Very slowburn Christmas romance, Ellie has just been "promoted" to Rosalind's PA in order that she can plan the firm Christmas party. Ellie is Christmas nuts, Rosilind hates it. The party needs to be the biggest and best the company has every had however it's two weeks before Christmas and the previous PA has cancelled the venue and all the catering. The majority of the book is focused on the party planning with moments between Ellie and Rosilind as they get to know each other as people outside of work and by the end have developed feelings for each other. There is a sweet friendship between Ellie and Rosilind's daughter. Overall an enjoyable holiday romance.

Ice Queen meets her match at Christmas? Well at least during the planning.

This was a fun read as I finished it in one day. I liked the humour, the little extras like the lads in the share house.

I enjoyed the care from the characters towards eachother, and even though perhaps the start was a teeny bit slow, the pace through the rest of the book was good.

3.5 stars

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I adore the premise and the cover and particularly the Christmas setting but sadly it wasn't for me.

I have to say that I looooove myself a good Ice Queen. A grumpy holiday ice queen? Sign me up! It was lovely watching Rosalind melt. Perhaps the best part was seeing Ellie come into her own and find her confidence in herself. Humbug is a great holiday read and would recommend!

I received a copy of Humbug from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Humbug was the queer hallmark short story I didn't know I always wanted. I read it while in line for a christmas market on the water in Seattle. It may have been the setting or just my holiday spirit, but I found it charming and readable with just the right amount of "could read this again next Christmas".

I love a Sapphic romance, I love Christmas, and I'm sort of meh on workplace romances. So I decided to give Humbug a shot! It was... okay. Not super memorable. There was too much focus on the workplace goings-on and not enough focus on the romance, so this fell a little short for me. It was still an okay read, and I'll likely give Amanda Radley another try sometime.

If you love age gap or ice queen lesfic, this is a lovely read around the holiday season.
This is a feel good, festive, slow-burn romance.
I would have loved more romantic moments, but it’s still a solid book even if there’s no steamy scenes.
This is one of those books I’ll come back to just about every December.

Humbug by Amanda Radley

I really enjoyed this Christmas novel. The two main characters are Ellie Pearce, who is a statistician by training. She was unable to find a job in statistics and ended up as a marketing analyst at a Recruitment company. As a marketing analyst, she is asked to use data to prop up what her boss wants to promote. Opposite from what she was trained to do as a statistician, who analyses data and reports it as is. As brilliant as she is and as much as her job frustrates her, she lost her desire to search for a new job. Ellie is also known as Christmas Girl. She celebrates it year-round with her desk filled to overflowing with Christmas décor.

The second main character is the CEO, Rosalind Caldwell. I didn't think of her as an Ice Queen, but rather a very busy, head of a large company. Rosalind's PA quit and so she comes down from her twenty-second floor office to tell Ellie that she will report immediately to be her new PA. Ellie is shocked. She doesn't want to go up there. Not because of the job itself or having to work for Rosalind, but because of the floor it is on. Ellie has very severe acrophobia (fear of heights) so she avoids any height, barely adjusting to her second-floor office cubical. She also avoids elevators. But now she has no choice. The main reason that Rosalind sought out "Christmas Girl", was that the company's annual Christmas party for clients and employees is to be in a few weeks. This is the most important event of the year for the company, and it has a reputation of being THE party not to be missed. The problem - Rosalind's ex-PA cancelled all the arrangements before she left. So, who else to plan a Christmas party last minute, but the Christmas Girl?

Two other significant characters are Ellie's office mate and best friend, Will and Rosalind's twelve-year-old daughter Ava. Both help Ellie execute her Christmas party plans and help her hide her debilitating acrophobia from Rosalind. Ellie really needs their help, because the only venue she was able to find was a rooftop outdoor garden venue. In the middle of winter.

I really enjoyed watching Ellie blossom into a very efficient and effective PA and party planner. I did like the boss-employee romance between Ellie and Rosalind. However, if you are looking for a steamy romance, its not here. I didn’t miss it. This story has made it onto my annual Christmas re-read list.

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

I enjoyed this book overall but the romance did fall short for me. I felt like the relationship developed way too quickly because most of the book was centered around the party. It felt like the romance came second to that. I am curious to check out other works by this author to see if something else might work for me.

If you love age gap or ice queen lesfic, this is a lovely read around the holiday season.
This is a feel good, festive, slow-burn romance.
I would have loved more romantic moments, but it’s still a solid book even if there’s no steamy scenes.
This is one of those books I’ll come back to just about every December.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley:
ARC received in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

This book was a joy to read.

Ellie Pearce works as a marketing analyst in a recruitment company, a job she doesn't love. What she loves is Christmas, so much her nickname is Christmas girl. Rosalind Caldwell is the CEO of the recruitment company and she is suddenly in desperate need of a personal assistant, specially when the Christmas party of the company needs to be perfect and now is in jeopardy. Being a PA isn't the job Ellie wanted but cant say no to. Now she has to save the holiday party and ignore the crush she has now develop for her boss.

Amanda Radley never disappoints. This was the perfect holiday romance novel. It was sweet, romantic and dreamy. The character development was so well done. After a few pages you feel like you have read the biographies of these characters. I love both, Ellie and Rosalind.

I honestly did not want the book to end. It is one of those that just brings a smile to your face and you cannot stop reading. I will definitely be recommending this book and I already got my paperback copy!

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I never fear having high expectations for an Amanda Radley book, because she always meets them, if not surpasses them. This book is no exception.

Radley can take two people who seem so un-alike that they would never get together, and yet she finds a way to get them together. In a way that makes perfect sense when she does it!

Rosalind Caldwell, CEO of her own company, and "Christmas Girl" Ellie Pearce, analyst turned personal assistant, have nothing in common, but as their interest in each other develops, you can see a level of respect and self-consciousness that is sweet and makes you just want to shake them into awareness at the same time you want to cuddle them and tell them it will be all right.

I love the ending of this book - how creative!

I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher, and am giving an honest review.

I loved this book it is so good that you will feel the chemistry between the two characters and the dialogue, story and interactions are just amazing. I loved Humbug! I would love a sequel please.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Rounded to 3 stars. This book took me like a week and my whole being to finish reading this book simply because I couldn’t stand the main character Ellie which is hard when (or course) it’s about her lol. Then when it finally came to the romance which I was sure I was going to love as it was opposites attract and office romance but again I was disappointed with that as well. Even though it’s a holiday romance it seemed to only focus on work and the event being planned instead of the relationship. Also because that was the focus point it’s like the author realized that too and tried to rush things towards the end.

2.5 Stars. Ellie Pearce is known as the Christmas girl at work. She loves Christmas all year around. She gets promoted to be the assistant for the CEO Rosalind Caldwell, and to organize the company Christmas party. The Christmas party is the big event of the year for the firm and nothing can go wrong. Ellie is also deathly afraid of heights and now she must work at the top of the building, and go up the elevator every day. The assistant before Ellie cancelled everything for the Christmas party, so Ellie must come up with a unique idea quick as it is only a couple of weeks to Christmas.

This one was okay. I thought the some of the plot points were weak and the relationship between the two main characters seem to develop a little too quickly for me. They did not seem to really want to go that way with their relationship until the very end and I did not like that. I enjoyed the way the book was going and how the storyline developed but I wished there was a little more between the two characters before it turned romantic. The main drama with them was also predictable and hinted throughout the book. I enjoyed the book overall, but I did not like how the fast the end happened, so I had to only give the novel 2.5 stars.

I throughly enjoyed this wonderful Christmas story. It was a very cute and easy to read story. I enjoyed that it was a christmas book as I found it very difficult to find queer holiday books. I also loved the main character Ellie and felt as though she was very relatable. One con with the book was I found the beginning took it’s time to get my attention as everything that occurred seemed a little far fetched in what was otherwise a very logical world. I also was not the biggest fan of the romance between Ellie and Rosalind and they did not seem to have much chemistry together. Overall though I greatly enjoyed the book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for an arc!

While I finished this book, I didn’t realize it was a Gay romance. I figured it out and kept reading, it was light hearted and the ,main character was quirky.

I started the book thinking I'd find a cute super romantic Christmas love story, but it felt like the romance side of the book was kind of in the background. The story is mostly about the party preparations and the crush Ellie has on Rosalind. It had its cute parts that I liked, but mostly I didn't care much for the story so I read it super fast just to see if they'll finally get together and how it all was going to end.

I loved this book, and it’s probably my favourite of my 2021 festive reads.

Ellie works as a marketing analyst for a recruitment company, where she is known as ‘Christmas Girl’. Unlike most people, Ellie celebrates Christmas all year round, because why the hell not? She’s bright and cheerful, though desperately wants out of her current job and into a career she actually enjoys. When the CEO’s assistant quits, Ellie is promoted into the role, sticking it out because she knows if she can pull off the Christmas party at the last minute, she can ask the CEO’s help in getting into a job she actually wants. Except Ellie has never worked as a PA, or planned a party, and is scared of heights, making working on the top floor that much difficult. On top of all that, she develops a crush on Rosalind Caldwell, her CEO and boss.

Even from the blurb, it’s easy to see why I loved it. I’m still finding my feet in Romance, but I definitely loved this age-gap, workplace romance – and, see, I’m learning about all the tropes! I would also class this as a slow burn – most of the story is centred around longing more than the relationship, but we do really get to see these two grow as friends as well as growing as themselves.

Rosalind isn’t really a fan of Christmas, but she puts her faith completely in Ellie to pull off the Christmas party. I loved the way Radley shifted from one POV to the next, and there was a good balance between seeing Rosalind’s perspective and Ellie’s. We also get a good idea of their backgrounds, and how they’ve ended up in the places they’re in.

I think Ellie’s anxiety and fear of heights were handled well – she has learnt to navigate the world in a way that suits her, but things get tricky when the only place she can book for the party is on a rooftop. I also absolutely adored Rosalind’s daughter, who is totally rooting for her mum just to be happy!

I liked the build-up, I liked Rosalind’s reservations – her main concern wasn’t for her own career or reputation, but for how any action she might take would impact Ellie.

Overall this was a really sweet, adorable romance, and one I very much loved reading! I’ll be definitely keeping an eye out for more from both Amanda Radley and Bold Strokes Books.

I received this book from publisher Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley. Reviews remain my own.

Humbug is a romance written by Amanda Radley. I have read a few of her books and this is probably the most enjoyable. The setting is prior to Christmas, but readers will enjoy it anytime throughout the year. It is a feel-good romance.

Ellie Pierce loves Christmas and celebrates it year round. She loves Christmas so much that people have named her Christmas girl. Her desk is decorated with Christmas ornaments, she plays Christmas music on her answering machine, and she is always looking for new ways to surround herself with holiday mementos. After graduating from college, employment opportunities in her chosen career path were limited. As a result, Ellie accepted a position as a market analyst for the leading recruitment company in London. As time goes by, she becomes reticent to find another job.

Rosalind Caldwell is the CEO of Ellie’s recruitment company. She is a difficult woman to work for and frequently fires her personal assistants. Unfortunately, she fired her personal assistant right before the holiday season begins and the PA was responsible for setting up the infamous annual Christmas party. All of her clients look forward to this party every year and Rosalind gets many business contacts as a result. In a panic, she decides to hire the Christmas girl to handle the arrangements for this important party. The problem is that Ellie has no experience as a party planner.

I found both Ellie and Rosalind's characters to be interesting and well-developed. Most people find Ellie’s character to be relatable. She has traits that are warm, sensitive, and funny. At first, one would think Rosalind is an ice queen and has no feelings. As the story develops, however, one will see more depth in her personality.

The story is different from many of the other holiday stories. Readers will quickly find that they will not want to put this book down. Humor, angst, and romance are spread throughout the book. I highly recommend Humbug. I rate it a five out of five stars.

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