⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Need a slow burn holiday read? This one will do! I had to grab my tissues more than once even if some of the moments were a bit predictable. I loved Evie so much but found the MMC, Dan, kinda annoying. I wanted her to get her happy ending no matter what though. I found it to be the perfect mix of romance and holiday magic.

This was a really cute holiday read! I love the combination of the holidays and travel especially including different events other countries celebrate. It was really fun to learn about in addition to the enemies to lovers vibe that was happening.

My FIRST Emily Stone book and as soon as I finished I went out to get her other two "Always in December" and One Last Gift! This was an absolute delight! Huge thank you to Emily, Netgalley & Dell Publishing for the eARC!

What to Expect:
⭐ Christmas charm
⭐ Enemies to Lovers
⭐ Forced Proximity
⭐ A story of loss, grieving and finding your calling along the way
⭐ An overarching story of two people who are strangers who have to find a way to work together to find a way to save the business

My thoughts:
I love a good holiday romance story! This one particularly hit home because it talks about Christmas AND TRAVEL! Two of my top favorite things. I know some folks are early fans of Emily and have some reviews saying it isn't comparable to past stories. I don't have that knowledge so I will give it from a new reader perspective.

I truly enjoyed that this story had more plot than romance. That the story as a whole serves up some healing after the loss of a parent, even when you're not close to them, it is still a loss. It includes a story of two strangers who have to work together to save a business that has both slow growth, internal issues and some foul play at the top of the business. They have to find common ground to keep things a float while teaching each other things along the way. Being forced to fix it together creates a friendship that leads to love. One of the truest love tropes of all time.

All in all I am excited to read the others this holiday season and enjoy learning more about Emilys writing journey!

Synopsis:
When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday novel from the author of Always, in December and One Last Gift

When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.

Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.

Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.

There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.

while this was a well written Christmas story about a travel company in which her deceased father company is left to her and her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. They can't stand each other. So the hate to love is what mad m enjoy it. Though tend to avoid books with dead father's for personally reasons.

3.5/5

Lexie lives a nomadic lifestyle, frequently moving and having insignificant temporary jobs to support her travels. Her estranged father Richard whom she has not spoken to for over a decade dies from a terminal illness and leaves 50% of his travel company R&L Travel to Lexie and his home to his other daughter, Rachel, from his second marriage. R&L is different from other travel companies, as its focus is creating memorable vacations around culture and local holiday traditions. Lexie wants to immediately sell the business, however the fine print of the will states she must co-run the company and turn a profit in the first year in order to sell it. The other half the business was to Theo, a frustrating yet attractive young associate who Richard mentored, the same guy who was rude to Lexie at the funeral. The book centers around the next year of running the business with a man she butts heads with, and the trips the lead, while exploring the concept of grief and challenging family dynamics, second families, estranged parents. While the book has a focus on holiday travel/cultural traditions, it did not feel like a Christmas book to me. That said, I love the reading about the travel and hope a company like R&L actually exists because those vacations sound amazing and so memorable! I liked the growth of Lexie as a character. The enemies to lovers and slow burn tropes served this book well, but a romance with a coworker who you co-own a business with sounds like a recipe for disaster in real life.

Many thanks to netgalley, author Emily Stone for this ARC!

This book ended up being a DNF for me. I couldn’t get into it right from the start, so I unfortunately decided to put it down. I know others loved it, so I think it was just me!

I am a fan of Emily Stone, so I was looking forward to her new book, A Winter Wish. I enjoyed many parts of this story-the travel being the highlight for me. But, I also thought the story was very on the surface. I would have preferred a deeper dive into some of the characters. Overall, it was a light easy holiday read. Thank you for the ARC!

I look forward to reading an Emily Stone book every Christmas holiday season, and this one was very good! Lexie's estranged father recently passed away, and he left her half of a travel agency to be shared with Theo, a grumpy male executive from the company. Her father's will stated that the two must work together successfully for a year before they decide the fate of the company. I enjoyed watching the relationship develop between Lexie, who has some abandonment issues to work through, and Theo. This was another emotional read from Emily Stone--I am already looking forward to her next one! Thank you, NetGalley, for the digital advance reader copy.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the travel agent main characters. While this book has a cute holiday cover, it was not the light fluffy holiday rom com I was expecting. There were some heavier topics like grief and parental abandonment that made it more serious at times. There was still plenty of heartwarming romcom moments though. I still really enjoyed the writing, the pacing, the scenery and the characters and will definitely be recommending this one.

The characters were like able and the story was cute. For some reason I just didn’t hit it off with the characters quickly which caused me to not be very invested in their story and relationship.

While I really enjoyed this book I found that the pacing was off, with the ending feeling very rushed. The grief story was done very well and I loved the character development. I saved it for my holiday break from work and found that I didn’t need to, it didn’t feel overtly Christmasy!

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy of the ARC.

Sorry to say but this one was not my favorite from this author. I felt the wanderlust and liked the descriptions of the various travel destinations; however, there was not much between the main characters. Definitely lacking the usual chemistry Stone usually puts into her leads.

This one didn't feel very Christmasy so you can definitely read it as a beach read too! Perhaps while traveling!

unfortunatly this one did not work for me. I wasn't a big fan of our main character. she had some attachment issues that seemed to be her only personality trait and a little exhausting. i didn't mind our love interest he was okay if a little boring.

This emotional, heartfelt storyline should be read by anyone looking for another great winter read. Stone crafted amazing characters, and I would happily read again.

Genre: Holiday Romance

Format: Audio/E-book

4🌟 - I liked it!

Thank you @dellromance for the #gifted book, @netgalley for the e-book, and @prhaudio for the complimentary audio!

I love @emstonewrites’s holiday’s books! It’s been a staple in my holiday romance catalog over the past few years! This was a mix of complex family dynamics, dealing with grief, and a touch of enemies-to-lovers romance!

Although it has emotional themes, this was one of her lightest novels so far! She always has touching stories that tug on your heartstrings for the holiday season! I did a mix of audio and on e-book and really enjoyed the audio format of this one!

She continues to have a fan in me, and I will always keep reading her books!

I saved this book for Christmas but I really didn’t need to as it takes place over the course of a year. I liked this fine but I honestly got a little bored. I liked Lexie and Theo just fine, but found their relationship a little boring too. Overall, not a bad book by any means but just didn’t hold my interest a the time.

A story that explores grief in a magnificent way! Lexie was very relatable and it’s refreshing to read a story that explores real life consequences and emotions related to grief and loss. Even though it’s a heavy theme, the banter is fabulous and I’m always a sucker for enemies to lovers.

Thank you netgalley and Ballantine/Dell for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This read turned out to be a lot more emotional than I anticipated, but despite the strong anger I had towards many of the characters to start, there was such a strong sense of growth and development to the characters that I really came around on most, if not all. It was touching and, despite taking place over more than a year, a lovely holiday read.

4 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading Emily Stone books in the wintertime! This was a complicated one for me, it took me awhile to get into it, but then once I did, I ended up really enjoying it. The idea of traveling to different countries over Christmas to experience their traditions is so intriguing to me. Mix it with a little tension and spice, and that made a great read!

Lexie learns of her estranged father's death, and she then gets an even bigger surprise - He's left her half his travel company. The other half has been left to Theo - Now in addition to navigating grief, Lexie is navigating being a new business owner and new relationships. This one had a little bit of everything y'all, and with that, it was a lot of feels - It was Lexie making sense of her past with her dad, her new reality, a possible romance with Theo, and just figuring out what she wants in life. For me personally, I wish there would've been most Christmas feels. I did like the way the winter wish jar was sprinkled in, but I'm more of a full blast holiday romance reader. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this December 2024 release!