This is a funny holiday romantic comedy, perfect for the holiday season. Another good story from Elle Spencer.

I enjoyed the story although I did have a couple of issues, nothing major but it gets my review to 4 stars instead of my usual 5 for Elle Spencer’s books. In this case, we did not get to see much of the actual main characters’ relationship, instead we spend way too much time on Holly’s friends who at some point I was having trouble telling them apart. I just thought there were too many of them to be secondary characters with not much to add to the story. I also think the story kind of fell apart on the last third of the book, the way the conflict was resolved was kind of silly to me, and we never got to know how it was actually resolved.

It was a fun book to read. It even had me laughing out loud sometimes. It is a very good holiday read.

Delightfully funny, holiday romance. Holly writes Christmas movies for the Wifetime Network. Her biggest goal is to have the network make a gay Christmas movie. (Seriously, I had to read the book from this description alone.) While on Christmas vacation in Hawaii she meets up with her work crush Meredith and sparks fly. Returning to work, Meredith is moved to head up the holiday division and a new non-fraternization policy is in effect.

Holly is hilarious. Her mouth runs non stop and she has no filters. I grinned continuously as I devoured the book. The story isn't perfect. Meredith is sexy, confident, sophisticated and a perfect match for Holly. But we never see their relationship develop. The story is told 3rd person from Holly's POV so you never hear Meredith's thoughts or know her background. At one point Holly asks Mer a bunch of questions and she replies she is happy to answer them but the conversation isn't included. The leaps in the relationship are told more than shown. Too much time is taken up with Holly's wacky neighbors/friends. They are great for tossing out funny and sometimes off color-zingers with Holly, but I would trade many of their scenes for more time with the female leads. I love the HEA ending but there are a few unanswered questions relating to their relationship and work.

I am at the tail end of middle age, belong to a conservative church and live in a red state. Deffinately not the target demographic for this book. But I love diversity in reading and plan to reread this book during the holidays at a slower pace to catch many of the funny lines I zipped through.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books and the author for the ebook in exchange for an honest review. I will also encourage my county library system to add Elle Spencer to their catalog of books as she is currently not represented.

Holly writes romantic Christmas movies for the Wifetime Network and dreams of finally getting them to produce and air a lesbian romance. An unexpected fling with Meredith, her colleague-turned-boss, over Christmas one year might finally get her to change her mind about her dislike of the holiday season. Or it might complicate her life even further.

I loved every single second I spent reading this book - and I demand that someone actually turn this into the Christmas movie we all need and deserve. Spencer is quickly becoming my favourite F/F author. Not only are her romances utterly squeeful, she also introduces a cast of friends and family that you can't help but love. The Holiday Treatment had me in tears of joy by the last page and that's the best endorsement I can give it.

Holly Hudson is a script writer for a succesful TV series. She has a serious crush on TV exec, Meridith Drake. When coincidences of coincidences occur they both end up in Hawaii together at the same resort and the sparks fly.
Elle Spencer is one of my favourite authors and some of her books I've re-read several times because I love them so much. I enjoyed this book but not so much that I would like to read it again. This book comes with the usual witty verbals between her characters that Spencer is so good at. There is a huge amount of banter between Holly and her best friends but for me, it was a little bit too much however I particularly enjoyed the verbal sparring between Holly and her best friend Gwen, they didn't hold back. I would have rather there was more read time between Holly and Meridith.  I loved the character of Meridith and wanted to learn and read more about her and her life.  There was chemistry between Holly and Meridith but not with the usual heart teasing emotions that we're accustomed to with Spencer. This was an enjoyable read but not quite the standard that I love from Spencer.

3.25 Stars. This was a nice rom-com but I did have more issues with it than I expected. I’m not a big rom-com book fan but I do like holiday romances. However, it probably didn’t help that it’s Halloween time and I much rather be reading books about witches and blood-thirsty vampires right now. But I went into the book hoping to love it anyway. For some reason I seem to have a very up and down relationship with Spencer’s books but I’d love for it to get up into the great territory and stay there. Unfortunately, this is more in just the slightly better than okay territory.

The interesting thing is that I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book. I did have some issues, but I was having so much fun that I was ignoring some of the issues. I even thought to myself that this might be my favorite book by Spencer, but unfortunately I just didn’t like the last third and it really affected my opinion of the book as a whole. Issues I was ignoring came back into the light.

On the good side, I loved the main character of Holly. She was a bit of an over the top rambler but she was funny. Sometimes I literally did a double take and had to re-read what she had just said because the line was so out there -in a good way-. When it came to the other main Meredith, she was the kind of lead I should have loved, a sexy and smart power femme. The problem was this story was written in third person but only one POV. I hate third one POV, it’s by far my least favorite to read. If we are not going to be able to know what one character is thinking, in this case Meredith, then you might as well write an awesome first person story so that we can really connect to the other main. Anyway, enough with my rant, but my point is that I wanted to really like Meredith, but I felt like I never got to truly know her.

Last point about characters that I have to mention has to deal with the secondary characters. I’m a fan of strong secondary characters but in this case it was way too much. Holly has this group of friends that are all sarcastic and all speak in almost the same voice. I could not tell them apart so I just saw them as one giant blob of a character. I didn’t find their sarcasm to be funny plus it was constantly on and just too much. And the biggest issue was too much time was spent on these secondary characters instead of us getting to see the main romance develop. We are told the main character is in love, but we don’t get to actually see it since the book just jumps 6 months in the future and any extra time is spent with the secondary characters and not the two mains together.

As I mentioned before, I did not like the last third of the book. Spencer is known for messing with her character so I expected some good angst. The problem was the main angst moment is completely roll your eyes. And to make it work, Spencer had one character act completely unlike how they represented themselves to be the whole book. So I’m left realizing I didn’t even know that character and her motivations at all. And what was even more disappointing was how the angst moment ended. It was completely lame. I’m being vague for spoiler reasons but I kept thinking that’s it? All is forgiven after that? And last but not least, during the book there are reasons why the characters are worried to be together. I thought it was a bit lame but that’s not the point. So how was this resolved? I don’t know, it was just dropped and never explained like it didn’t even happen. Where did it go? You can’t have such a big reason that affects the characters but just forget about in the end. I know the book had an epilogue, I was hoping things would be cleared up then, but they weren’t. It really felt like my book was missing a chapter or two.

I think most fans of Spencer will still enjoy this. It has some big issues for me but I still liked it. It had a lot of potential so I’m bummed it didn’t all come together. It still had some really funny lines and a good character in Holly. Spencer is funny and clever herself and I just hope I can get to that point where I can connect a bit more with her books.

Solid 4 Stars
I love that a book about cheesy rom-coms was a big cheesy rom-com. I absolutely adored this vacation turned work place romance.
“The Holiday Treatment” by Elle Spencer is exactly what a Christmas romance should be. It was hilarious and sweet with an amazing chemistry between the two main characters.
Holly, a writer for Wifetime Network, has a work crush on Meredith, who is an executive, but Meredith doesn’t know Holly exists. When Holly takes her Christmas vacation in Hawaii, she is surprised to find Meredith at baggage claim and even more surprised when she later sees her in the elevator at her hotel. Man, what a coincidence. Meredith and Holly have a short and very hot vacation romance and make plans to see one another when they return to LA. However, an unexpected promotion for Meredith once they return means she’s no longer able to date Holly because of company policy. They decide to be friends as they have to work together. This does not work out very well for either of them.
I loved Holly so much, which is good because it’s told from her third person point of view. She was so awkward and funny when around someone she was attracted to and it caused her to put her foot in her mouth several times. She’s one of those characters who has no filter and rambles a lot. Any time she’s in Meredith’s vicinity she seems to not have much control over whatever comes out of her mouth. While she’s mostly mortified about it, Meredith finds her charming.
Meredith seems a bit serious and a cool, suit wearing executive when she’s first introduced. However, she’s really rather sweet and funny in her downtime. I think her personality meshed well with Holly’s and it was fun to watch the flirty banter between them (once Holly was able to be cool.)
Be prepared to a very wacky cast of characters here. Holly’s neighbors and friends all have very loud and outrageous personalities. They bicker and are full of sass and one up each other constantly. They’re hilarious but can be a little over the top sometimes.
I’m not giving it the full five stars because I had a couple of issues with the story. Once they get together and start dating for real, we’re told more than shown how the relationship is going. I wanted to see more of them together before the requisite breakup. I think I would have a had a deeper connection to the split and it would’ve had a bigger payoff in the end. I still liked it; I just could’ve liked it more. There were a couple of other minor things but they didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment.
I really loved this overall and it will definitely be re-read during the holidays for the foreseeable future.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like the bar on holiday books in this genre is pretty low, but having said that, this one was of the best holiday books I've read! Elle Spencer keeps getting better and better. The jokes were so fast paced that sometimes I had to go back are re-read the sentence. Super entertaining, and well written.

Onto what would have made this book go from 4 stars to 5 stars -

We hardly saw any of their actual relationship. We got the whole foreplay leading up to the relationship, and then the 6 months were they dated was basically skipped over. Almost a fade to black. If we aren't allowed to see what their dating looked and felt like, then the back end of the book isn't as impactful.

Also, Molly's job needed to be researched more. This is something that most readers won't notice, but I work in TV so I'm going to break it down. Even if you have a contract with a Studio/Network, you never work in the same building as the Execs. A writer would always want to be at least a building away, if not on a completely different lot. Trust me. And they would also be heavily involved in pre-production and post, but Holly was never a part of those. Her schedule would have been jammed with meetings.

Overall though, a fun and hilarious book to read. Would definitely recommend it.

WARNING: this review is a bit spoilery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC of this book.

3.5 stars, but rounded down for some big gripes. This book’s synopsis screamed “adorable,” and for the most part, it delivered.

The entire book is told from Holly’s perspective (third person), and she’s a fun main character. She’s an interesting mix of bubbly and Scrooge-like (she grew up in Christmas Cove, Vermont, so who can blame her?). She becomes flustered around people she’s attracted to, and it’s relatable while also a tad cringey. Dang, this girl is a rambler! But for the most part, I liked her voice.

For me, the best part of the story (for the most part) was Meredith Drake (fantastic name). She’s one of those perfectly coiffed, intimidating ladies with a surprisingly soft and playful interior, and I am sooo here for it (she reminds me of Jessica Lennox from Melissa Brayden’s Kiss the Girl, my OG lesfic crush).

The first problem is, I felt like we didn’t get enough Holly/Meredith. Holly’s friend circle ate up a lot of the story, and I had mixed feelings about them. They could be funny, but I found their constant banter unrealistic and a bit hyperbolic. They started to make me tired after a bit, and I was left wondering when Meredith would come back.

And the second (bigger) problem — Meredith betrays Holly with a cowardly decision 3/4 of the way through. She promises Holly that if Holly does one thing, Meredith will make another thing happen. And then, after Holly fulfills her half of the bargain, Meredith just nopes out of her half for a dumb reason. Of course everything works out in the end, but I found this part forced and out-of-character.

And also...we never get a description of the gay Christmas movie? :( I wanted at least a synopsis, especially since it had such a cute title.

Overall, this was cute and I liked how quirky it was. However, there are some things I’d change (one of them major), so I have to rate it 3 stars.

Are you looking for the lesbian version of Love Actually? Look on further, sorta.

Holly is a writer for Wifetime Network (awful name). She writes the cheesiest and straightest holiday romances for them. But all she really wants is to make a gay Christmas movie. Or better yet, a cheesy holiday romance where leads just happen to be gay. Wifetime isn't really open to her ideas on that one. Hating the holidays herself, or at least disliking them a great deal Holly has been setting off for Hawaii for the last few years, all by herself. This time she encounters her crush Meredith in the airport, after an unfortunate luggage accident they run into each other again and have a hot fling. Meredith works for Wifetime as well and she always seemed out of Holly's league. They connect while in Hawaii, they both think it could be more than a fling. Until they return home and Meredith has gotten a surprise promotion and effectively making her Holly's boss.

Drama, drama, little betrayal, licking your wounds at your parents' house, HEA. Ok sorta, but didn't I just sum up the entire holiday cheesy rom-com genre? The comic relief comes mostly from Holly's friends, which I liked in the beginning but they get to be a bit too much for me, a bit over the top. The banter between the two mains is what I like best about the book, there isn't a whole lot of it but I liked it. Holly somehow reminds me of Bridget Jones, which isn't the best in my book, she has all these rambling thoughts and when she speaks she makes a fool of herself a lot of the time. I guess it works better for me than Bridget Jones because Holly is gay. Oh but her full name and where she comes from? If anything were to fit into a holiday romance it is just that! Meredith seems cool and together and a lot more down to earth than Holly, I like Meredith better. Of course, it has a super cheesy ending, but it fits this story well. You could easily make this book into a Hallmark holiday flick, all they want is there, except for maybe straight mains... If you are looking for a sweet and a little cheesy holiday romance this is just the book for you. Grab your blanket and a hot drink and read.

The character name Meredith Drake constantly reminded me of Meredith Blake in the Parent trap, so I had a hard time not imagining her as a villain.

There were a lot of jumps in the plot that were hard to follow/left some gaps, that ended up telling rather than showing

Hark the heralds, deck the halls and bless the merry this is the best romance I’ve read this year. In fact it’s one of my favourite ever. It’s sassy and sappy, which is a combo I never knew existed before. I know I’m gushing, but it’s such a joy to read. The friends are very funny, full of witty one liners and affection. Gwen in particular is a delight. Meanwhile the two leads are wonderful. Holly is the best. She leaps without looking, but is also true to herself. The sex is smoking hot too. Honestly this book has everything. I’m going to be reading it many times. It’s a classic and no way are five stars enough to convey how much I enjoyed it. Biggest recommendation ever from me.

When I initially started reading this book I was questioning the extreme quirkiness of one of the main character’s friends. But the more that I read I quickly grew to love Holly’s apartment complex friends and the support that they provided to her. Once the other main character, Meredith, was introduced and their Hawaiian adventure was underway I was hooked in the story.

If you’re looking for a feel good holiday romance with a few relationship bumps along the way then this story is for you. The book hits the comedic timing notes, the chemistry between the main characters is sexy and adorable, and the ending is very sweet.

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a feel good, Hallmark-esque read for the holidays, this is the story for you! Spencer hit a home run with this romantic comedy, and that's saying a lot coming from me since I'm not typically a rom-com fan. The characters are delightfully adorable and everything about this read was just a feel-good story. Solid 4 stars.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

4 stars. Holly Hudson is a writer and editor for the Wifetime network. She currently works on a popular series, Christmas in Evermore, which is very straight. Holly really wants to make a lesbian Christmas movie, she even wrote it all already. She claims she hates Christmas and does not want to celebrate it with her family, so every year she goes to Hawaii on vacation. When she is in Hawaii, she runs into her crush, an executive at the Wifetime network, Meredith Drake. Meredith and Holly start to spend time in Hawaii together and hook up. When they get back, they find out Meredith is going to be Holy's boss and they can not date, as the network has strict rules. They decide to try and just be professional, but it is harder than either one wants to admit.

I enjoyed this one. It would be a good book to read during Christmas, as it was a cute little romance. I enjoyed their drama and tension. I did not give it five stars since sometimes it felt like the book rushed through heir relationship and how long their were really together. Once they tried to be boss and employee, it seemed like sometimes there was not enough tension and drama. I also did not particularly like the ending as much as I wished I did. I do recommend this one, it was a cute easy read.

** SPOILERS AHEAD **

Elle Spencer's The Holiday Treatment is a nice rom-com that sets around holiday season. I enjoyed the most part but felt a little overwhelmed with others. Holly's crush towards Meredith was cute, plus Holly tended to ramble when she was nervous around a gorgeous speciment. And yes, their unexpected meeting and fling in Hawaii during the Christmas holiday was worth visual treatment because it WAS a perfect rom-com situation which put a smile to my face.

However, after there was an unexpected event that moved Meredith Drake as senior VP of Programming at the holiday division, I felt it became rather complicated. Meredith's predecessor was fired over sexual misconduct reports. And Meredith becoming - practically - Holly's boss did give her a power over Holly. I just didn't approve of Holly being sort of demanding and 'whiny' about it, like she didn't understand Meredith's reluctance over the relationship. It's the fact that Meredith is a woman gives leeway over relationship between boss-employee? It's like stepping on minefield, no?

Plus Holly's friends became a bit too much for my taste. In the beginning, I liked them fine. They were an eccentric bunch, with sass and comments that may not always appropriate. Like Bridget Jones' friends. But after a while, it was too much. I could only take these kind of people in small dosages.

Oh, the author gives more portion about the development of the gay Christmas movie. Luckily, I head that in real life there would be LGBTQ Christmas movies from Lifetime AND Hallmark this year. I am SO waiting forward to those.

I really enjoyed this book although I was sceptical at first because it's a Christmas story! But the story was really cute, the MCs lovable and the other characters quirky! And it was also sexy as always with this author! So I would totally recommend this book!

I thought that this was a great fun read. The writer is hilarious, as we all learned in her first book, and it was great to see that humor again. The chemistry was great and the MC’s tension and connection was right on time! I love Elle Spencer’s work and can’t wait for the next one.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. It was exactly what I was in the mood for - a romantic comedy with witty, funny dialogue, and sizzling chemistry between the main characters (and, yes, steamy sex scenes!) I kept picturing this as a movie and wondering who the leads should be (one of the combos dreamt up was Kate Hudson and Charlize Theron looking like her Old Guard character?) But I digress...

Holly Hudson, who is utterly adorable, is a writer for the Wifetime channel and is sick and tired of writing straight Christmas movies every year and tries to convince the programming heads to give her a shot at writing a gay version. She escapes to Hawaii every Christmas and you find out that her connection to the holiday is deeply rooted in not only her name, but her home time of Christmas Cove, Vermont.

Her work crush and big-time executive, Meredith Drake, happens to be in Hawaii at the same time and the airport scene when Holly discovers this is laugh-out-loud funny. It was lovely to read the romance blossom between the two during their time in Hawaii, but due to Meredith's promotion at work, it means they have to put a pause on their budding relationship when they get back home.

The 'will they / won't they' scenario that plays out at this point was heart-wrenching and I felt for Holly big time. Thank god this is a novella and we don't have to suffer for very long! I still have a smile on my face thinking about this book and the HEA...

I really love Elle Spencer - have I mentioned that yet? I really connect with her stories and she's definitely in my Top 5 lesfic authors list. If only she could write faster and produce more books - is that too much to ask? :)

Very enjoyable read, lost of humor which I did not expect tbh and the friendship she wrote about was something I wanted to be part of. to me the book showed Holly life in general. Love, friendship and dream achievement. Meredith was secondary and that was fine by me. in fact I have not noticed that much while reading the book. I was so invested in Holly's life. highly recommended for fast/happy read

thank you for the author and her team for the free copy in exchange of honest opinion

* I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

"Casting Lacey" was one of my five favorite lesbian books in the last two years so imagine the expectations I had for Spencer's next works. To be honest though, after Casting Lacey I had a hit or miss thing going on with this author partly because I was always expecting to feel the same way I felt reading her first few novels.
This one was a very enjoyable read, following the same successful recipe of Casting Lacey and I liked both Holly and Meredith. The chemistry and the sex scenes were HOT and the fact that the characters talked during sex about how they want each other is something that we don't read often in other w/w books.
It's 4/5 stars because even if I enjoyed this book a lot I think that the first 30% was a bit slow and somehow wasted in secondary characters. At some point I started worrying whether this book is more focused on Holly and her friends than in her potential romance with Meredith. When they both accidentally met at the airport is where it started getting interesting. After this scene I literally devoured the book. Highly recommended.