Naughty or Nice? Santa’s List Reviews and DNFs of Christmas Books Read in 2023

This year I read so many Christmas/holiday titles, or started and DNFed them, that I thought a special post dedicated to those would be fun! I’ll say the Nice ones are the ones I finished and enjoyed, and the Naughty ones are my DNFs. Even if some of the ones I finished and loved had their own naughty scenes, lol. So, it looks like this year there were more holiday reads on the Nice list for me!

A few of these were read and reviewed in November for the Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon, or other times of the year, if they came out at different times. So first I’ll list those and link them to their reviews with their covers.

OMG! Christmas Tree by Stephanie J. Scott

OMG Christmas Tree by Stephanie J. Scott
Series: Holidays in Crystal Cove #1
on October 12, 2021
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 120
Source: Purchased
Format: eBook
My Rating:
Goodreads
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Originally published in the Tis the Season for Love anthology October 2020
Three nights before Christmas, and all Megan Campbell needs to do is to pick up a Christmas tree.
Never mind she’s a city girl who has never bought a real live tree. The biggest and best tree in the lot should make her mom and her new stepdad happy–and forget how she’s neglected to visit them in their tiny town of Crystal Cove.
Three nights before Christmas, and all Nick Bennington needs to do is to pick up a Christmas tree. The one saved for him that he should have picked up weeks ago for the charity event at the historic mayor’s mansion on Christmas Eve.
That task his mother, Mayor Bennington herself, entrusted him with. Now the biggest and best tree in the lot is gone.
After a slip off the icy roads sends Megan, her car, and her prized tree into the ditch a rescuer in the form of Nick Bennington quickly arrives. A rescuer with ulterior motives, Meghan discovers, as he angles to take the pesky tree off her hands.
Falling for the country boy is not part of her holiday plans. But for Nick, stumbling upon this city girl might be just the wake-up call he needs.

My Review:

This was a quick and easy read. The story was good, although a lot of back and forth between the two characters that got a bit annoying at times. The grammar and spelling in a few places needed to be caught, but overall, not a bad read.

The Mistletoe Bet (Strawberry Hollow #1) by Maren Moore

The Mistletoe Bet by Maren Moore
Series: Strawberry Hollow #1
on November 4, 2021
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 230
Source: a gift
Format: Paperback
My Rating:
Goodreads
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Everyone says “there’s no place like home”… well not for me.
When I’m forced to spend the holidays at home with my family in Strawberry Hollow, I have no idea how I’m even going to survive the week, let alone make it through my least favorite holiday… Christmas.
That is until I run into my childhood crush, and my brother’s best friend, Parker Grant.Now, he’s the sexy, off-limits doctor in our small town, and nothing like the man I left behind six years ago.
While I hate the holidays, there is nothing that he loves more.Well, other than a good bet.Which is exactly what happens when we end up together under the mistletoe.A bet that changes everything.
He asks for the next seven days to change my mind about Christmas.But seven days alone with Parker is more than either of us bargained for.Now, there’s much more at stake than a silly mistletoe bet.
The Mistletoe Bet is a complete standalone Christmas novella with lots of banter, even more laughter and a heartwarming HEA.

My Review:

This was another quick read. I got the fun paperback from my TBTB Santa this year. It started off really strong, with an aspect that I feel kind of got lost in the shuffle by the end. Not a bad thing, but something that I would have enjoyed seeing explored a little more. I did get a little confused while reading because it was similar to another holiday e-book I was fitting in bursts at work, lol. Plus one that I finished and one that I DNFed. Very similar topic for a lot of these holiday romances. Coming back to an enemy or a guy that now wants them back. I will probably want to read more by this author!

Solo for the Season by Martha Keyes

Solo for the Season by Martha Keyes
Narrator: CJ Locks
Published by Paradigm Press on November 29, 2023
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Length: 05:22
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating:
Goodreads
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MAGGIE After being dumped last Christmas, I’m taking extreme measures to ensure nothing and no one ruins my happy holidays this time around. I’ll be safely wrapped in a cocoon of kitschy Christmas decor, complete with surrounding winter wonderland at the ultimate holiday mountain cabin.
So what if the countless elf figurines make me a little uneasy or if there are a couple hiccups with cabin maintenance? There’s a bigger problem... the assistant manager happens to be one of (many) teasing classmates from my childhood and my former crush. He keeps showing up to my cabin to fix things. I’m more worried about what he might break….
WESHere at Crystal Peaks Resort, I’ve got everything I tall trees, fresh air, and no cell phone service. This is my happy place, and if I prove to my boss I can handle the job, the management position here will be mine. Everything is falling into place.
Until the newest guest arrives. The quirky cabin she’s in is the bane of my existence, causing issue after issue. But the more I’m there, the more I realize the real obstacle between me and my future proving to my boss I can keep a professional relationship with the guests. Or one guest in particular.

My Review:

Listened to this audiobook as another shorter holiday read/listen. I actually kind of liked the idea of a holiday on my own. Not that I have issues with my family, I love the family time of holidays! However I do so many things on my own, including trips/vacations, I thought this sounded like something fun to do some day. Maybe later on in life when my family is (knock on wood it’s not soon) gone or off doing other things as my niece and nephew grow up. It would have been nice to maybe have a separate male narrator, but it worked out okay with the one narrator that I could enjoy it. Maggie had a lot of negative thoughts that at a certain point I was relieved when she finally stopped herself from thinking them. It was a bit annoying, even as I know that I do the same thing. Some bits were predictable, but overall it was a fun and sweet holiday romance, and quick to read as well!

Gingerbread Kisses (Sand Dollar Christmas #1) by Kat Baxter

Gingerbread Kisses by Kat Baxter
Series: Sand Dollar Christmas #1
on October 4, 2020
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 74
Source: Purchased
Format: eBook
My Rating:
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon

The hot guy…
The first time I see Ginger Starr after four years of being abroad, she is wearing a hideous Christmas dress. But the obnoxious monstrosity does nothing to hide her generous curves. One thing becomes perfectly clear: I’ve never wanted a woman more.
…and the curvy bookworm
Brock Daniels might be ridiculously hot, but he’s also my high school nemesis. I’m prepared to hate him and find him annoying with his washboard abs and toothpaste commercial smile. What I’m not prepared for is how he’s looking at me…like he wants me.
…just might find their forevers underneath the mistletoe
Our parents are jointly hosting a 12 Days of Christmas party and we’re stuck together. Pretending to be civil isn’t that hard and one spontaneous kiss might change everything.

My Review:

As I was trying to reach my Goodreads goal, I decided to add in some shorter e-books, and what better way than holiday freebies I’d downloaded from Amazon or author’s newsletters in the past. This was one that I read at work when I had some slow moments during testing in the library the last two weeks of school. It started out really fun and cute! And it got very steamy. There was the definite misunderstanding that usually, and I guess still a little, annoys me, but since this was a quick novella, I gave it a little pass this time. In the end I really enjoyed it!

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Published by Delacorte Press on October 3, 2023
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
My Rating:
Goodreads
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A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 
But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?
Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?
Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

My Review:

So I’d skipped so many months of Book of the Month Club because there hadn’t been anything I wanted. Then this one showed up and I actually ended up picking three books! But this one was perfect to read for this time of year even if it wasn’t necessarily a holiday theme for the story, it was still taking place during some holidays including Christmas. I really enjoyed this one a lot. In fact I only marked it down to a 4.5 stars because I was so angry that she didn’t tell him so many things! While I get that she didn’t want to give his father’s secret away, she only got herself in more and more trouble by letting it go on and on without the truth. But the way that Gio handled finding out when he did, well that was realistic and I like the way the author handled that in the end. Also, now I want to try vanilla gelato really bad!!!

One Snowy Night (Heartbreaker Bay #2.5) by Jill Shalvis

One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #2.5
Narrator: Karen White
Published by HarperAudio on November 8, 2016
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Length: 02:29
Source: the library
Format: Audiobook
My Rating:
Goodreads
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New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Heartbreaker Bay with a fun and festive holiday novella!
It’s Christmas Eve and Rory Andrews is desperate to get home to the family she hasn’t seen in years. Problem is, her only ride to Lake Tahoe comes in the form of the annoyingly handsome Max Stranton, and his big, goofy, lovable dog Carl.
Hours stuck in a truck with the dead sexy Max sounds like a fate worse than death (not), but Rory’s out of options. She’s had a crush on Max since high school and she knows he’s attracted to her, too. But they have history… and Max is the only one who knows why it went south.
They’ve done a good job of ignoring their chemistry so far, but a long road trip in a massive blizzard might be just what they need to face their past… and one steamy, snowy night is all it takes to bring Max and Rory together at last.

My Review:

I decided to add in one more last minute quick holiday audiobook that I found to download from the public library and I wasn’t disappointed with this one! It was very short and sweet. I loved the dog, he was a perfect extra character for the snowy ride home. The two both had things in their past that made the animosity between them make perfect sense. However, I feel like what happened to Rory with some things spread by the girl in high school would have been something that Max would have known about and maybe he’d have understood more why she did what she did? But maybe not. I also feel like what happened to her when she first got to San Francisco was a little bit there but maybe didn’t have some of the details or more that we needed for the story. But again, overall this was a good one!

My Not-So-Secret Santa (Hot Under the Mistletoe #3) by Sara Whitney

I received this book for free from Home Cooked Books Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

My Not-So-Secret Santa by Sara Whitney
Series: Hot Under the Mistletoe #3
Published by LoveSpark Press on December 18, 2023
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 261
Source: Home Cooked Books Tours
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
Goodreads
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I’ve got a secret.
The new girl at work? The one I’ve got a crush on?
She’s got a crush too—on the stripper who’s dressing like Santa every weekend in December.
And that’s my secret. I’m him. The Saturday night Santa stripper.
Liv has no idea it’s her new work buddy under the fake white beard and tiny red hot pants, and every time she blushes when she talks about him, I burn with jealousy over myself.
But Liv’s also starting to get close to me—the real me—and seems interested in Christmas Eve activities that’ll put us both on the so-naughty-it's-nice list. I just hope she’ll still want to sit on Santa's lap after I tell her the truth.
My Not-So-Secret Santa is a standalone holiday novella that'll heat you up like a mug of hot cocoa and make you melt like the swirl of whipped cream on top. Unwrap a laugh-out-loud romance this Christmas!

My Review:

I thought I was done signing up or reading holiday stories this year and then one of the blog tour groups asked for some more reviews for this book. Since I had a few days left before Christmas and was off work for the rest of the year, AND I’d been wanting to read this author, I decided to give it a try. And I was so glad that I did! It was a unique twist to have the male MC be the one with so much of the insecurity instead of the woman. And just like it does with the other way around, it got frustrating! Also, he needed to tell her the secret so much sooner! But of course since that was the whole drama part, the main one anyway, I had to give it a little bit of a pass. I do know that I’ll be for sure trying to read more by this author in the future. Especially will have to go back next holiday season and read about the other couples in this series since this is the third book.

Christmas at Terminal 104 by Irene Micheals

Christmas at Terminal 104 by Irene Micheals
on October 26, 2021
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 103
Source: Purchased
Format: eBook
My Rating:
Goodreads
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Stuck in an airport for Christmas with only an Irish hunk for company? What could go wrong?
A clean and wholesome Chistmas romcom
Being stuck at the airport can change more than travel plans. Kira just wants to get home for the holidays after months abroad. But the weather has other plans. All planes are grounded, and the hotels are full. Kira has to hang out in an airport terminal with a group of strangers, and it's almost Christmas Eve. She's furiously searching for some alternative way to cross an ocean and feeling a bit sorry for herself when a gorgeous Irishman named Ryan sits beside her. Maybe being stuck isn't so bad. When a teenager in the terminal suggests a game to pass the time, Kira figures, why not? Then the kid chooses Truth or Dare. Well, at least it isn’t Seven Minutes in Heaven. Until Ryan gets dared to kiss Kira. Now the race is on to get home in time for Christmas Eve with her heart intact.

My Review:

And again, I decided I wasn’t quite done with the holiday reads and could fit in one more short/novella length before Christmas. So this was the one I chose. It was a very quick read, very simple and sweet story. It was mostly predictable, but that’s okay when you’re just in the mood for a light holiday read. It wasn’t anything original or spectacular for me, but enjoyable enough.

Here are a few DNF holiday books from earlier this year. If I did a DNF report on them, I’ll have that linked to the cover.

Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses #2) by Addison Moore

Winter Kisses by Addison Moore
Series: 3:AM Kisses #1.5
Published by Hollis Thatcher Press Ltd. on July 22, 2016
Genres: NA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 137
Source: Purchased
Format: eBook
My Rating: DNF
Goodreads

Laney Sawyer used to believe in love and all of the trappings that happily ever after could provide until Ryder Capwell crushed her heart. When Laney is auctioned off as a prize at the drama department fundraiser the last person she expects to trade cold hard cash for her company is Ryder.
Ryder Capwell is in love with Laney Sawyer. One year ago she walked out of his life and took the light of his world right along with her. Ryder would do anything to have another chance with Laney, including purchasing her for the evening courtesy of Whitney Briggs University, and he does just that.
One thing leads to whiskey, which leads to a one-night stand. She thinks it's revenge sex-he thinks its make-up sex. Things can only go wrong from here.
*This novella can be read as a standalone.*

My Thoughts:

This has a couple different titles/covers. The cover I originally got it under didn’t make it look Christmas-y at all. This cover does. And it is also retitled as The Ex Who Stole Christmas Kisses. It’s also listed as both #1.5 in the series and #2 in the series. I gave it a chance as it was a short one to try to fit in to hit my Goodreads goal for the year. And while it started out kind of okay, it was so repetitive in what the characters were thinking to themselves. The same things over and over. And then there would be moments where it sounded like he might be actually touching her, but in the next paragraph/sentence he was just then pulling her up against him, so he hadn’t been, and I had to keep going back and rereading to figure things out, so I gave up at 36%. I had started the first book in this series a while back, and DNFed it too. So I might be done with this author, especially since all the books I have are freebies from Amazon I believe. I should figure out how to get them out of my Kindle library so I’m not tempted to try them again.

Christmas Quickie by Lark Avery

Published by EM Publishing on November 23, 2018
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Pages: 82

Source: Purchased
Format: eBook
My Rating: DNF

Another freebie. Couldn’t even find it on Amazon anymore, so it’s not available. Which is probably good since I didn’t enjoy it, although it had almost a 4 star rating. My issues started with the main character’sreasons for being a virgin are very contradictory as she lists them off. Then reasons for signing up for a one night with her crush don’t go along with any of that really either. Maybe now that I read so much good romance, I just can’t really get into not so good romance easily with how many books I have on my TBR. Can’t waste time, and I only started this one just because I thought it would be a short quick read to work on my Goodreads goal.

Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran

Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran
Narrator: Helen Keeley
Published by Boldwood Books on September 17, 2019
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Length: 10:27
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: DNF
Goodreads
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When Jenny inherits her estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero self-respect. Things can only get better...
Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.
Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.
Warm, wise, funny and utterly uplifting, what one thing would you change in your life before Christmas comes around?

My thoughts:

I was actually enjoying this one for the most part. But I couldn’t find anything in it that had anything to really do with Christmas. I got to 17%, and decided to move on to another actual holiday audiobook. I looked at the other book by this author that I read, and I only gave that one 3 stars, so I may be okay with giving up. I may come back to this one at a later date though!

Final Thoughts

Well, it looks like the nice list was longer than the naughty list this year for me on holiday reads! How about you? Have you read any of these? Do you have any you think I should make sure to read next year for the holidays! And since today is actually Christmas, I hope you’re having a nice holiday yourself!