e-Audio, 10:52:05
Narrated by: Joy Nash & Zachary Webber
Release Date: September 24, 2024
Published by: Harper Audio
Read from: September 10-25, 2024
A Christmas Notch, #3
Source: Audible (I also received an e-ARC from the Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review)
Content Warning: Grief, Death of a Parent, Death, Homophobia, Medical Content, Cancer, Fatphobia, Drug use
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Body Diversity, In a Holidaze, 2sLGBTQ+, AdultWhat happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?
Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.
Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?
But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.
And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This is one of my favorite series ever. I’m sorry that this is the last one. There will ever only be one Christmas Notch, so I’m sad this is over. I still don’t think I liked any of them as much as the first.
This one wasn’t my favorite because the main plot was a little bland. They were basically just trying to be each others muse but fighting against it. But both of them knew what was working for them so I didn’t understand where this was going. It seemed a bit weird. What saved it for me was the mailman plot. I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if this was the actual plot. It was so much more fun than their arguing.
The humor and banter is still unmatched. I don’t understand how they have so many weird Christmas puns lmao (HOT NUTS?!) I also don’t understand how or why I laughed at every single one either lol And like Teddy? I missed him immediately. As soon as I finished it I went back to the very beginning and looked at all his interactions lol He is still a riot and still my favorite character.
I also loved that even after 3 books and 2 novellas, this was still an ode to Christmas. And this one was the best of the three of them because there was a Christmas miracle involved. Yes they were gunning to debunk it, but I really thought it brought out the magic of the story. (Followed by a close second with the first one) It was Definitely a book to put you in the mood for the holidays.
The main characters weren’t my favorites either. They were too much alike. And they both had the same excuses. Also I’m disappointed, it said second chances, I was expecting them ALL to have a second chance (if you know what I mean) so I was a bit disappointed when they didn’t get one. But their romance was still ok. I think I just wanted more romance, less them butting heads. I did like the mental health rep for depression and the way they showed all the different ways grief can be present for Isaac. His character was the one who felt the most real to me.
This book was so much fun. I can’t believe this is the last time we’ll be in Christmas Notch. I want to do an entire re-read closer to the holidays. Hopefully they bring this back with some other characters. Or maybe they’ll do like another holiday? Idk. Whatever it is, I hope they bring something back to fill the void in my heart!
Overall I give this
