Posted: December 11, 2021

Before I begin my review, I need to acknowledge that it is a lot of work to write a novel. Now, I haven’t written a fiction book, but I have written enough words that I turned into two books. Writing fiction has a lot of moving parts from writing the plot, character, and structure plus the creativity it takes.

Which means I always feel a bit guilty when I review a book and it’s terrible.

Half-baked Holidays is terrible. I would dare to go so far as to say awful. I read the first story and thought, “What the hell did I just read?”

A collection of romcom holiday themed short stories styled as being “multicultural” which piqued my interest. As I said in a previous review, I’ve been in the mood for holiday themed romcoms. Multicultural? Even better.

The first story, not so much. There is something off about the romance and the detail on the physical attributes or cultural background to denote that the book is “multicultural.”I kinda feel like the author is probably white trying to cash in on demand for multicultural books, especially romances.

The couple’s relationship, supposedly two old high school crushes, was severely lacking in chemistry. The premise is that the heroine is coming home to see her father and his new family (which turns out to be a menagerie of adopted kids from all over the world. I guess this multicultural?) and she is standing in front of their house at 6am when a crush from high school magically shows up and introduces her to his family who live across the street, of course, and there is hand holding and “this is the one” by the time lunch rolls around. I’m not opposed to fast romances but this one is a bit beyond.

I found very little on Kat Bastion online other than her website, Twitter, and her author’s FB page which was notably absent of any personal interaction with her fans and the only likes on her post were hers. Various places in her social sphere note she writes with her husband Stone. I did find her personal FB page with her full name so the name isn’t made up (I guess). Yet, there is very little about who she is as a person or an author on her website so I don’t get the gist of who she is to help feel the curiosity of a reader to an author. (I cannot be the only one who stalks authors while reading their books. But it is much easier now!) I couldn’t find much engagement with her/their fans which left me a bit surprised. Don’t you want to build an audience? Don’t you want to meet and greet with the people who read you? Several close friends of mine are indie authors and they cultivate their online life a much as they do their writing and it pays off.

tl;dr: Do not pay money for a book where the author clearly needs a writing class or ten.

Such a fun quirky set of stories all leading up to a little bit of romance with some laugh out loud and I get that cringeworthy moment. This super fast read will have you flipping pages.

I'm saddened to not have enjoyed this book since I love reading romances a lot, but this book just wasn't for me. Maybe some other day I will be able to try reading it again.

This book was a super cute Christmas time read! Full off insta love and Christmas magic, Kat Bastion wrote a wonderful collection of stories full of diverse characters that received sweet happily ever afters. Many of the epilogues contained glimpses into the couples future the following Christmas and I really loved that.

If you’re looking for a spicy Christmas time read, this isn’t it. This is full of sweetness and kisses and fade to black scenes. Is it still worth reading? Absolutely. It’s quick and sweet and perfect for this time of year.

i wanted to like this book. i really did. but it did not work out for me. i tried to enjoy it but the story was just too convoluted for me. it wasn't fun but hey maybe you'll like it. as always, netgalley is the real mvp.

I really enjoyed this book full of novellas.

Each story was independent but they all sort of tied into each other in a way.

So NOT a Silent Night
Enticing Wrapper Number 9
Give Me a Christmas Break
Half-baked Holiday
Billionaire Bash New Year’s Crash

A wonderful mash of Rom Com! Thanks to #NetGalley and Kat Bastion for allowing me to read and review this title, I hope for more in the future.

I just reviewed Half-Baked Holidays by Kat Bastion. #HalfBakedHolidays #NetGalley

Half-Baked Holidays is a collection of novellas full of romance and holiday fun. They’re short and pretty much rely on love at first meeting, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. All of the characters are charming or adorable or sexy. The stories are light, with attraction and flirting and learning about themselves and each other, but no major complications, no major tensions, just sweet stories. There’s no cheating on each other, no love triangles. There’s also no sex, just plenty of kissing and holding hands and cookies and hot chocolate. I don’t know that I had a favorite story – they all made me smile.

Half-Baked Holidays is a collection of short, sweet, holiday love stories. If you are looking for light, quick reads then this is for you. I liked the ability to finish a story on a break or with little time available.

I received an arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was such a nice light read. The book includes 5 short stories. Half-baked holidays is the perfect book for this time of the year. They are fun, romantic, cute, and such a fast read. If you’re looking for a fun romantic comedy that is holiday themed definitely check this one out! The storylines are very enjoyable to read. Honestly this was like a hallmark/lifetime holiday book of short stories.

I loved this compilation! Each story was different, yet strong, and they all came together in a nice, complimentary way. I wish there was one more story total included in the book, but overall, I highly recommend picking this up for a fun, easy holiday read! Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I absolutely love Christmas stories and this one was no different! It was so cute and I loved it from start to finish. Gives you that warm fuzzy holiday spirit just what we need to escape!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.
This book is full of fun, romantic, short stories for the holiday season.
It was very cute.

Half-Baked Holidays by Kat Bastion ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Christmas Eve themed novella, featuring 5 short stories of "love-at-first-sight" romances.
Out of the 5 short stories, 2 were enjoyable enough to be cute, likeable characters, or no vague backstory that keeps being eluded too but never makes an appearance.
There was also a LOT of descriptive detail that was unnecessary, or maybe the word count could have been better served as character development.

If you're looking for a light fluff read this holiday season, this book is for you.

Thank you to @netgalley and Kat Bastion for this free ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful collection of short stories that celebrate romance and the Christmas spirit. I found these stories to be heartwarming - they certainly left me with a smile on my face - and easy to read. They will be the perfect collection to slow down with during the lead-up to the festive season. And despite being short, the stories create a connection between the reader and the characters.

Half-Baked Holidays is a collection of sweet minature holiday stories, with one story sharing the same title.

Whether you've got 5 minutes or a hour to read, you'll get a tasty bite of holiday cheer and romance with each of these stories.

The stories included are:
- So NOT a Silent Night
- Enticing Wrapper Number 9
- Give Me A Christmas Break
- Half-baked Holiday
- Billionaire Bash New Year's Crash

This collection is perfect for anyone wanting a light holiday read.

I love the holidays, this short story collection reminded me a lot of the hallmark Christmas movies I watch ever year. Loved it!

These were cute stories! Would have loved a little more depth to the characters, but with short stories i guess that is tricky! These definitely got me in the Christmas spirit and were a fun read.

This book was adorable, however each short story left me wishing that there was more. Each story was super cute and fun, but I wanted move development with each one. I would still recommend this book. It was fun, and very cute. Overall I enjoyed it a lot.

I know this is meant to be multiple short stories but I find it really hard to connect with the characters and their relationship. However, the good thing is it is so short and you can finish it real quick.

Short and sweet holiday read. It’s Cute and Quirky. A character drive story. Love the super adorable cover!!