I LOVED THIS BOOK. it was so funny and very cute and fluffy. I connected to the characters very quickly and fell incaptivated by this book

A collection of some short holiday stories all with a happily ever after... Some comedy mixed into each story...

Half Baked Holidays is a collection of short modern romance stories, all themes around the Christmas holidays.

I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for my liking.
The stories themselves felt like they were chapters taken from other books, dropping the reader straight in the middle without any introduction, and the writing style felt stilted with short, choppy sentences.

There was potential here, but to me, it missed the mark.

~ Many thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~

I didn’t enjoy the fact this was short novellas. I expected one story. I found the book boring and could not get into it.

This book had a lot of potential but it fell flat for me. I realize it was short stories but felt too rushed. The stories seemed to start in the middle without much background or context.

This book consists of five short love stories, all taking place around Christmas. They were cute, but way too short for me to understand much. It felt like I was reading a chapter in the middle of a bigger book. Nothing really made sense, to be honest.
I was a bit confused by the first story, there wasn't enough background. I guess it's a second chance romance, but everything else was unclear to me. We barely get any details on the characters.
The second story has a meet cute moment and instalove. The same thing as before, there aren't enough details for these stories to work. They feel rushed and unfinished.
I enjoyed the third story, it had more background details and even if I absolutely loathe the instalove trope, it kind of worked in this particular setting. However, making a life changing decision after only a few hours spent with a person seems a bit ridiculous.
I skimmed through the other 2. It was the same thing, just different characters and a different setting.
Sorry, this wasn't my cup of tea.

Nice collection of short stories for the holidays.
I’m not sure if they are short stories or novellas or what the difference is . My favorite was the first story with Amanda . I wish there was more back story . A nice set of short romcoms to enjoy through the holidays that are quick reads .

The idea of the stories is good but I just didn’t enjoy them as I think I would, it’s a lot of unnecessary narration and at some point it became a little bit boring, I finished the five stories but it took me a while to read them... Even though they’re short stories with 8 chapters or less.

The only story that I enjoyed was the first one and that’s it.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review of this book.

This was a cute rom-com collection of short stories. Finding love during the holiday season is always extra special, and these stories will definitely make you smile! I can't wait to dive into other Kat Bastion books!

#NetGalley #katbastion #halfbakesholidays

Characters were poorly developed. I was not invested in the stories because the characters lacked depth and the lack of plot. I read the 1st two stories to see if things improved, but no. I went back to the 1st story thinking that I must have skipped over sections by mistake. I stopped reading after the 2nd story.

Half-Baked Holidays was a sweet collection of short festive stories. The first story fell a little flat for me but I am glad I kept going as I enjoyed the others a lot more. A quick read for anyone looking to add a pinch of holiday spirit to their lives

A fun book with short stories that are great to get into the holiday spirt! I easily could’ve read more of these couples!

Cute, quick romances set at Christmas. I wish there had been some deviation from insta-love (the first story was two people who had had crushes on each other in high school but never dated so it's not really a second chance romance to me) because that's not my favourite romance trope.

Thanks to Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Cute romance short stories. I liked the settings for each of the stories but found that they were too short to really get to know the characters and then, to want to know more about them. The first story, for example, details a huge family and the main character, Amanda, coming home for the first time in a long time. There's some apprehension but there's no indication as to why and you never get to really find out. The romance is rushed and just didn't seem believable. I skimmed the rest of the stories after the first one and found them to be all the same - much too short to really form an attachment or an opinion on the characters and their romances. I really wish these had been longer.

This was a super cute compilation. It was nice to read short stories. I will definitely be reading more from this author. Sometimes you just want a short read that gives you all the feels. This hit the spot. I was able to read one story at night, put it f
Down and come back to it later for another story. Loved it.

I love a good novella, especially when they're about the holidays. I really enjoyed the collection of stories and felt very warm and fuzzy reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC of this book in exchange for my opinion.

I enjoyed the first and last story the best, the middle ones were just ok. They all had a wonderful christmasy feel to them (except the NYE one of course).

This is a cute collection of 5 holiday stories of romance. All of these were light-hearted and enjoyable!

So NOT a Silent Night - this was my least favourite of the stories, the relationship between characters developed way too quickly for me to be invested in them.
Amanda returns home to her blended family and is dreading the holiday season with them until she bumps into her high school crush who changes all of her feelings about being home.

Enticing Wrapper Number 9 - this was my favourite of the stories, I would love a whole book about Hope and Miguel!
Hope is part of a volunteer team, wrapping toy donations for kids. Her eye is caught by a handsome firefighter who pays her no attention until she takes an embarrassing tumble in too-high shoes!

Give Me a Christmas Break - I didn’t love how the relationship developed in this story, it was super fast and even more unrealistic.
Brooke is on vacation with her family when she meets Koa. He’s her complete opposite but sees right through the facade that she puts up between herself and others and sparks fly between them.

Half-Baked Holiday - this was a super cute story with a sweet relationship trajectory that I loved!
When Anna sneaks into an open house to bake her Christmas treats, she thinks she’s gotten away with not being seen but she has an unexpected (and really cute!) visitor…

Billionaire Bash New Year’s Crash - this story did a great job of developing the characters in such a short period. I would love to read more about Dali and Logan!
Dali has been convinced to attend a mansion party with her friend who stole outfits and invitations from a rich client. While her friend is on the hunt for a husband, Dali is only looking for somewhere quiet in the house when she bumps into Logan who is instantly smitten enough to keep her secret.

Positives:
- short stories
- seasonal fun
- light
- fun tropes
- several of the stories could make really fun holiday movies

Negatives:
- It felt like a lot of instant love/really fast relationship leveling up happened throughout
- the unrealistic nature of some of these relationships didn't really allow me to connect to some of the characters

As a lover of holiday books, cute covers and short books/stories, this one seemed to check all the boxes and I was excited to read it. However, this collection of holiday rom-coms did not work for me at all! I appreciated the work that went in to writing the stories but the writing itself felt disconnected and choppy. By virtue of the fact that these are short stories I understand things need to move quickly but the timing and pacing of the stories seemed way off. Characters were literally in love with each other by lunch time on the day they met in almost all five of the stories! For the most part each of the stories had a fun vibe and a cute premise but unfortunately, they didn't work for me. Also, perhaps because this was an ARC and not the final copy, it was rife with grammatical errors; a personal pet peeve of mine!

Based on ratings and reviews it sounds like this book was enjoyed by others. If you're a fan of cute, fast paced holiday stories then you may enjoy this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.