Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of Joy to the Girls.

This novella is a continuation of She Gets the Girl with a side of Make My Wish Come True. Do you need to have read both of these novels before reading Joy to the Girls? Yes, it would be helpful to give this novella context and help you understand what’s going on when Molly, Alex, Cora, and May are in Barnwich for the holidays. But I will say that Lippincott and Derrick do provide added details within this story to help readers who haven’t read the previous novels or read She Gets the Girl a while ago.

Joy to the Girls turns into Angst All the Way as Molly and Alex keep secrets from one another throughout the majority of this story.

Here’s the deal: this is 108 pages long and really didn’t need any major conflict involved in the telling of a cute holiday inspired story. Stick with the joy here – getting May and Cora together. Watching Molly and Alex help their friends should have been the main focus bringing Joy to the Girls. Unfortunately, this match-making plotline was overshadowed by the miscommunication conflict between Molly and Alex.

The conflict in this novella felt contrived. We’re supposed to buy into the fact that Molly and Alex have been together for 3 years, yet they don’t talk about the future even though they’re going to graduate from college soon. Okay, then, sure.

Maybe Alex was waiting a little bit longer to discuss the future and her desire to live with Molly. I can buy into that one to some extent. But Molly not discussing wanting to go to graduate school let alone applying to graduate school without telling Alex at all. And not only applying to graduate school but applying to a program overseas. What?!?! Yeah, that one blew my mind.

Also, there’s one point in Alex’s narration where she thinks about Molly not having any direct plans after college. How in the world does Alex think that Molly isn’t doing anything after college? Does that fit Molly’s character at all? No. It does not.

The miscommunication trope here just feels like two MCs that don’t talk to each other about the big things, and it makes me wonder about Molly and Alex’s relationship. It was weird.

Plus, every time there was a cute moment between Cora and May or Alex and Molly, one or both of the MCs was worried about revealing their secret. And when the secrets finally were revealed, they were angry for a hot minute and everything was fine by the next afternoon. Yeah, that conflict really needed to go.

Joy to the Girls could have been so cute and lovely and cozy, but that miscommunication trope lead to an angst-filled read. And this wasn’t as joyful as it could have been.

Absolutely adorable, sweet and a perfect Christmas companion novella to She gets the girl and spinoff from Make my wish come true. This story features Molly and Alex three years after their original love story but sees them on the verge of graduating and each with a secret they haven't shared with the other. It also has a road trip to a cute Christmas tree farm/town where May is from and has Alex and Molly trying to get May to admit her feelings for their mutual friend, Cora. Full of Gilmore girls charm, tons of festive activities, Sapphic love and heartwarming female friendship. I devoured it and was sad to see it end! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was really looking forward to this novella sequel after absolutely adoring She Gets the Girl. While I appreciated the chance to revisit Alex and Molly, Joy to the Girls unfortunately didn’t quite capture the same magic. The plot leaned too heavily on miscommunication, which felt out of character for a couple who had been together for years and were about to graduate college. Their dynamic felt more immature and YA than I expected, which was disappointing.

That said, there were still some bright spots, like hearing that Alex’s mom continued her sobriety journey, the warm family memories over the years, and the lovely queer friend group that surrounds them. I also enjoyed the cozy holiday vibes and the premise of spending the weekend at a Christmasy small town together. But overall, I wish more of the novella had focused on the strength of their relationship rather than the conflict created by hiding things from one another. The ending left me wanting a bit more closure too.

Christmas in June! If you love a perfect small town Christmas set in a hallmark movie, you'll love Barnwich, the small town this novella is set in. We have a Christmas tree farm, snowball fight, gingerbread house competition, and Christmas decorations everywhere! The setting was perfect!

I LOVED She Gets the Girl, so when I saw this book on NetGalley, it was an immediate request for me, and I started reading as soon as I was approved.

However, I wish i could say that I loved this book too, but it has the miscommunication and secret keeping trope from the very first page. The characters spend just about every page worrying about how the other will react, and it took away from the overall experience for me. I wish we'd been able to dive into the wonderful Christmas magic of this book for a bit before the tension started.

Aside from that the Christmas magic was wonderful, and the romance was so cute, I enjoyed May and Coras journey and the way Molly and Alex tried their absolute best to get those two together in sometimes the funniest ways.

Absolutely LOVED this book.
I missed Alex and Molly so much and this book was a perfect ending to their story.

And Cora and May's story was very cute as well. Alec and Molly working together to get their friend together with her crush was very heartwarming.

And reading this made me want to know more about the Swanson sisters they all seem sm fun.

Overall this was a great addition to wrap up the series.

I was given an eARC of this cute Christmas themed novella. I did not read the original book, but the story was cute and a quick read. Perfect read during the trip home to your family to remind you of happy queer love.

First of all, thank you to the publisher and author for letting me get to enjoy this sweet story. I was excited to see a follow up of the original story, which I'd also enjoyed!

First of all, I liked that progress from the first book remained. Molly's social progress was still there, and Alex's mom was still doing well. I'm glad those things weren't regressed on for the sake of the story.

I enjoyed the cute character dynamics between the friends and romantic pairings!

What I liked most was that the story ended in a happy way, but without Alex completely forgoing her own plans. I think it can be unrealistic for someone to just dip out of their future plans just for love- especially with a younger generation, and so it was nice to see that reflected in the conclusion of this story!

She Gets the Girl is one of my favorite and most reread books, so I was super excited to catch up with Molly and Alex. And this didn’t disappoint. While I was a little surprised it took place three years later—YA usually implies a teen protagonist—it made sense given the story. I appreciated the festive winter vibes without being too Christmassy (not my favorite holiday), set in the same town as Make My Wish Come True. And the matchmaking subplot between Cora and May was adorable. While there was a lot of love between Molly and Alex, there also was a fair amount of miscommunication, which usually isn’t my thing. However, I understood why both of them were nervous, and at least it was rooted in them caring so much about each other. It also, thankfully, got resolved somewhat smoothly after they’d both had a moment to process each other's secrets. Although it was a novella, it felt like a fully fleshed out story.

This is a perfect book to enjoy with some hot cocoa and gingerbread cookies.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Thank you to the publisher and thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this e-ARC. Full review will be available soon

Cute little novella that makes me want to reread She Gets The Girl! It did feel a little fast which makes sense for a novella, there was a lot of lead up to the climax but the resolution was like 5 pages. It just made me feel like the “big problem” really wasn’t big at all. Overall, super cute and I loved seeing more of the MCs.

This book felt like a fun amalgamation of the Lippincott/ Derrick universe, and I loved it. For 108 pages, there was a clear and fun story that didn't feel rushed at all. In fact I'm impressed they were able to accomplish so much with only 108 pages! I really enjoyed this and I think fans of both "She Gets the Girl" and "Make My Wish Come True" will absolutely eat it up!

3.5

thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review

this was cute, like all of rachael’s wlw books!

it wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it was just supposed to be a cute, short holiday story about finding love and being in love and it hit the mark completely.

i loved getting to see molly and alex again, they have the best chemistry

the miscommunication in this book was annoying but it only lasted for about ten pages so i can’t really complain!

read this if you want a cute holiday pick me up

This was a really nice lighthearted read. The friendships were written well and the characters had good depth. While not much happened with the plot the characters really fell into place, the main characters coming to terms with what they want for their future and dealing with balancing that along with their relationship.

Plot: 7/10
Pace: 7/10
Ending: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Enjoyability: 9/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Would I Recommend? Yes
Favorite Character(s): Alex and Molly

Favorite Quote: ❝ Because this group of people . . . we’ve become family in our own right. And even after we graduate in a few months, we always will be. ❞

If this had been a full length novel sequel, I think I would've liked it. At this length, by the time I start to remember all the characters and what happened in the first book it's halfway over already and barely any big plot points have happened. I'm not really sure that this novella adds much to the first book

Over winter break Molly and Alex take a trip with their friends to the holiday obsessed town of Barnwich. Their main goal: play matchmaker for their friend Cora and her crush May. However, in between their hallmark movie activities they struggle to hide the post-grad secrets they’re keeping from each other, scared of how their future will look.

This was the most delicious, toasty, chocolate gooeyness novella. I loved seeing all the sickeningly cute Molly and Alex moments. The way they acted like an old married couple when witnessing Cora and May’s awkward crush. I feel like a proud mom seeing how much they’ve grown and developed over the years. Molly’s confidence and Alex’s open trust :’) they’re all grown up. And even though they encounter a conflict, the way they talk it through and strengthen their bond is so heart melting.

We even got the babiest Arden and Caroline cameo, my lovies <3