For what this was, it was okay. Due to the length, we didn’t really get to know the wide characters, nor did we get a lot on our main characters - just enough to make us care, but not much extra. My real beef comes with the green card marriage/immigration/timing of the story. If you know how US immigration works, you know there are a TON of plot holes in this story based on that - which really diminished my enjoyment.

𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 • 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 • ⁣𝙷𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚢/𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 • 𝙳𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝙾𝚅⁣
𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 • 𝙷𝚎 𝙵𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 • 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛
𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: 1 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2023 - Out Now!
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🌶️🌶️🌶️

First of all, I thought this was going to be a holiday read and it really was not - as least by my definition. If there was festiveness in the background, I must have blown right past it. This book was cute in a vanilla-y kinda way and very much smutty. Due to its short length, the percentage of the smut in the book is quite high.

However, the book is not devoid of plot: Sumner is expecting to get signed on by an NHL team and gets Britta to agree to marry him so he can legally stay in the US while waiting for his hockey deal to come through. He also happens to have had a massive crush on her...since forever. And while she feels safe with him, she fears a committed relationship with anyone. Their chemistry is steamy. I think romance readers will love this one.

Sports romances are definitely not my normal genre but having said that, this was still very bingeable. You will need to be willing to suspend disbelief around the green card process, just gloss by that and you'll be fine. This was my first Tessa Bailey, and I'd definitely be willing to read another.

1.5/5 stars

literally just a very cringy smutty novella but there were one or two cute scenes i guess

thank you to netgalley for providing this arc!

#sametimenextyear:

“It’s just that lately I feel a little left behind. Like everyone is checking off the boxes of life, and my pencil is broken. Or I didn’t bring one to class at all.”

Thank you @amazonpublishing for my gifted copy!

Sumner is a dirty dirty man. I actually wrote “Sumner’s a freak”, but forgot it wasn’t 2007 anymore, so… One thing you gotta do is suspend reality. Now, it’s not a fantasy, but the process of immigration and green cards, it’s for the plot and not how it would go down in 2024 if you had this proposition in the US. I just laughed it off and said “that’s not this works, that’s not how any of this works” (queue the esurence commercial)

Regardless, it was a short but fun novella. Because it’s short, you get almost an instalove feel even though we know Britta & Sumner have always had feelings. A steamy, fun, found family to get you in the holiday spirit.

So if you’re into:
🏒 hockey romances
🏒 marriage of convenience
🏒 dirty talk
🏒 touch her and cry vibes

This was an Amazon first read for November month, so if you haven’t picked it up, here’s your shot!

Thank you Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC of Same Time Next Year! All opinions in this review are my own.

Same Time Next Year is easily my favorite Tessa Bailey book! I loved the marriage of convenience trope mixed with a hockey romance. My only complaint is that I didn't get enough time with Sumner and Britta! I loved these characters and I hope that Bailey's sports romance series will have a cameo of them!

Same Time Next Year gave me fluffy feelings, it also was such great spice. It was so unexpected. I thought it was going to just be a cutesy holiday romance and then suddenly explicit sex/thoughts. It was very well written and hot as hell.

Same Time Next Year by Tessa Bailey is such a great fluffy/spicy romance that bookends New Years Eve to New Years Eve. If you’re looking to read something quick but hot, definitely pick this up!

I really wanted to like this. Prior to picking it up, I hadn’t, after all, read anything by Tessa Bailey before, and I’ve been wanting to check out her work for awhile.

However, the only thing I found myself thankful for in ‘Same Time Next Year’, is that it was just a novella - meaning, it was nice and short.

What’s it about? A waitress named Britta, a hockey player named Sumner, and their very spontaneous agreement to commit to be fake married to each other one New Year’s Eve, so Sumner doesn’t get deported when his visa expires.

Why are they doing this? Britta feels bad. Sumner is so close to being picked up by the pro league, and letting him leave would mean watching him lose his dream, and as her half brother is on the same team, she knows how hard he’s been working for this moment.

I’ll leave the synopsis there so I don’t give away any spoilers, but long story short - for me, this was a very underwhelming plot.

I know there’s only so much that can be shared in 144 pages, but the storyline was so rushed, that it felt even more far fetched than expected, and even with some well written spicy scenes, I’m sorry, but I just didn’t enjoy it.

Thank you still, to the author, publisher, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this prior to its release in exchange for an honest review.

A super fun hockey romance! I liked the story concept a lot and almost wish it had been a full book instead of a novella so it could have been fleshed out a little more.

Britta doesn't believe in marriage and happily ever afters. Her father left to be with his other family when she was just a child and she witnessed how it destroyed her mother. She grew up in the bar her mother worked at and eventually took a job there herself. Sluggers bar has become her safe space and also a hangout for her brother's local hockey team. On New Year's Eve, the whole team is begging for a favor... marry their superstar teammate Sumner for a green card so he doesn't get deported before getting his shot at the NHL. She really wants the money he's offering to buy her partnership in the bar, but the man is already obsessed with her and she's afraid he'll expect more. They make it a business arrangement for one year, no feelings. But as the deadline approaches and Britta falls for her fake husband, will a year be enough?
For a sweet shy guy, Sumner can sure take charge when it counts! I loved seeing his side of the story and how he fell so hard so fast for his wife. Poor guy was tiptoeing on eggshells not to move too fast and scare her off lol! Even though this was a novella, I didn't feel like the story was rushed at all.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was short, sweet and SPICY!! Such a great fast read, kept me hooked right from the first chapter! Highly recommend but unless you have a poker face, don’t read it in public ;)

Thank you to NetGalley for an early read of this book. All thoughts are my own, I don’t accept money for reviews.

Y’ALL, THIS BOOK HAS NO BUSINESS BEING THIS GOOD FOR IT TO ONLY BE A NOVELLA. When I tell you this book has solved the slump I was falling into I’m serious. I wasn’t vibing with the other book I was reading, and this was what I needed.

The only fault I have with this book is its short. I’m aware it’s a novella, but I want more. While I don’t have a problem with how short it is, I do feel like some people might not vibe with it. It might feel a bit insta-lovey, and while some of the interactions come out of left field, I had no problem with it. I was in the mood for a quick read and a love story, and I got exactly that.

Now, don’t let me fool you, this book has some SPICE. I was legitimately sweating while reading those scenes, and I have full on read spice across the room from my grandmother with no reaction. It’s probably because with how short the book is that she had to pack a punch, but it does not disappoint.

Brothers teammate, forced proximity, he falls first and HARD, she’s a bartender, family trauma, rushed wedding, marriage for green card, he calls her sweetheart, Canadian, hockey romance, one year timeline

As surprising as it may be, this is my first ever TB book and jury is still out on how I’m feeling. It was short and spicy, as it is only a novella. I really did like Britta but Sumner wasn’t exactly my type and some of the things he said left me cringing. Overall, I can see myself giving TB another go!

Tessa Bailey had NO BUSINESS WRITING ONE OF THE BEST ROMANCES IN NOVELLA FORM. LIKE HOW??

This hockey romance, brother’s best friend, marriage of convienence, commitment-phone meets commitment hungry trope full romance might be the sweetest and spiciest of Tessa’s books and I cannot stop thinking about it.

BRB off to reread it asap

Thanks NetGalley and Amazon for an advanced copy of this novella.
This was my first Tessa Bailey read and boy was it spicy! A quick and easy hot read about a fake marriage for Greencard arrangement purposes between 2 people who basically already have the hots for eacother. What ensues is a mixture of very well executed spicy talk and activities with love and romance vibes. Sure to get you hot and bothered in the best way possible. iIt's been a great entry into Tessa Bailey's work and I won't hesitate to grab another in future.

A quick and steamy novella! This was the perfect amount of humor and spice to keep me out of a reading slump.

A marriage of convenience to attain a green card leads to strengthening a friendship that can't lead to more.

I love Sumner's character and honesty. He's a genuine book boyfriend and I love every moment he's on page, especially his patience with Britta and her past issues with relationships.

All the steam that Tessa is known for, but the characters that will stick with you for days to follow.

I really don't know how to start with this review, only that I am surprised to say I almost DNF'd this story, and the only reason I didn't 🚫💔 is because I was so excited to get this because: Tessa Bailey + Hockey Romance and I have to sadly say I really didn't like it. 😕

If you take these tropes and put them together in a story, you think you will hit a jackpot 🎰💰, but the writing felt so bad, it was rushed, at some times the dialogue reminded me of a Mexican Telenovela 🇲🇽📺, those dramatic ones I saw as a kid in Mexico, and it got to a point where I couldn't believe this was Tessa's writing.

It pains me to say this, because I am all about Tessa Bailey, but this book left me hanging completely and I don't even want to rate it, I am sorry. 😢📚

This marriage of convenience was delicious! We have a gentle giant Ball player who falls in love with the half sister of one of the team mates. It’s a slow burn that burns and the dual pov made the book even better

With a premise similar to The Proposal, Same Time Next Year was a cute and smutty romance novella featuring an amateur Canadian hockey player about to lose his work visa and a bar manager who is the sister of one of his teammates in Connecticut. Sumner is definitely smitten for Britta (maybe a little obsessed) and convinces her to marry him so he can get a green card, stay in the country, and keep trying to get called up to the NHL. Overall, I'm excited that Tessa Bailey is starting to write sports romances. I wasn't 100% on this one, it was a little cringy at times. But I'm excited to see what she does with a full-length sports romance novel. Thank you to Amazon and NetGalley for the chance to read this novella.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I liked it but not enough to really get past the super cringey dirty talk, and the fact that in my head every time I read her name I thought of a Brita pitcher for some reason… Overall, it’s a cute enough novella but I don’t think I’m really a Tessa Bailey fan anymore.

I guess I’d recommend since it’s quick.

This was a quick and fun read but nothing to memorable. Basically the whole plot was the MMC being overly obsessed with the FMC to the point that it was almost concerning!