***Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ebook.


I had higher hopes for Tis the Season for Secrets, returning to the quaint village of Yule, BUT it left me feeling underwhelmed. When reading the first book, I didn’t have many expectations but was pleasantly surprised with the delivery.

The premise follows Juliet Frost, who receives a mysterious chest shortly after her 26th birthday. She soon discovers that she comes from a long line of Frosts who were banished for trying to expose the hidden world of Yule. Her guardian, Will, becomes romantically involved with her as the story unfolds.

While I appreciate the premise, several plot points feel underdeveloped or unresolved. For example:

Juliet’s Mother and Abandonment: The reason why Juliet’s mother abandoned her remains unclear. Why couldn't she just keep her? This feels like a missed opportunity to explore Juliet’s backstory and emotional depth.
Juliet’s Relationship with Her Father and Grandfather: The hostility from her father and grandfather is referenced but never fully explained. Her father remarries and becomes wealthy, yet Juliet’s existence is treated like a shameful secret. It’s never explored deeply, leaving the reader to wonder about the family dynamics.
The Chest and the Banishing Threat: Juliet’s father threatens to expose her for possessing the chest, which could get her banished from Yule. However, after returning the chest, this threat is never mentioned again, leaving a glaring plot hole.
Abrupt Ending: The ending feels rushed. Juliet decides to change her last name to “Heart” (her mother’s name), and the story concludes with a brief, unremarkable Guardian party. The resolution was too quick and didn’t offer a satisfying conclusion to the tensions built up throughout the story.

As for the tropes:

Winter Wonderland: I’m not sure how this applies here—there wasn't enough focus on a magical, wintery setting to make this a prominent trope.
Family Secrets: While this is mentioned, it’s poorly explained and doesn’t feel like it adds depth to the story.
Forced Proximity: This trope is hardly present. The relationship between Juliet and Will lacks the tension or circumstances typically found in forced proximity stories.
Holiday Romance: The "holiday" aspect feels disconnected from the plot and doesn’t play a significant role in the development of the romance.
Bodyguard X Editor: Will is technically Juliet’s guardian, not a bodyguard, and Juliet’s career as an editor is mentioned in the first few chapters and then forgotten. The plot doesn’t really explore their professional relationship in a meaningful way.
The romance itself is spicier than in the first book, but it still feels generic and doesn’t bring anything new to their relationship. Overall, Tis the Season for Secrets didn't live up to my expectations, and while it has potential, many of the plot elements and tropes feel underdeveloped or forced.

Rating: (2/5 stars)

Tropes & Themes
One Night Stand
Winter Wonderland
Family Secrets
Forced Proximity
Holiday Romance
These were the buzzwords that pulled me in.
However, reading a good chunk of it, long enough in length for me to mark it as read, I retained nothing but the cliche cringy try hard holiday names. the writing needs some serious enlightenment where the author tries to write to appeal to emotions and less analytically.

Overall I liked this book! It was cute and was a pretty quick read. I liked the chemistry between the main characters and the back story of the FMC. I did not read the first book in this series, so I did not have that point of reference for the setting and some of the other characters.

The one issue that I have with the book is that Juliet is supposed to live in New York but her dialogue includes a number of phrases that I would consider British. There is not really any explanation as to why she has that lingo, but it is distracting at times. I can see if from Will as a byproduct of growing up in Yule, but for Juliet it doesn't seem to fit her character and her back story.

This was the most perfect Christmas book! I loved it so so so much. I had been hearing about this book everywhere, and finally picked it up and loved every single second!

This was such a lovely continuation of the Village of Yule story. I loved that the Klauses were featured again. Will is super swoony and I really loved his character. Juliet's character was also great. Once I got fully invested in the story it was difficult for me to put it down. It was simply lovely. I did not need to reread the first book to get right back into this story. I did forget the magic dust that gets distributed instead of gifts and I always loved that part of this series. I am hoping we will get to return to this lovely town and Christmas series again!

This was my first visit to the town of Yule and I loved it. Thankfully not having read the first book wasn’t a problem. I loved the combination of holiday cheer, mystery, magic and romance. Looking forward to future trips to Yule

4⭐
0.5 🌶️
Tropes: Holiday romance, found family (ish), forbidden romance, one night stand, forced proximity, Christmas magic
Dual POV 1st person

Tis the Season for Secrets is the second book in the Village of Yule series. It’s technically a standalone, and the author includes info from the previous book at the beginning of this one to explain a little bit about how the town works. Personally though I think it would be helpful to read the first book before this one. I didn’t and while I was still able to follow the story, I think there was a lot of world building from the first book that would’ve been helpful to know for this one. It’s not a huge issue, though, and doesn’t take away from my enjoyment.
That said, I liked this a lot. It’s kinda like a cheesy Hallmark movie in book form, and this is the first time I’ve read a book like this. There’s a lot of heavy Christmas “lore” in the world building, so it was a unique and fun experience. There were several times that Juliet’s reaction to things were confusing and not logical (to the point that I found it frustrating) but this is essentially fantasy romance so I guess it’s par for the course.
However, I do wish Juliet had a bigger backbone, and while the story did get the point about shitty families, I think it took her too long to get there. I also wish there had been more from Will’s perspective. The majority of the story was from Juliet’s POV.

2.5/5 stars

eARC provided by NetGalley

I had a lot of high hopes for this book. The description made me think that this book was going to be more developed then the first one! It was also going to go more into the part of the first book that I liked which was the world building. Unfortunately this story did not really explain anything more about Yule. I was left with a lot of questions after finishing this book. I feel like the reasoning for a lot of things was just "that is how it is". Which I did not like at all. The romance was better developed and made more sense in this book then it did in the first one. It was very insta-obsessed/lust. Which is fine and their development was good. My biggest issues was the story felt pretty repetitive with "I can not do that again" and then she would do it again. The pacing was also very off in this story. The beginning was really fast having to do with her trying to get a promotion. Then all the sudden we left that behind and brough it up one more time at the end. When it was such a big thing at the beginning. Seeing the characters from the first book some how was my favorite part. They were much better developed in this book. Something that also very much annoyed me in this book was for most of it they kept saying to the MFC "I can not tell you. You have to figure it out on your own/from the chest." Why, like that made no sense to me cause if we would have actually told her what was going on and why they were doing things the way they were we could have avoid so much of the unnecessary slow parts in the story. A lot of things just felt out of place and the amount of times she would go out on her own without a coat in the goddamn north pole drove me crazy. This one I would recommend to someone who wants a quick Christmas read but does not care about world building or getting answer. If you are just here for the romance this one was better so if that's what you are looking for this is a quick Christmas read.

Juliet Frost discovers her family is full of secrets. Juliet is sent a mystery chest from her grandmother. She soon discovers secrets from her family’s past. She meets Will, who helps guide her along the way. I will be reading more books by this author including the first in this series.

Dual POV, Holiday Romance, Hallmark put spicy vibes, Bodyguard x Editor, Forbidden Love, Family Secrets, One Night Stand

I eat up holiday romances with the Hallmark but spicy vibes and this book did not disappoint. Will and Juliet have the all the will they won't they tension as Juliet always runs from him and Will can't help but follow after her. An all around cozy Christmas read with a touch of mystery and a heart warming romance.

Bodyguard x editor, but with family secrets and a snowman building competition? Sign me up! Juliet and Will are a cute couple, even with the insta-love. I really enjoyed learning more about Yule and revisiting Lyla and Mason. I spent the end of the book giggling and kicking my feet. (Bonus points for no third act breakup!!!)
So far I am really enjoying this series and can't wait to see what comes next!
Rated a 1 on the spice scale, its grown a bit since the first book)

This was a great holiday read. It was the perfect amount of plot in the pages that it had. I really enjoyed my time reading this with its twists and turns. I totally recommend!

Tis the Season for Secrets by Kate Callaghan was one of the first festive reads I have picked up this year. It is the second in the Village of Yule Series after The Naughty or Nice Clause. I haven't read the first but really don't feel like I was missing much for not having done so. It was also helpful that Kate included a Glossary at the start of the book to explain a few things that the reader would need to understand if they hadn't read the first book.

The story itself follows Juliet Frost, a lonely girl who is treated badly by her father and his family after being left on is doorstep by her mother as a baby. At the beginning of December she receives a chest from her late grandmother which tells her of secrets being kept by her family about their past and her mother.

Along the way she meets Will Duncan, who helps her to uncover those secrets, falling in love with our FMC as he goes.

The book was enjoyable, festive and a really good start to my December reads. There was a little spice but the focus is really on the romance. The characters were well written and their interactions were fun to read.

Definitely one I would recommend to get you in the festive winter mood!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kate Callaghan for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Juliet Frost answers the door to a delivery and finds that she has been given an old family chest, full of closely guarded family secrets. Before she can look too closely at the chest, she is told that she needs to get a manuscripts and have it on the desk of her boss by the first thing Sunday morning. If she fails, the promotion that her boss has been dangling in front of her for ages will disappear.
While Juliet is trying to figure out how she is going to manage this, she is convinced by her best friend to come to a party instead. Incredibly, the party is being hosted by the author, and Juliet manages to get the manuscript.
Sitting in the bar of the hotel, reading the ridiculous manuscript, Will Duncan grabs her attention and they spend the night together and Juliet has no intention of seeing Will again.
But up he pops. And he is able to help her with the questions about her past that the old family chest has awakened in her.
Apparently, she is the result of an unauthorised love affair and there is a secret, magical christmas village called Yule which is hidden in the north pole that she is connected to.


This is the second book in the Village of Yule books. but the first that I have read.
I very much enjoyed this and shall be going back to read the first book and will be keeping an eye out for the next on the run up to Christmas 2025.

My absolute FAVORITE kind of Christmas book!! A bit of magic and the North Pole? Yes please!! Loved every second and will be rereading this every year!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Tis The Season For Secrets is a festive novel about a woman who after she turns 26 discovers, through a family chest and old letters, that she is from a secret village in the North Pole and her father's side of the family have all been banished, never to return. She has been living on the Outside all her life, totally unaware of Yule, or that her mother is still in the village and unable to contact her. Handsome Will, the Guardian assigned to her has already crossed lines to deliver this much information but soon they are crossing more lines and breaking Yule laws left, right and centre.

I loved the premise of this festive novel and there were some nice moments but overall it felt like the pacing was too slow and the story overlong, though things did pick up in the final chapters. I would have liked to see Juliet's Outside family get their comeuppance for their terrible treatment of her but there was no resolution. Will was unerringly patient with Juliet and it felt like she constantly made terrible decisions and put him in dicey situations, though she did redeem herself at the end. I likes Will very much but struggled to warm to Juliette a lot of the time, it felt like she had quite a bit of growing up to do.

This is quite a sweet book with mostly fade to black scenes and a cheerful happy ending which wraps up on Christmas Day.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, this is my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy. In return for an honest review! #tistheseason #netgalley

We are back in Yule! When Juliet Frost’s grandmother dies and a mystery chest is delivered to her door. Juliet embarks on a journey of self discovery! Will she get more than she bargained for ? Or will be she banished under the Frost name?

Having read “The naughty or Nice Clause” and it being such an unputdownable book when I saw this on netgalley I jumped at the chance.

Although this is the second book in the series this could be read as a stand alone something the author has done very well.

This author is fantastic. Her writing just jumps off the page at you making you want to read on. You can feel every ounce of emotion pouring off the page and you find yourself waking at all hours to read it. The descriptions of Yule are second to none and you really feel like you’ve travelled by bell!

A cute Christmas story with romance,slight mystery and magic.
Enjoyed this easy read and characters.
Voluntarily reviewed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. I wanted to state I did DNF this book after reaching 43%.

This book has such a good holiday vibe and feel to it and the characters feel like real people with real issues. There is a fantasy aspect of Yule and the North Pole as well as traveling by bell. I liked the story line but I just really could not get into it like I wanted to. The largest thing for me was the insta love/extreme connection between Will and Juliet. I would’ve liked them to truly get to know each other a little more in the beginning of the story as I feel like it would’ve made the connection feel a little more natural for me.

The writing was phenomenal! I enjoyed the writing, depth of characters, romantic scenes, and the holiday vibes.

I would recommend this for someone looking for a holiday romance with aspects of fantasy!

I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to Netgalley and CallaghanWriter for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

My rating:
⭐⭐⭐ I mostly liked and connected with it.

Review:
The story was cute, and I love all the Christmasy vibes. I’m not a huge fan of the insta-love trope; that first night together at the hotel took me by complete surprise. I typically prefer some build up to romance. I appreciate being able to get this story from both perspectives. The pacing was steady throughout. I’ve really gotten into low fantasy romance lately, and this is a prime example of that low fantasy love story with a wonderful Christmas theme. I don't think I'm the intended audience for this particular novel, but I think that the intended audience will love every moment of the ride.