If you're looking for a book filled with clean Christmas spirit, this is the book for you. I appreciated how much of this book is rooted in traditions and family spending time together, with just a sprinkle of romance. I do love that our main character is a "woman of a certain age" who has dealt with the death of her spouse and that her love interest also has a past. I think that makes it more interesting and the character seem not as one dimensional. The only downfall of this book is that it felt a bit elementary at times and the dialogue and romance scenes became a bit cringe. That being said, I did enjoy the Christmas vibes that the book had and the Christmas Daze celebration sounded like a fantastic town tradition. Overall, I give this book a rating of 3.25/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

A fun Christmas read with lots of fun and funny escapades of a harried mom trying to bring Christmas joy to her twins that have lost their father.

This was ok for a very early Christmas book, even though I read it later than I was supposed to. I liked this better than I thought I would. Yes, it reminds everyone of a Hallmark Christmas movie BUT I felt the romance was not as swoony as it could have been. I liked the stories of the side characters more than the romantic aspect.

Just ok. I like the Joanne Fluke Hannah Swensen series more than this stand -alone book by this other author. Maybe I am Scroogey about this book.

Recommended for the side characters NOT the romance.

THanks to Netgalley, eliza evans and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A;lready available

This was the perfect holiday romance. It was great on audio. A small town full of holiday traditions.

Melody Monroe is so ready for Cookie Daze. Every year at Christmas, her little Colorado town goes crazy for Christmas cookies and celebrates them with a week of family activities and deliciousness. And she is determined to celebrate this year, since her twin boys are growing up and wanting to spend time with their friends. Melody is determined to make this year memorable for them, before they go off to middle school.

A widow and entrepreneur, Melody designs and sells her own fashions in a downtown boutique. Her sister helps at the boutique, and her parents help out when they can, but Melody is still a busy mom, and one who finds herself in the principal’s office too often, usually for running late in the mornings. Jonathan Braxton is a stern man that Melody thinks is too handsome to be a principal, but he runs the school fairly. And he usually wins the Christmas cookie competition in the yearly Cookie Daze. But when Melody finds out that the whole cookie week is in jeopardy because the chair of the committee had quit suddenly, she leaps into action.

Melody offers to take over the cookie committee, to make sure her boys get all those fun activities that brings the family closer. She recruits family and friends for the committee and starts to make sure all the plans are in place. There’s just one problem. Melody can’t bake. But she’s willing to give it a shot, and even agrees to be in the cookie competition against Mr. Braxton. She balks, though, when he suggests they bake their cookies live before the audience. She knows her cookies can’t stand up to his, and she’s trying to think of a way to gracefully bow out, but her twin boys chime in with trash talk, and somehow Melody not only agrees to take part in the competition, she ends up making a bet with Jonathan about who will win.

As they work together on the committee, and Jonathan even comes over to her house one night to help her with her cookie recipes, Melody realizes that the principal is actually a very kind man. She starts to feel her heart opening up again. But will her boys be able to accept someone new into their lives? Will the community? And maybe most importantly, will Melody?

The Christmas Cookie Wars is a sweet rom com about a single mother trying to keep old family traditions going while considering opening her heart to someone new. There is lots of fun Christmas cookie fun and family traditions to celebrate, along with a gentle romance reminiscent of those holiday movies about small towns and finding love again.

I liked these characters a lot. I thought they brought a lot of life to the page and made me feel nostalgic for those yearly family traditions. There aren’t a lot of surprises in this story, but it’s heart-warming and perfect for a snowy night under a comfy blanket with a mug filled with hot chocolate and (obviously) a plate of cookies. Very enjoyable.

Egalleys for The Christmas Cookie Wars were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This was just a sweet holiday read that felt like reading a Hallmark movie. I enjoyed that the main characters were in their late 30s, and I definitely felt nostalgic with Melody describing how her twins were growing up and not wanting to do all the holiday traditions anymore. I liked the idea of Cookie Daze too.

Thank you for the gifted Audio Book
@prhaudio

Book Review: THE CHRISTMAS COOK WARS
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Eliza Evans @booksbysaraandeliza
Publishers: Book— G.Putnam’s Sons @putnambooks
an imprint of @penguinusa
Audio Book @prhaudio

FMC Melody is a widowed single mom 10-year-old
twin boys. She is also a fashion designer who runs her
own boutique. She struggles every day to get the boys
to school. She is struggling this holiday season as her
kids are growing and she wants the holiday traditions
alive, but the boys don’t. She ends up in the
principal‘s office since the boys were late again and
she learns the cookie contest committee is no more. It
has been disband by the former president and her
main rival. Enter hunky principal Jonathan Braxton,
who infuriates her all the time. The two of them will
need to work together as the cookie committee usually
raises the most money during the school year. There
are various events for the cookie committee, a cookie
stroll, a bake sale, a live baking contest and a holiday
themed race plus quite a few of these activities are
outside of school. There’s a nice banter between these
two characters and not all goes well. They are shy in
front of each other but they have a connection. They
both have miscommunications constantly which makes
for great banter. As they start to date they need to
learn to navigate the school gossipers and their own
families. Are they willing to go the distance to try to
make the relationship work? I have to add kudos to the
side characters in the book. The whole town ends up
pitching in to make everything a huge success. I really
enjoyEd this book. I like the fact that both main
characters were not perfect and that they had their
own personal dramas to deal with plus trying to
navigate a new relationships. Well done Eliza Evans
this book is awesome and made me want to make
some Christmas cookies and I’m not a baker so that
tells you a lot. this was a fun and fabulous book to
read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an e-arc!!

I read Eliza Evans’ holiday book last year, so I was so excited to be approved for this one! If you’re looking for an endearing, sweet, fun and relatable Christmas story, this one is for you!!

Melody is a widow raising her two 10-year-old twin boys. The holidays have always been a special time for their family, full of traditions that melody cherishes. However, as the boys are now getting older, they’re not quite as excited to do their annual activities. When Melody hears that the school’s cookie committee has disbanded meaning the cancellation of all of the town’s festive cookie related events, Melody decides to head the committee herself. After all, she and her boys love these events, and what better way to bring them together?

Melody is determined to put on successful events and prove to the town that she can do this-she especially wants to show her boys’ principal, Jonathan, that she’s got it all managed, since he seems to doubt her the most. Melody isn’t a huge fan of Jonathan, and he’s on the cookie committee as well. As Melody and her committee plan and host the events, she faces some challenges that make teamwork crucial- and who other to save her than Jonathan? As the two spend more time with each other, Melody realizes he may be different from what she expected. But as her feelings for him change, she has two obstacles in front of her: 1.) he is her kids’ principal and 2.) she hasn’t dated or been interested in dating since her husband’s passing. Not only is this uncharted territory for Melody, but it would be for her kids as well.

This book was really cute and a fun holiday read!! I thought Melody was a relatable character and her kids are so endearing. This is another holiday read that I could totally see becoming a Hallmark movie!

This was so cute and sweet! Like a Hallmark movie, but with a surprising amount of depth and character development! I really fell for the main character and the romance was believable. The timeline is a little unbelievable with all of the events of the book happening in less than a month, but that's the magic of Christmas!

When the annual cookie events are threatened to not happen this holiday season, Melody Monroe steps in to try and save it. She is determined to make the holiday season as magical as possible for her twin boys, Finn and Theo. Ever since losing their father, she wants to try and keep the Christmas magic going with all of their traditions. Only this time to save the Yuletide Cookie Club, she must go head to head with the single and handsome school principal, Jonathan Braxton. Through a little big of competition, Melody realizes this year there might be more Christmas magic still out there than she realizes.

While I did enjoy this one, it didn't grab me like some of the other holiday books I've read so far this year. There were a lot of intertwining story lines and for the most part they did a nice job staying together, but at times it did feel a bit much. I still enjoyed this one and certainly felt the need to eat a cookie or 5 while I read it.

Thank you Net Galley, Eliza Evans and Penguin Group Putnam and for the advanced copy for my honest review.

This was a very cute read. Plenty of Hallmark worthy holiday feels for the season and charming characters. This was a pretty formulaic holiday read but a good palette cleanser for the season.

This book fell flat for me. The characters came across as petty, and the romance was completely unbelievable with no real tension to keep me invested. The pacing was extremely slow, making it hard to stay engaged, and overall, it was just okay.

There are far better Christmas books out there that capture the magic of the season. Also, a heads-up for readers: this story includes the death of a spouse, which could be triggering for some.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to its potential.

Single mom, catty mother & cookies. This isn’t bad but it nothing to write home about.i don’t think I’ll be recommending this one

2.75 out of 5. If i were to describe this in the same categories I use for my Hallmark Movies it would fall under the predictable but naughty world. I was just to formulaic and really the tension was just not there. I really did not care about the Cookie Club, and the pettiness of the Moms. The kids were adorable though, and it was the part I liked the relationship between mom and kids. A very dont the fairway traditional Christmas book, but you might get the same feeling more effectively in a bad Hallmark Christmas Movie.

This book was a miss for me. The story line did not keep me engaged to the point where I was very bored reading it.

This was a really wholesome read, with so much emotion and holiday events and cheer 💚 I loved all the characters and their interactions!

TWs - death of spouse (few years in the past, and some scenes of grief on page), divorce (past), sabotage in a competition

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Recommended for: cozy romance lovers

Summary: Melody owns a boutique in a small town. She has two sons, Tate and Finn. She wants to make this Christmas special since the boys are getting older and missing their father, who died a few years earlier. She jumps at the chance to run the school’s Yuletide Cookie Club. However, Melody is no baker, and struggles through each cookie themed event. That is until a romance blossoms with the school Principal, Johnathon. Years after her husband’s death, is she ready to date again and can he help her after so many cookie baking disasters?

Review: The book was slooooowwww! And the romance was a slow burn. There were a few funny moments throughout, but it barely kept my attention. I did enjoy how much the author included the sons in the story. So many times they mention the kids in passing and make parenting seem passive, almost!

⭐⭐⭐

*single mom + her sons' school principal (also a single parent)
*Christmas cookie drama
*small town

This book was cute enough for a holiday read but I think there are others out there that stand out more.

You may call me a grinch but I just couldn't with this book. I do think it's a shame though because I do really like the set up of this book, and the small town painted before me wqs already looking like a wacky fun time. Sadly enough, I just couldn't STAND the main character. She's kind of stupid and EXTREMELY immature. Reading from her POV was genuinely painful. I truly don't think I could have actually come out on the other end of this book without my eyes having rolled so far back into their sockets that I couldn't see anymore.

Melody desperately wants to help her twin boys find the holiday spirit after losing their father. So when she learns their school’s cookie club has disbanded, she offers to chair the committee. Soon, an argument turns into a cookie competition between Melody and Jonathan, the school principal, which then turns into a romance between them.
This book made me want to have some cookies on hand! This a total Hallmark vibes story and I loved the school setting since I work in an elementary school. The twin boys added some fun antics and there were so many fun moments in this story.
Thanks to Putnam Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.