well SLAP ME with a hallmark movie and call me carol this is the cutest cheesiest holiday romance yet!!!

grace, a successful proposal planner at tie the knot, is itching for a promotion and a way to never return to her hometown of mistletoe mountain again (yes really that’s the name lol). bridget, an assistant for the CEO of a huge game design company, is freaking out because her boss wants the perfect holiday proposal to her girlfriend and … bridget is not a fan of christmas. but when bridget hires grace to plan the proposal, little do either of them know that bridget’s boss is grace’s ex-girlfriend.

okay this was definitely made for hallmark everyone.

was it the cheesiest? yes. was it super fluffy and cute? yes. did the main characters actually do things like kiss under the mistletoe, bake cookies, and live in a place called candy cane inn? also yes.

but it made me feel warm and cozy on the inside just by binging this one, and so for that, it gets alllll of the stars.

thank you to netgalley and bold strokes books for the advanced copy in exchange for a review. this one’s out 12/14/21 :’)

rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: cabernet franc ice wine

Arc kindly provided by Bold Strokes Books via Netgalley for an honest review.

DNF at 26%.

I'm very sorry that this book did not work out for me. I was very interested in reading it upon looking at that beautiful cover and reading the blurb, but the execution wasn't good.

I liked the writing style and the plot was good, but my main problem was the fetishizing of lesbians. It happened a lot, from the very first chapter, and I wasn't willing to look past it and continue with my reading. Plus, it was kind of insta love-y and while that usually doesn't bother, it annoyed me a lot in this case, what with Grace's and Bridget's obsession to show the other that they both like women.

I was looking for a cute and cheesy Christmas book as we are approaching the holidays and The Christmas Proposal delivered it all.
Although it wasn't my favorite writing style and thought the events were a bit rushed, the read was lovely. An evening spent very nicely.
Thank you Bold Strokes Books and Lisa Moreau for the e-ARC and allowing me to read this adorable book!

Thank you publisher for this e arc of The Christmas Proposal. Also, thank you Lisa Moreau for such a sweet Christmas novel. I have been wanting a good Christmas read as tomorrow starts December and this just got me in the Christmas mood.

This is a Christmas love story and the primary setting is Mistletoe Mountain! The town Mistletoe Mountain was one of my favorite parts of this story.

"When Grace and Bridget end up stranded together on Mistletoe Mountain, Grace has no chance to escape. Not from her painful past, not from her attraction to Bridget, and definitely not from all the romance in the air."

Think hallmark movie with all the feels... but a bit more romance and steam.

This was a great Christmas romance and quick read. I highly recommend you read this in December. 4*+ for me.

If you're looking for a sugary sweet lesbian romance (from an author who isn't scared of using the word lesbian) look NO further. I absolutely adored every moment of this ho-ho-holiday romance and can't wait for more from Lisa Moreau!

A fun read but unfortunately not for me. I didn't like the writing style and couldn't get into the plot - the characters seemed flat and uninspiring

Cute holiday read. If you like Hallmark movies, you’ll enjoy this. It was an easy, enjoyable way to spend my afternoon.
Grace works for Tie the Knot, a proposal planning company that helps to make wedding proposals extra special.
Bridget is an executive assistant who is asked by her boss to plan the perfect proposal for her and her girlfriend. When Bridget and Grace’s paths cross, Bridget knows Grace is just the person to make her impossible to please boss happy. Through the planning, they figure out that the proposal is for Grace’s ex girlfriend who never wanted to commit to her. Grace and Bridget have to work together to figure out how to get this proposal off without a hitch so that Bridget can get a promotion and Grace won’t get a broken heart all over again.
Sweet, cheesy and super Christmas-y romance. I loved the setting of a town obsessed with all things Christmas. Each character had their own issues to work through and the good part is that none of it was a straight line to working it out, which made it more realistic yet fun to read.
My only complaint, if you can call it that, was that the ending felt a bit rushed and the epilogue could have been a little more detailed. Other than that, it’s all good :)
Thanks to Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

The Christmas Proposal by Lisa Moreau is an easy to read holiday romance, the kind you grab when you want to curl up in front of a fire with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. I don’t have a fireplace, but I did manage the hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course), a blanket, and a purring puddle of a kitty beside me as I consumed the story. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

The plot has quite a few twists and turns, especially when Bridget Cartwright goes to Tie the Knot, a proposal company, and hires Grace Dawson to plan a Christmas wedding proposal for her boss. Grace doesn’t find out until later that Bridget’s boss is Grace’s ex…the one she had a bad breakup with. By the time Grace realizes this, she is stranded on Mistletoe Mountain with Bridget, with little to do but plan the proposal, remember old hurts, and get to know Bridget.

This is a lovely story with likeable characters, a gorgeous setting (I could easily live on Mistletoe Mountain), and a fairly low angst tale of romance in a holiday setting. Really, what else could you ask for…besides the fireplace and the marshmallows. So grab your blanket and your steaming cup of chocolate heaven, and read this book.

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

This was a fun holiday comfort read! It’s hard to find stories like this with sapphic main characters, so I was happy to have a book like this to read on my lunch breaks. I really liked the premise of Bridgett unknowingly hiring Grace to plan a proposal for her ex girlfriend who cheated on her. It made for some good drama, especially when you throw in the romantic tension between Grace and Bridgett.
Personally, I would have liked to see more time spent developing their relationship—everything just went a little too smoothly right away. However, their relationship made sense in the end and they were kind and supportive of each other, so it was a happy story.

📚Book review📚

I spent a great deal at the beginning of the story thinking about how different these two women are and how it is going to take a miracle for relationship to work between the two of them. I know it starts off heavily on the will they won’t they and throwing in always odds that are against them but also all of these things are pushing them together really play it with your mind.

This was a heart warming story with a fluffy ending. It was wrapped up nicely and I can totally see how this can get you in the holiday spirit. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. It was a little confusing because the perspective bounces back and forth which causes some slowing down during reading but doesn’t put you off.

Ratings:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🌶🌶

😢

This was my best Christmas read so far. It does have some bumps, but for a holiday romance it’s just fine.

I didn’t really get how the book started, it was rather confusing. It does add this layer to the story layer on, but it was a bit unnecessary. If it weren’t there I wouldn’t have missed it is my point. It would have been just fine if Bridget was just hiring Grace as the proposal planner for her boss. Also, are those things for real? People actually hire people to plan “the perfect proposal”? I love that Bridget’s mind goes to business instead of weddings, it’s funny.
Grace is more of a sunshine-y person to Bridget’s more bleak outlook on life. Which is fully understandable and I like how the author added layers to the characters. Some more intense subjects are brought to light, and while the characters struggled with the events in the past, and are still finding their footing, the book never feel heavy.
It does feel like a super light holiday romance and just what one would expect for such a book.

One mayor point that has me doubting giving 4 stars. The dark moment, the break up, happens at the 86%(!) mark. This is just WAY too late. I’m giving the book 4 stars because I’m feeling generous at the start of the holiday season…

I absolutely loved this book! It read exactly like a Hallmark movie and everything about it was enjoyable. The characters were so likeable, the plot was well written and thought out, and the whole concept melted my heart. I loved how everything that was mentioned had actual meaning at some point later on and wasn't just disregarded. This is the perfect Sapphic book to get you in the holiday spirit!

This was a cute and fast read!

If you have been looking for a sapphic Christmas novel, then this might be it for you.

This felt like a fun interpretation of the Christmas enthusiast/grinch trope/premise.
I loved the setting of this book the most, Mistletoe Mountain felt like a real and magical place, full of all the Christmas spirit you could ever want or need.

In this book, Grace ends up having to plan the proposal of her ex-girlfriend, and while planning that event she gets stuck in her hometown, the Christmas village Mistletoe Mountain, together with Bridget, who is her ex's assistant. The two women are stuck in the town for about a week, and meanwhile have to face their fears and past, trying to fight off their attraction to each other.

This book is full of facing and overcoming your past, and I would have loved to see even more of that. Shy Bridget and bubbly Grace have an immediate connection which is wonderful to see, but felt very fast-paced. I think if we had more view into their past (especially Bridget's) it would have been easier for me to connect to these characters. The side characters aka Grace's family definitely carried a big part of this book for me, together with the scenery and setting.
I was also not the biggest fan of the third act conflict and would have loved a longer aftermath of that, since it was resolved so quickly. I might have even preferred a different conflict altogether, since things I thought we'd definitely see didn't happen on page.

This was a quick holiday read with some swoon worthy scenes (the "someone looks at something and calls it beautiful, while the other agrees but looks at their future significant other" trope HELLO) and the fact that it was dual POV definitely made this more exciting.

If you like the Christmas version of a (mild) grumpy/sunshine trope and characters that overcome their fear of relationships and commitment, this might be your ideal holiday pick.

It's an adorable cutsie lesbian romance book... even appropriate for teens. No super hot and heavy sex scenes [bummer on my adult end], but it's very cute and adorable and definitely a good read.

Just wish there had been more at the end... no spoilers, but the author missed an opportunity for some more cuteness at the end by letting Grace complete her mission too... but definitely a good book.

If you’re looking for a fluffy, lighthearted sapphic book to read this christmas, the christmas proposal is for you.

pros:
- sapphic Christmas novel!!! (we seriously need more)
- very fluffy, very cute
- Bridget is an aspiring game developer/programmer (I’m a sucker for mcs in the stem field)

cons:
- that scene where Bridget was asked her nationality seemed off and out of place, I understand that it was supposed to explain that she was a foster kid and didn’t know her parents, but it came out of nowhere and was never addressed again
- i wish it was a tad longer, some important scenes did not have enough detail

I’d recommend this for anyone who wants a lighthearted Christmas read. for added fun listen to Christmas music while reading

This was a super cute Christmas romance. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and the premise. It was super Hallmark-y in the best way possible. A heart warming story that’s set to put you in the holiday mood. Give this sweet romance a go.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Bold Strokes Books, for an advanced copy for review. I thought this might prove a warm and toasty, queer and woke sort of a Hallmark movie romp - unfortunately, it missed the mark in several ways for me.

Our story starts with Grace getting the rude awakening that her boss and lover is cheating on her, so she loses her job and relationship in the same day. A year later, she’s approached at her new job at a marriage proposal staging agency (is that a thing?) by Bridget, Grace’s ex’s new assistant, who needs a proposal planned for said ex. A comedy of errors later - or, well, several awkward moments later, there was very little humor in the antics of this book - Bridget and Grace are stranded in the holiday resort town the latter grew up in, which sports Christmas ambience year-round and is where this proposal will take place.

First of all, the story has promise and gives off huge Hallmark or Lifetime movie vibes; I actually feel like this would be better as a holiday movie special. This particular story would’ve benefited from a cutting of its cringey inner monologues, something a movie format would do nicely. In fact, I think a lot of this book could’ve been forgiven with a movie treatment; I don’t watch a holiday movie and find myself thinking “they’ve known each other MAYBE thirty-six hours at this point, isn’t a love declaration a lot?” very often, it’s different in writing perhaps.

I also think strange character creation choices were made, resulting in me straight-up hating one of the two main leads. The more relatable of the two was Bridget, whose constant social discomfort and awkwardness I read as perhaps indicative of her being on the spectrum, a much more fulfilling plot aspect if confirmed, but no, she was just awkward or something? I’m not the only one to note this and it was a real missed opportunity for representation in this sort of story.

Oh my goodness, did I hate Grace. When they’ve known each other maybe 48 hours, Grace’s mother just goes to pull Bridget into a hug, and she finds it awkward. I personally completely understand why Bridget’s uncomfortable, but Grace immediately starts some mental somersaults to uncover why that might be weird? Her empathy was broken and she was nosy as heck, not a winning combination. She also flips back and forth - her inner monologue always wants to pull Bridget, whom she has known for a day, into her arms, kiss her, smell her, etc., BUT if Bridget asked about her past or something got too personal, Grace would snap at her and flip switches. Too much drama.

Lastly, Grace was given a far too elaborate and grim backstory for what felt like it could have been just a short, sweet holiday novella. An over-complicated job situation, the whole ex-boss/ex-girlfriend debacle, she randomly mentions a DEAD ex later on and how this influenced the story, AND she was a former Olympic competitor. Too much for a character I hated. It was over-long, and it being bad made it feel even longer. I hope there might be time for some last-minute editing, because someone got overzealous with the backstory here, and even some of the little details, too. Bridget is an orphan and repeatedly pulls out a scrap of paper with a message scrawled on it that was left in her baby wrappings when she was found - she pulls out this paper a lot, and after twenty-five years, it certainly would've disintegrated right?

There’s a reader and a market for every book, and I hope the readers out there who can overlook all this find this book, which had a lot of promise. Two and a half stars rounded up in generosity.

This was a cute little Christmas book. We start the book with Grace who finds out her girlfriend has been cheating on her. Grace is from this adorable town called Mistletoe Mountain where it's Chrismasy all the time, but she hasn't gone back in quite a while. Fast forward a year and we have Bridget hiring Grace to plan a proposal....for her ex girlfriend! In her hometown! The parts in Mistletoe Mountain were my favorite. Grace and Bridget get stranded there (of course) due to an avalanche. Forced proximity is one of my favorite tropes. :')

My least favorite trope is miscommunication and unfortunately there is some very annoying miscommunication toward the end of the book which is the reason I can't rate this one higher. Overall, I did enjoy reading it and I can recommend as a cute holiday romance.

A bit cheesy and predictable but if you want a feel good Christmas novel then this is for you. Definitely one to bring on the Christmas spirit while drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies!

I love Christmas and this book evoked all the warm and gooey feelings associated with this festival for me.

On a trip to recce Bridget’s boss’ proposal site, an avalanche left Grace Dawson and Bridget Cartwright stranded in Grace’s hometown, Mistletoe Mountain. Trapped in a year long Christmas village, Bridget, who is short of being called a grinch, simply does not care for the cold, the place where everything speaks Christmas and certainly not any thoughts of family. Bridget does not need entanglements yet Grace, the advocate for Christmas is one her heart cannot ignore.

Grace escaped Mistletoe Mountain after an incident and has struggled to return ever since. On a working trip to introduce Bridget to her hometown, stranded Grace has to face up to what and who she lost when she left all those years ago.

The author created a beautiful and romantic setting for the characters to fall in love. The characters fit each other and it was heartwarming to watch them let go of their fears and embrace love.

I just reviewed The Christmas Proposal by Lisa Moreau. Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC.