⅘ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Christmas Crush
Author: Noelle Douglas
Holiday Romance

Thank you so much Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC! Can you tell I’m deep in my Holiday romance reads? I was super eager to request this one when I saw it! It was very Gilmore Girls, meets Christmas small town romance. Also… yes! Another baking romance. 😂. Why am I like this? Elena is a cookie business woman (LOL), and her job, Sparkle Cookie, opens a new location in Pennsylvania. The local baker, Lawrence, is not thrilled about this new business entering the scene! He is determined to make sure they fail, however his plan gets a little messed up when he and Elena end up having to team up together to win the towns cookie baking competition. This book was a very lighthearted, cute, and easy Christmas read. The narration was good and it was overall a perfect Christmas read!

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was perfect! This one felt like a super cute Hallmark movie, I could totally see it being developed into one. I loved all the playful banter, the author has the best writing style with realistic dialogue. Highly recommend this one!

I just love Christmas romances. I need them every December. This one was just what I wanted. Lawrence is our local small-town baker. In rolls in Elena with Sparkle, the big cookie conglomerate. Elena needs to prove herself and Lawrence needs to make sure his business survives. They immediately butt heads. Their banter is so funny. The romance is sweet. I adored them. The narration was perfect. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun story to get one in a holiday mood. It’s the book equivalent of a Hallmark Christmas movie. In it, we have a very handsome tall and built baker trying to save his small business and an artist who works for a mega cookie company who is just trying to do her job. The two butt heads then fall in love in a book, that’s exactly what you think you’re going to get from the title in the cover. I quite enjoyed this book and only have one complaint. I don’t know why I find it odd when the heroes or the men in the books use endearing terms like “baby” and “sweetheart”. It just seems grading. It seems old-fashioned. I have. I really did enjoy this book. Thought it was great fun and look forward to seeing the movie if Hallmark ever picks it up.

This is a super cute holiday romance. Great pacing and conflict between characters. I loved that yes there is an initial meet disaster and some bickering between the main characters but that they reign it in pretty early on with maturity and eventual understanding. This is like a more developed and legit Hallmark movie and I do NOT mean that as an insult. Like if you've ever watched one of those movies and just wanted more, more character backstory, more chemistry, this book will do that for you. The corporate lady and small town baker pairing to the max.

My one criticism is that some of the relationship and intimacy building is off page. This book was culminating to a fun snowed in trope and then had some fade to black moments so just fyi no spice. And there is nothing inherently wrong with a fade to black or closed door romance, BUT if they are going to hook up so early on and it's got to be an integral aspect of their relationship there needs to be more relationship building on page and not just assumed that off page shenanigans = falling in love (in my opinion).

But still, really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Dreamscape for the ALC: the narration was great. There is a single narrator for alternating POVs and it flows really well honestly, I didn't miss not having a male narrator.

Corporate cookie company employee Elena is tasked with convincing a small town to accept their new store, which would be disastrous for Lawrence, the owner of the town’s small cookie business. He’s just trying to make rent, while she’s trying not to get fired by her evil corporate boss. Although they start as rivals, they end up falling for each other, and then working together to benefit both their businesses. This is a cutie little holiday romance, and you should absolutely check it out! The epilogue is so sweet as well 🥹 I also loved Elena’s growth throughout the story and how she accepted who she was and what she wanted to do with her life.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read before pub day! ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. THE CHRISTMAS CRUSH is out now!

I llove a baking romance, and this was generally good but it was hard to get behind the female lead. in the end it was an okay book

If you’re a fan of hallmark channel Christmas movies then this one will be for you. I wanted a bit more realistic drama but this one was lacking it.

This was exactly like a Hallmark movie! A cute enough story on audio with just a little bit of extra sugar coating.

Elena, works for a big cookie company called, "Sparkle Cookie" (think Crumbl) and Lawrence owns a small cookie bakery in a cute town called, New Hope. Sparkle is looking to expand its stores and Elena's boss sends her to the town meeting. Of course a rivalry begins between the two of them but then they join forces for the annual cookie competition. To me it was a bit of, "insta-love" that I don't care much for.

There's a lot of Christmas in this story (and cookies 🍪) to really make you feel Merry&Bright 🌟 but in turn there's a lot of "filler" moments. I think if it was a shorter story I would have enjoyed it more. It was a bit of a chore to finish. Might even be a 2.5 * for me.

I would recommend it to die-hard fans of Hallmark Christmas movies.

Available October 8, 2024 and onwards

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for granting me access to this Advanced Listener's Copy.

"The Christmas Crush" was the perfect holiday read! Full of unlikely romance, the best christmas cookies and a sweet holiday story. I loved this one and it is sure to be a perfect holiday read!

I sadly could not connect to this book. I felt like the main lead characters background was rushed and never felt like I understood her from the beginning in order to care about her story.

I had the privilege of listening to an advance listener's copy of this audiobook courtesy of NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. The Christmas Crush is a syrupy-sweet love story that reads like a classic Hallmark Christmas movie.

The novel follows Elena, an executive from the big city chain conglomorate Sparkle Cookie, and Lawrence, a beloved small town baker, as they navigate how to coexist in small town New Hope. Naturally, their rivalry quickly lessens as they join forces and enter a cookie competition together, and while they cook up delicious treats their love blossoms too. Through a few miscommunications and inevitable conflicts, this story has the HEA that readers who love this genre count on.

The book is a single author narration read by Kim Churchill who did a great job at narrating both the FMC and the MMC. The pacing of the narrator and the distinction between the characters were also very well done. I enjoyed listening to this novel and though some parts were slower, the audiobook pulled me back in as a reader. I recommend listening to the book for this reason. Though the story was predictable and the FMC grated on this reader's nerves from time to time, the MMC and his nana were redeemable qualities that overall made this was an enjoyable and festive listen.

For those interested, this is a fade to black romance (read: no spice).

Tropes include rivals to lovers, big city vs small town dynamics, and Hallmark Christmas movie vibes

Thank you so much for NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and author Noelle Doublas for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication Date: October 8, 2024

Just turn this into a Hallmark Christmas movie already! Super cute! It was a funny, rivals to lovers story set in an adorable small town. the characters are rival bakers... how cute!

This book is meant for a Netflix holiday rom com movie. I adored the classic competitors to lovers story line. I also appreciated the main character baker being a male character. The characters were fun and super developed, which made the book interesting to read. Elena also had fun descriptions of cookies and flavors more generally. Would definitely suggest to a friend for holiday season.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audio version of The Christmas Crush by Noelle Douglas. I just love a Christmas story during the season! It is like Hallmark comes to life. This was an enemies to lovers trope. The main characters are in a small town (of course it's Hallmark) with competing cookie companies. The banter and dialog between Elena and Lawrence was perfect and through in a dog (oh my heart).
This a great holiday rom com. Enjoy the narrators as well. I now to purchase the book to read again in a few weeks.

This was such a cute holiday read and exactly what I needed to lift my spirits this month. I really enjoyed the dynamic between the characters and warm and fuzzy feeling that I got from the ending. I connected with the MMC in a way that I haven't previously connected with a male character, in that I use baking to help with my depression. It was incredibly heartwarming to feel "seen" in that way and to have my brand of self-help acknowledged so openly in a book. Perhaps that was the reason that the romance fell to the wayside for me, but I was much more invested in the plotline than in the burgeoning relationship between Elena and Lawrence. I also didn't swoon for Lawrence the way that I typically like to swoon for the male love interest in a romance novel. I really enjoyed the personalities of each of the characters on their own and I was so happy for them to get together, but I just didn't get those butterflies or feel like kicking my heels in the air at the prospect of their romantic feelings. If Lawrence had made me catch my breath, maybe with a declaration as follow-up to his grand gesture (which I adored by the way,) or a toe-curling line to Elena once he acknowledged his feelings, I think this would have been a five-star read for sure.

The Christmas Crush is a sweet romance fitting for the holiday season. This story offers a new take on the familiar tropes of Christmas stories by allowing the female MC to have a strong voice and growth of her own outside of the love story.

If you enjoy the sweet Christmas romances, but would like a little more edge in language use and attraction, this story is for you. It is a closed door romance, but the attraction and desire between the MCs is clear.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story, which was done well by one narrator. I listened at 1.75x speed (my normal audiobook listening speed is 1.75-2x).

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio copy.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you turned a Hallmark Christmas movie into a book? Wonder no more because you can read this book.
This book is a standard Hallmark movie, cliche storyline and cheesy romance included.
That's not to say it wasn't a good story; it's just an overdone storyline.
My favorite thing about this book was Lawrence being the baker. You don't often read stories about men baking, so that was a nice touch. And Sugar! Can't forget her cuteness.
Elena reminded me of a crème brûlée - fragile and seemingly fancy with a crackly outside and a smooth inside. She wasn't overly likeable, and every time we were in her POV, she was complaining about something. She also literally asked the man she was sleeping with who's livelihood her success could drive out of business to help her succeed, knowing he would because of his feelings for her, his business be damned. She was selfish for that and showed she'd always put herself first. It made me not like her as much, even though I didn't even really like her to begin with. And then asking to be a partner in his business after knowing him a month? It was a little weird. But in Hallmark instalove world, it works, I guess.
If you're looking for a Hallmark style Christmas story, this book is for you.
3.5/5 stars rounded down.

The Christmas Crush is the perfect holiday audiobook! Turn it on while wrapping presents, trimming the tree, or just whenever you need a little extra Christmas magic. The story was so sweet!

This audiobook was a perfect blend of romcom and holiday romance. I enjoyed the narrations and the way it sucked me into the story. I though the characters were brought to life with the emotions the narration provided and really enjoyed the plots and HEA.