You Make It Feel Like Christmas

 

You Make It Feel Like Christmas- Sophie Sullivan

St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: September 23, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: Maisie Smart doesn’t look back. Not on the choice she made to be a photographer, and not on the one-night stand she had six months ago. But sleeping with a professional hockey player who bolted the morning after is a whole new level of embarrassing. Now she’s about to spend the week at Tickle Tree Farms with her family this Christmas—and then the universe throws a Grinch in her festive plans.

Nick King is a mess. After a significant injury benches him, he has more time to dwell on his anxieties and the one-night stand he can’t get out of his head. With the holidays around the corner, he figures visiting his sister and nephew at their Christmas tree farm will be a good way to sort himself out. That’s impossible when he learns Maisie is there, still beautiful and justifiably angry about the way he left. But Christmas is the time for second chances, and the forced proximity may help Nick and Maisie unwrap feelings neither of them can walk away from twice.

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Six months after her only one-night stand, photographer Maisie has sworn off men and ready to get in the holiday spirit with her family at a tree-farm family get-away. So imagine her surprise when her one-night stand turns out to be the tree-farm owner's brother, in town for the holidays! Nick King is a NHL player dealing with issues, injuries, and hoping a week visiting his sister will make his future clearer. He regrets walking out on Maisie after their night together, so getting to see her again and maybe have another chance is just what he wants. It might not make the future clearer, but when feelings get involved, it gets important to make it right.

I wasn't sure I could handle a Christmas book so early in the year, but Sullivan got me in the mood right away with her delightful descriptions of Merry, Washington- a little town that takes Christmas very seriously. Seeing it through Maisie's photographer's view in particular drew me right in. There were fun sibling dynamics, both serious and flirty momens between Maisie and Nick, and a good core of friends having each other's backs. 

The last part of the book went back to Seattle and left the Christmassy vibe behind, changing things up until it almost read like a different book. I got it from the plot "how does this relationship work in real-life" idea, but it was dissapointing after the fast-paced, delightful first half. I also wish Nick and Maisie had talked more about what was going on between them towards the end instead of each feeling like they had to get themselves straight before coming together, when they've spent the book telling each other that they see (and care for) each other with what the other sees as "flaws".

I enjoyed how realistically complicated both Maisie and Nick, but particularly Nick, were. They both have things going on in their lives, neither is "perfect", but they love what they do and understand that prioritizing life around what makes them happy is the most important thing. Maisie comes from a family of overachieving academics, doctors, and lawyers but sher herself has struggled in school and probably has a learning disability. She developed coping mechanisms for what sounds like dyslexia and focused on what she found joy in: photography. Her parents treat it like a hobby, even though she has a thriving business, and some of the talks her mom dumps on her about "reaching her potential" (as her mom sees it) are deeply cringe-worthy. The rest of her family and friends support her, but that lack of parentla support is a big deal.

Nick has been sidelined with a knee injury and been convinced to see a therapist for anxiety. I thought the author did a really great job representing panic attacks/anxiety and talking about mental health issues in the book. As someone who deals with this myself I thought it was great seeing one of the side stories being mental health in professional sports, men's health, and general awareness.

A fun holiday, hockey rom-com that reminds us we're all special to someone, no matter how we see ourselves.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Holiday by Gaslight

A Holiday by Gaslight- Mimi Matthews
Perfectly Proper Press
Release Date: November 13, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion--or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she's ready to put an end to things.

But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn't as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there's Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What's a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there'll be no false formality. This time they'll get to know each other for who they really are.

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Sophie Appersett is trying to be a modern woman.  The world is changing rapidly all around her and she is trying to take Mr. Darwin's theories to heart and change with them.  While her family has no money, she is a baronet's daughter and has been raised to expect a marriage of convenience instead of love. When the wealthy Edward Sharpe shows an interest in her, it doesn't bother Sophie that he isn't an aristocrat.  But after two months of courting, it does bother her that she still knows nothing about Ned.  He never says more than a few words and always seems to wish he was somewhere else.  While Sophie might not expect love, a vague liking would be nice! She's ready to call it off if they can't get to know each other during her family's Christmas house party.  What Sophie doesn't take into account is the gaslight . . .

 Sophie is a wonderful heroine: smart, independent, kind, and warm.  While on the surface she and Ned Sharpe seem to be complete opposites, once Ned realizes he needs to break down and be a little more himself around Sophie, it becomes obvious they are a perfect match.  She has shouldered the burdens of her family: her spoiled sister and her father's mania for modernization of the family home even when it means spending Sophie's dowry to make it happen.  The idea of having a partner in life, a man who will treat her as an equal, is more beguiling than any romance to her.  Ned doesn't believe in romance or love, but Sophie teaches him that both are exactly what he needs.  They just need a little plain speaking between them, and a little relationship advice from Charles Darwin.  

Blending the rapidly evolving scientific discoveries of the 1860s with changing societal ideas and prejudices makes for a fresh approach to the Victorian Christmas novella. Romance and high family drama allow Sophie and Ned to evolve naturally in front of us, often surprising themselves as much as us.  A sweet, delightful holiday novella, Gaslight brings all the charm and magic of a Victorian Christmas to life on each page. Fans of Lisa Kleypas' Wallflowers series will love Mimi Matthews' A Holiday by Gaslight!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review