Unfortunately I did not like this one. It was so boring and I did not click with any of the characters. I thought the banter between Mikayla and the MC was so immature. The first chapter, where they discussed guys being a limpet was very drawn out and beat the point to death. I hung in for several more chapters before my growing TBR pile pulled my attention and I left this one behind. It just was not for me.

Thank you for the advanced copy of Holiday Read.
I set my expectations a bit too high for this one and thus was let down. While this book had a slow start, it did pick up towards the middle and I was happy with the ending. I would be happy to read more from Taylor Cole in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC!

I tried. I really tried. This book was not it. The story was okay. The characters were okay. I didn't feel an attachment to them, nor did I really want to find out what happened next.

Even with the lack of story and character development, my biggest qualm with this book is the writing style. The run-on sentences and lack of appropriate sentence structure made it very hard for me to read. Maybe I'm being to harsh, but the entire first paragraph of this book was one sentence. One. sentence. paragraph.

If not for the writing issues, I may have rated it a solid 3 stars. But because I struggled so much to even read it, I'm downgrading to 2. At least point, I would not recommend to friends, but I hope it can undergo some revision!

Holiday Read had so much potential to be the next emily Henry lookalike. It follows an American woman who is living in Cornwall and working as a waitress and a surf instructor, this is where she meets budding author alexis and his agent Daniel. Alexis basically wants to write about a romance in Cornwall even though he has never written in that style and wants to use the main character as his muse. I couldn't stand alexis, he was way too misogynistic and acts like a baby but Candice wasn't having any of it. I liked the whole research and the experiences they go on as a couple and a trio and I'm happy about how it ended however it felt a bit unedited and I think they could have included the side plot about her parents a bit more. I'd be happy to pick up another book from this author!

This started strong, but it got repetitive and long-winded. The conversations between the main characters weren't flowing. The supporting characters were fantastic!

Holiday Read is a story about Candice, who flew to England from Hawaii to break free from her marriage.

Candice is a struggling surf instructor who also works as a waitress at a café, where she met Alexis, an author.

Alexis is an annoying and unbearable character who doesn’t know what consent is. He is misogynistic. He’s writing about a genre he doesn’t like and looks down upon, yet he wants to make a profit out of it. He has no respect for Candice’s contribution to his book. On the other hand, Daniel, Alexis’s agent, is the opposite of him. He is a likeable character. He helped Candice whenever he could.

There were lots of unnecessary details in the plot. The sudden backstory of Candice’s life in Hawaii. Random things happened in the book that were forgettable. Things like Candice looking for her dad or the sudden appearance of her husband were so random.

I liked Candice’s growth, her taking control of her life, and her friendship with Makayla and Demi. I also liked the summery beach settings.

The title says “Holiday Read,” but none of the characters was on vacation. It could be misleading.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review. I really thought this would be a cute and fun quick read but unfortunately I just couldn’t stay interested in the book and had to DNF it. It just wasn’t interesting enough for me to want to continue, it felt like it was dragging on but not necessarily in a good way and I didn’t really like the characters much. I’ll update if I change my mind and decide to give it another read.

Pleasantly surprised, had more substance than anticipated. Great musical references. Will recommend to my romcom readers.

Thanks for letting me read, however I didn't love the book it was not a very interesting read for me and the blurb definitely made me think it would be more of a fun book than it was

I love the holidays, beaches, and fantastic characters. This book had everything. I loved it and I cannot wait for the next book from this author. It gave me beach reading vibes and I would love to be sitting on a beach with a cup of iced tea, reading this book.

Thank you to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel! While I enjoyed Candice's character, I didn't feel drawn to anything else about this novel. There are many reviews lamenting the misogynistic love interest at the beginning of the book, and I completely agree, but I do want to note that the book actually ends with a different love interest. So if you are enjoying the writing otherwise, I'd push through. I did not enjoy the writing. I felt like there was no connection between any of the plotlines, and sometimes it felt like Cole randomly included scenes just to make the book longer. This book could have been 100 pages shorter. Lastly, I felt no chemistry between her and any of her love interests, especially the one she ends up with. I didn't understand the conflict and I didn't understand why they wanted to get back together. Unfortunately, I would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria for the eARC of Holiday Read.

I was originally intrigued by the description of this book and based on the cover and title thought this was going to be a fun, lighthearted romcom. While I do think there was potential for this story to be that, it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I was debating DNF-ing around 30%, but ultimately am glad I finished it.

Holiday Read is told from the POV of Candice, our MFC, who has recently moved from Hawaii to Newquay for, what we learn throughout the story, is a multi-fold purpose. She is working as a waitress at the beach side diner, Demigorgons, where she crosses paths with author, Alexis, who is in town finding inspiration for his next novel.

Candice has a lot going on in her personal life, which lead her to, at times, not be the most likable character. However, Alexis was one of the most egotistical, misogynistic, sexist, classist, you-name-it-ist, characters that I have ever read. The romance genre gets so much hate/shame as is, let alone having a main character in a rom com who is apparently president of the “I hate romance” book club. Just when I thought I couldn’t dislike Alexis anymore, when Candice said she would not sleep with him, his response was “why not?”

Demi and Makayla were fun characters, who have great energy. Makayla was a tad immature at times for me, but overall she was such a firecracker character. Demi really cared about Candice (and Makayla), and I loved seeing the love between these three women. I really loved the found family subplot with these two and Candice.

I found the “love triangle” plot to be a bit of a stretch. Daniel’s whole purpose of being in Newquay didn’t feel realistic or natural, and there really isn’t much chemistry between any of the main characters, let alone a triangle situation. Candice is dealing with past relation trauma and learning what comes next for her, and is not necessarily looking for a new relationship. Alexis reacts poorly when Candice lets her feelings be known, and when she shows slight interest in anyone other than him.

All in all Holiday Read just had too much going on for me, and was too slow of a read. Most of the major plot lines didn’t start until after 50% through. And there were so many sub plots, such as Candice searching for her dad, and her past marriage, that I would completely forget about until they were randomly brought back up. And each time they were brought back into the foreground we got new information that was not mentioned or prevalent earlier in the story. I did love the arc of Candice realizing she was pursuing the dreams she thought she was expected to have, and ultimately deciding to follow her true passion. I think there is promise for this story- but as it stands I did not enjoy.

As a side note, and as other have mentioned, the title and cover have such similarities to Emily Henry that I couldn’t help but hold high expectations. The “author with writers block trying to write in a genre they haven’t experimented with before while going on “dates” to learn more/get inspiration” storyline was too similar to me, and mixed with the similar marketing really made me expect something different.

Holiday Read was a DNF for me because I found it vulgar.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book and there were glimpses of the great book it could have been but for me it didn’t quite come together. The best part of the book was the female friendships between Candice, Makayla and Demi; I enjoyed how Candice finds love and support from her found family. The rest of the plot seemed all over the place with some plot points barely being resolved and some lingering over the course of the novel only to be resolved too quickly.
The book was also too long in my opinion. About 60% of the way through I was seriously considering not finishing the book. I’m glad that I continued but I think condensing some of the plot would do wonders for the pacing and make it more compelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC.

This book was a 4 star for me. It was just ok. It wasn't a book that left me wanting more when I put it down or finished it. It wasn't bad, the writing is very good. I thought that the concept was really good, fake dating while helping the other finish their book. I like it, I just wish that it had grabbed me more.
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This book had a really good premise and I was excited to give it a go, as I do love a beachy, summery romance more than anything else. However, I didn't get very far in and decided to DNF as I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters unfortunately. I really couldn't get behind Alexis and the main love interest, the story didn't really feel complete and in the form that it is currently in, I would not feel compelled to finish the book or to recommend it, as a librarian or just as a reader.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Aria & Aries for sending me an eArc of this book. Unfortunately, this one was just not for me at the moment.

Thank you for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I lost interest quite quickly. There was too much internal and not enough external dialogue. In addition, the story plot just didn’t grip me. It moved too slow for me. While the author’s writing style was very good, I wanted to like this book, but it fell short of my expectations.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me and I didn't even get halfway through.

I was turned off by the first chapter and how it spent way too long talking about "tit limpets" but figured I owed it to the publisher/author to keep going and give it a chance. Sadly, it didn't get better.

There was way too much description given without much happening. I kept wanting to skim and get to the point.

The lead male is a misogynistic male author who looks down upon romance novels & dislikes them, but decides to write one, and use the female main character as inspiration, solely because he likes how much money romance novels make. Ick.

I was super excited to read this book because of the cover & title giving major Emily Henry vibes. Neither the cover nor title really have anything to do with the book (at least, not in what I read of it). They're super misleading. Nobody is on a "holiday" or vacation, and though the female lead teaches surf lessons, that's really not been a major plot point at all. I genuinely think the author just wanted to draw people in who love Emily Henry, like myself.

Maybe the book gets better but based on the low rating I've seen from other reviewers, I don't think it does. I wouldn't recommend this one, sadly!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Preparing to read this book, I was very excited because it was marketed as an Emily Henry-style romance. Unfortunately, Holiday Read didn't live up to the expectations. While I somewhat liked the FMC, Candice, I found her to be a bit bland and there was not much character-building for her. Alexis is maybe one of the worst male characters I have ever read. He was an extreme misogynist who sexualized and disrespected women. He was [for some reason] considered a romantic interest but never really improved as an individual. The most enjoyable characters in Holiday Read were Daniel and Makayla, supporting characters who had some nice moments. Overall, however, there didn't seem to be a plot to this novel. It was heavily sexist and just wasn't really engaging or enjoyable to read. Not a particularly recommendable read.