read it in December instead of October. Totally my fault. So if you plan on reading it, read closer to Christmas.

Holly Hudson, one of the main characters, is a story editor for Wifetime Network, but by night, she's the writer for the networks cheesy, very straight holiday romance series called Christmas in Evermore. Holly originally took the job so she could accomplish one thing, to write a gay Christmas film. Over years she's been told no, but when things start to take a turn, Meredith Drake unexpectedly moves the networks holiday division.
Meredith and Holly have a very brief fling, but decide to keep things back in the office professional now that they are working daily with each other. More so that the network as a very strict policy about workplace relationships.

All in all, this was a really good read, the romance was pretty much there from the onset and you see passion between Holly and Meredith. You also have the usual crazy friends cheering and clapping them on and a town which never stops celebrating Christmas. A perfect Christmas story for when you have the Christmas tree up!

I was given a ARC copy for a honest review.

Tried 3 different times to get into this book. I couldn't get past the second chapter. No idea why, the writing was fine, and the plot seemed to be going down the same as other books I enjoyed. Maybe I will pick up again in the future and give it another go.

Unfortunately this book isn't for me.. it maybe good for someone else. I like books that have a man and women as. Couple

This is an ok holiday romance..
The initial idea is a nice one and I really liked Holly, the main character. She is wit and funny. And I also enjoyed the fact she has a nice group of people around her as friends.
However, I think my problem with the book is the point of view. It is made in a way we don't really get to know the other woman, Meredith. And, come on, she is the boss... maybe I was expecting a bit more about it when I read the description and this imbalance in knowing one character and not the other is something that bothered me.

I think Elle Spencer writes delightful books. Her 2018 book, Casting Lacey, happens to be one of my all-time favorites. Her latest novel, The Holiday Treatment, is what everyone needs right now. FUN! Pick this one up and enjoy the ride because this gem keeps you smiling and giggling the whole way through.

Holly Hudson is the queen of feel-good Christmas movies. She writes holiday love stories for Wifetime network. Holly creates movies that give people Christmas cheer, the only thing is, she loathes the holiday. As soon as she can she heads for Hawaii to getaway. This year, she happens to run into her longtime crush, Wifetime producer, Meredith Drake.

The whole book is funny. Holly our main character is a hot mess. She is adorable, witty, and keeps you in stitches. Meredith is 100 percent taken with her and the chemistry is palatable. The push-pull of their love story keeps you engaged the whole time. At times it is so sweet and the other times, well it is super sexy.

Great read, highly recommend. If you need a book to escape, this is it. You will love this adorable read that gives you a ton of fun. Who doesn't need more fun in their life right now?