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After reading Dirty Letters, I wanted to continue trying to finish my first bingo board for the Summer of Swoon. I had 3 spaces left to clear and decided to try to find a road trip romance. After going through several lists nothing was really sounding good. When I scrolled past Jackie Lau (I order my kindle by authors) I remembered not only did I have the novella left for her Cider Bar Sisters series, but that it was a road trip back home! I immediately picked up His Pretend Christmas Date. It's listed as book 2.5, but can be read any time after book 2, His Grumpy Childhood Friend. I was also able to use this to cover the prompt snow on the cover for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo.
This novella focuses on Charlotte's younger sister Julie. She is a waitress at the Cider Bar Charlotte's friend group. Now that Charlotte has a boyfriend, her parents are coming down on her even more about finding a boy on top figuring out what her career should be. Julie is very "go with the flow" and I love that she is still happy with her life. She makes jewelry for fun but also knows that she won't make that her full time job because then she'll start to lose her enjoyment in creating. Her roommate sends her on another blind date, this time with Tom, a pharmacist. Her roommate has a "feeling" that he's perfect. Of course the first date is a complete wreck. Tom is a very type A personality and likes his schedules and not to get messing while Julie is pretty much chaos. After the date, Julie somehow ends up telling her parents that they are actually dating and is coerced to bring him home for Christmas. His parents are going out of town to visit his sick uncle, so with no plans he agrees to fake date her for the holidays.
First off, I love the fake dating trope. Even more so when pared with going home for a wedding or holiday. I just know it's going to be fun! I loved how much Julie and Tom connected and pushed each other. This was definitely a case of opposites attract. They balance each other so well and it was perfectly shown in the surprise gingerbread house competition. He focused on doing a proper recipe and scheduling their timing while Julie could focus on just being creative.
Once they finally opened up about their first impressions of each other and broke the sexual tension between them it was so steamy. I know that I rave about her books a lot, but I really just adore Jackie Lau's writing style. Her humor is always on point and the steam is well done. I've mentioned this before, but my 5-stars for novellas maybe don't hold the weight of what a 5-star is for a full length novel. I couldn't want anything else from this novella. It hit all the sweet points and while it was more of hfn (happy for now), I did enjoy the time jump in the epilogue and I'm sure we'll see Julie and Tom in the background in future books. This was also a great Christmas novella, so if you're looking for books to read come this winter or need a sweet holiday pick-me-up this summer, certainly add this one to your tbr!
Have you read Her Pretend Christmas Date?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Her Pretend Christmas Date, Jackie Lau, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 104 pages, published in 2020
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