4 Stars

Admittedly, I’ve been in a weird reading funk and this took me quite a while to get into—about 30% honestly. I blame this on myself as once I got into the story I really ended up loving it.

First off, I don’t think this book is overly holiday-esque despite the cover (so cute) & title. It didn’t fully take place at Christmas-time and spanned a chunk of time really. I think you’d be fine to read it not during the holidays!

I really enjoyed A Winter Wish! It was romantic & gave me actual butterflies in my stomach which is such a rare delight. But, it wasn’t just a romance and had a lot of other elements to the story. If you have daddy issues (it me) proceed with caution!

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group— Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Winter Wish is Emily Stone’s latest stand-alone Christmas romance. Her stories are set in England, and they are more character-development stories than romance
Lexie’s parents split when she was eight years old, and she later learned that he had fathered a child with another woman. Lexie always felt awkward around her seven-years-younger sister, Rachel, and resented her because their father stayed with her mother for most of her childhood. Although Lexie has a college degree, she primarily works at seasonal jobs in various countries because she doesn’t like to stay in one place for more than a few months. Her latest job is as a nanny for a wealthy family staying at a ski chalet in Austria, and she spends her free time entangled in a relationship with a handsome ski instructor, Mikkel.
When Lexie is informed of her father’s death, she returns to her hometown in England for his funeral and discovers that he has owned a successful travel agency for the past five years. She is shocked to learn that her sister, Rachel, has inherited his cottage, and she (Lexie) will be half-owner of the travel agency if she participates in managing it for one year. This news greatly upsets Theo, a handsome but grumpy young man who inherited the other half-share and has been running it alongside Lexie’s father.
The tropes that are used in A Winter Wish have been used so many times before, but they feel fresh when skillfully woven by this author. Lexie experiences significant character development in this story, exploring her past relationships with her father and Rachel and forging new and better relationships with her mother and Rachel. Interestingly, neither of Lexie’s parents lectured her about settling down and getting a steady job, seemingly content to allow her to live a wanderlust life. This positioned Lexie to be able to take on assignments for the travel agency and be engaged in their mission. The descriptions of the scenery made me want to book a trip to Spain!
On the romance side, Lexie had to decide that her fling with Mikkel was meaningless, and she needed to invest in real men who are interested in a future. Theo had good reason to resent Lexie’s nonchalance about her father’s death and inheritance, and it took a little while for his grumpy façade to fade. The reader knew all along that her father engineered this whole thing.
I enjoyed this emotional Christmas romance. It’s what I call a British cozy romance due to its slow pace and low angst. The interesting characters, family dynamics, and beautiful descriptions of scenery make this a story worth reading!
I received an advance review copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Dell Books for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What makes me love Emily Stone's books is that she usually has a head-turning plot twist. Just when you think you're getting a happy ending, boom something happens. This book didn't have one of those and I missed it. This wasn't a bad book by any means, I just never got invested. I found myself wandering away from the book. I didn't get invested in the characters until pretty deep into the book.

While this is labeled as a Christmas read, I didn't think that was necessary. It is a small part of the book. This book takes place over a year, whereas most of her books have been centered remotely around Christmas so it felt very secondary to the story.

I enjoyed the focus on traveling, getting to see multiple location settings, and seeing these two characters get put in difficult situations abroad. One of my favorite side plots was Lexie finally getting to know her step-sister away from all the other family's preconceived notions. I also liked how Lexie looked back on her past with her dad in a new light and saw her parents as flawed adults, not just mom and dad.

Read if you like enemies to lovers, holiday, travel romance. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book is out now.

A Winter Wish is another Emily Stone masterpiece. And luckily this one didn’t bring me to tears like all the author’s previous books (looking at you Always, in December). This one is about Lexie, who not only learns that she just lost her estranged father, who left when she was a child, but also that he left her half of his travel business. As if that wasn’t enough, he left the other half to a man she never met, who she is forced to co-run the business with for the next year. Immediately the pair get off on the wrong foot, setting a contentious tone for the upcoming months. But when they’re both posted on the same trips to the south of France and then Spain, their reluctant togetherness forces them to slowly get to know one another. As the months go on, they find themselves drawn together more often, eventually developing feelings. But as the year comes to a close, is Theo still willing to share half the business and is Lexie willing to give up her nomadic lifestyle and finally settle down into the life that her father crafted? Heartwarming and heartfelt, but without the emotional gut punch of some of the author’s other books, this is another holiday masterpiece!

I just really love Emily Stone’s writing. She does enemies to lovers so well, and I have yet to read one of her books that didn’t get my eyes at least a little misty. This book was no exception. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

A Winter Wish is the story of a woman who inherits half of her estranged father’s travel business and has to grapple with her emotions and feelings surrounding that, given their fractured relationship. And she has a wish jar that she brings with her everywhere - a tradition from when she was a kid and her dad still lived with her. Welp. This book hit me wayyyyy too close to home. So close that I wasn’t sure I would even get through it. But I am glad I did. It was emotional and sweet with a charming cast of characters and a sweet romance. I loved the different trips they went on. I loved the dynamics of the employees. I just loved seeing her find herself and learn to let go of the past and move forward. All the warm fuzzies. Even if it made me cry more than once.

Ok, this book does take place during Christmas but it's not a true Christmas romance. It's more like a let's figure out why your crappy father decided to repair his relationship with you after he died. It was good but when you're wanting a Christmas romance, this isn't it. It's a great woman's fiction story of everyone coming to their own relationship/life realization book.

Lexie and Theo are forced to work together when she is left half of her fathers company and the other half has been left to the top executive at the company. The only stipulation in her fathers will is that they have to run the company together for a year before deciding what to do. As they are working together on a trip in Spain, they find that they may like each other more than they thought.

This was a cute story between two enemies who were forced to work together when they didn't want to. The tension was built up great and the work trip to Spain revealed their true feelings for each other. Such a fun, cute read.

book did resonate with me more than I thought it would because of the fact that Lexi's father had unexpectedly died of cancer. She hadn't spoken to her father in years as he left her mom and her for another woman and was not as present of a father as he should have been. My own father died of cancer and also passed away without me having seen him in a couple years. My relationship was better with my father but he also left my family for another woman. With all of this going on I could relate to some of the emotions Lexi felt in this novel. There were some parts when I was a little frustrated with Lexi and her inability to see the other side of things especially when it came to her half sister. I was rooting for her and hoping things would turn out well.

This is the third book I have read by Emily Stone and I always enjoy them. In this novel there was a lot of travel and I loved all of the different settings. The business mentioned in this book is a great idea and I wish it was real so I could travel with them. Overall, I enjoyed the different characters and the romance.

Thank you to Dell Books/Random House Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC.

A Winter Wish has just a smidge of melancholy, a splash of serendipity and a dollop of emotions, It's the perfect cozy book to curl up with by the fire to get you in the festive spirit. I thought it was just lovely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the eARC.

A Winter Wish by Emily Stone was the exact holiday romance I was looking for. Hallmark Channel esque but a little more for me. What a lovely read.

3.5 stars

I had been putting off reading Emily Stone's work, as it's the more emotional type of romance that I don't gravitate towards, but this one wasn't too much of a tearjerker despite the heavier themes of parental abandonment and death. I struggled a bit with the pacing, where it felt like it too a very long time for anything to happen despite the storyline being condensed into one year's time frame.

Lexie has always lived the life of a nomad, never spending more than 6 months in European location and temporary job. When her estranged father Richard passes away and unexpectedly leaves her half of his holiday tour travel company, she finds herself tethered for one year back in England per the will's stipulation with her new co-owner, Theo. The two butt heads immediately, with Lexie wanting to sell the company after their year is up and Theo wanting to make something of Richard's legacy. Lexie has a hard time coming to terms with working with people who had a very different view of the man who abandoned her and her mother for a new wife and family, though over time she discovers that in his own way, he still tried to honor their relationship by building a company based around their holiday traditions. Knowing his death was impending, Richard tried to manipulate Lexie and Theo together, feeling they would balance each other out, but their relationship felt forced and lacked sparks, with Lexie being an emotionally closed off runner. I do enjoy anything with a European travel theme, so it was interesting to read about that aspect of the story, but otherwise this was a very bland romance that tried to pull at your heartstrings but came up short.

A beautiful story of dealing with grief after losing a parent, a parent that hasn’t been in your life for years.

Lexie dealing with the grief of losing her father not just once but twice in her life felt so realistic and I appreciate that from the author. However, she really avoided conflict so much (I get it girl) but it got so annoying, especially at the end.

I liked Lexie and Theo together but we barely got to see them fall in love. It all just happens in a span of a year and I wanted more of that.

Overall, a good holiday read for the season. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emily Stone has established herself as a dependable and creative author of the Christmas rom com, and A winter wish doesn’t disappoint. When Lexie’s estranged father dies and leaves her half of his successful travel agency, with, of course strings attached, she is confused. To benefit from the value of the company, she must attempt to participate in the business for one year. The catch is, her father left the other half of the company to Theo, a young man who has worked in the company shoulder to shoulder to Lexie’s father. He’s smug and angry and grieving in ways Lexie can’t imagine. In fact, she’s grieving the father she knew before he divorced her mother, and those memories complicate both her ability to accept the gift, and Theo, as she learns more of who her father, Theo—and herself—really are.
There are great settings in lovely cities that will not only make you swoon with romance but want to book tickets with the agency! A Winter Wish was released on October 16, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House/Ballantine for the review copy.

I absolutely devoured this book. So so good. I plan to read again in December.
This one is a bit of a gut punch because she is estranged from her father. So much is processing her grief while dealing with his inheritance.
It’s an enjoyable yet poignant holiday treat. Highly recommend.

An old story wrapped up in new Christmas paper makes for a good holiday romance filled with all the tropes we have come to love!

Lexie's father left her and her mom when she was 7 to start a new family with his mistress and their child. She grew up being let down time and again and stopped talking to him 10 years ago. Now, she works at whatever job lets her keep from setting down roots and convinces herself she's happy like that. Except her dad passed away and left her half of his travel company, a company built around the trips they used to take before he left. Bad enough that she's forced to participate in running the company for a year, she also has to do it with handsome but grouchy Theo, who is quick to let her know he very much dislikes her.

It's a story that would have been solved in a few pages if anyone had just spoken up and said what they were thinking and then listened to the other side of the story. But then we wouldn't have gotten to read about Lexie and Theo slowly opening up to the possibility of more. And it's not just between the main couple; things would have been so much easier for everyone if only there had been the most basic communication. It's almost a warning of how wrong things can go if you bottle things up and don't speak to others about your feelings for them.

Aside from that, Stone does a great job of letting you slowly discover all the facets of the characters as they navigate some complicated dynamics and emotions. I appreciate how much importance is put into accepting that there are always two sides to every story and things might not be as simple as you might think.

It's sweet and romantic and you get to experience pretty much all of the emotions. You'll also walk away with a major desire to travel and experience everything the world has to offer.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Dell for the romantic read!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book has everything readers could hope for in a holiday read: a romance, family drama, a family business in need of some saving, and a wanderlust-inducing setting. I appreciated how this book balanced the deeper themes about family with the enemies-to-lovers plot line. I also enjoyed that it tugged at the heart strings without bringing me to tears (like many of Stone’s books in the past have!).

When Lexie finds out her father has passed she doesn’t really know how to feel. Since he left her and her mom when she was a child, he has been known to cancel plans, or just not show up when he is expected. She is even more shocked when she finds out she has been left half his company. The other half has been left to Theo, an employee at the company. The two must work together and turn a profit the first year in order to be allowed to sell the business. Too bad Theo seems to hate her…

Oh man did my heart hurt for Lexie. I totally understood her feelings toward her father and why she was infuriated by Theo giving her a hard time about their relationship. Emily Stone has such a way of writing grief, and family issues, I just knew that I would need the tissues at some point while reading this one. I really enjoyed following along as Lexi and Theo began to fall for each other, like we all knew they should from the very beginning. As always Stone left me with all the feelings reading this one.

Thank you to @randomhouse for my gifted copy of this book!

This one took me a bit to get into, but it’s a cute holiday read. I love an enemy to lovers trope. It’s a bit of a slow burn. Lexi inherits half of her estranged father’s travel business, and the other half goes to Theo, who she can’t stand at first sight. I received a free copy of A Winter Wish from the author, publisher, and netgalley, in exchange for my honest review.