J. Sterling

The sunshine heroine is attracted to the hero, the new guy in town. The grumpy hero is also attracted to the heroine but feels like he's not good enough to be with her due to what happened in his past. The town is all rooting for the hero and the heroine's happy ending in this J. Sterling novella.

This novella is part of the FUN FOR THE HOLIDAYS series featuring a grumpy hero and a sunshine heroine in a small-town setting with dual perspectives to the story. It's an enjoyable short story with a nice story vibe. The main couple really deserved their second chance in love, especially dealing with a cheating ex and a marriage that ended drastically. It would have been nice to have more details in the story, but my personal preference wasn't detrimental in reading the novella. Overall, a solid addition to this J. Sterling series and I look forward to reading more books from the author in the future.

** Thanks to the author for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **… (mais)

Delightfully fun romance
5 stars

J. Sterling is a new-to-me author but this new series of fun and flirty holiday themed stories sounded too delicious to pass up. This first story is an office romance based around New Year’s Eve and is a complete standalone with its own HEA.

Lily and Declan work together at Rockline Studios in Los Angeles - Declan as a manager and Lily as an Executive Assistant in the same office.

The book is written in first person, past tense and from both Lily and Declan’s viewpoint. This means we get to know both characters really well and what they’re thinking and feeling.

Our tale is actually quite a simple one - colleagues with a crush attend a New Year’s Eve party where everything changes. But, boy, does it ever pack a deliciously fun punch. I was sheer giddy with excitement while reading and I could not get enough of Lily and Declan’s romance.

While I loved Lily and thought her a likeable and relatable heroine, it was Declan that stole my heart. He was perfection. The way he talked about Lily in his head - and his thoughts about her was just adorable. But he was also a bit of alright and a little naughty which, of course, made me love him even more. I even revelled in the pair’s worry over how the other felt - especially since it was clear to everyone but them, how much they wanted each other. Happy sighs.

This book is quite short at only 134 pages but I honestly thought it was shorter with how quickly I devoured it. We do get some sex towards the end of the book and holy hell, if you’ve ever fantasised about getting dirty in your office then this is the book for you. It was ‘fan yourself’ hot and just added another check mark in the plus column for this story.

We get an epilogue - hooray - and it was just the cherry on the top of this delicious and joyously fantastic book. I enjoyed every second of it and while I was more than satisfied with the HEA, I really wish I could have spent more time with Lily and Declan, even if they were just doing mundane things. If this is the standard of J. Sterling and the future Fun for the Holidays books, then I can’t wait to snap them up. Hands down, 5 stars.… (mais)