Just a fling.
Moving on... ( )

Personal story time: It seems like every woman in my life is about to give birth right now. I mean, really. Relatives. Friends. Co-workers. Everyone! I've been spending my weekends sewing lots of bibs and burp cloths in preparation, but I tend to get bored pretty quickly since I'm basically just sewing rectangles. I figured if I could find a fairly mindless audiobook, something that I wouldn't have to listen too closely to, that might help me focus. So I scrolled through my Audible account and found Mistletoe & Margaritas. I got it for free in some sort of holiday promotion a couple years ago and then promptly forgot about it. Turns out it was exactly what I needed -- just enough to hold my attention as I cranked out some very cute baby-related items.

The audiobook is very short, only about two hours long, and it's read by MacLeod Andrews, my favorite narrator. Now, it's no secret that friends-to-lovers is my favorite romance trope, so it doesn't take much for me to enjoy a story like this. (Especially when my favorite narrator is reading it!) The thing is, I feel like I liked it more because of the narrator than because of the content.

Here's the story: Claire has remained good friends with Justin, her late husband's best friend, ever since his death two years ago. Claire and Justin do everything together, and she knows she'd be lost without him. But Justin has a secret -- he's been in love with Claire for years. But he's keeping it strictly platonic, unwilling to be that guy even this long after his best friend's death. After some margaritas at a holiday party, and some conveniently placed mistletoe, Claire and Justin find themselves in a potentially disastrous situation. Their friendship has survived a lot, but can it survive this?

The story is sweet, and if you're looking for a super quick read that will lighten your mood, this is it. The thing that bothered me the most was that Claire and Justin hemmed and hawed forever about whether they were going to get together. Claire was lonely and literally dreaming about what it would be like to be with Justin. Justin has been in love with Claire for years. So you'd think that when they got together, it would be great, right? It's just kind of glossed over in favor of the fallout. And if friends-to-lovers is my favorite romance trope, oh but I don't deserve you is my least favorite. And that part of the story, while it's probably only about five or ten pages, seems to drag on forever. I like my characters to be happy, and I didn't see a need for all the angst in a story this short.

Final rating: 2.5, rounded up to 3.

[see all of my reviews at the bibliophagist] ( )

The best I can say is I finished this holiday novella but it really didn't have much of a plot, just a couple with unrequited love pining after each other for sixty-five pages. Justin has been in love with his deceased best friend's widow Claire since the day they met. ( )

I really enjoy Shannon Stacey's writing.
In general, the emotions seem real, the situations are believable and there is thought put into each word, or so it seems.

Novellas are not usually my thing, but Ms. Stacey can a novella like nobody's business. There is not a lot of show and tell. The stories evolve organically.

In particular in this book, all the above apply. It could have been a book a "oh, no, I love my BFF's wife; gloom and despair befalls me," for 180 plus pages. But no, that is not the way it is handled. The guilt of falling in love with the best friend of a lost spouse or the best friend's love for the widow is handled with care and compassion and realism.

Yeah, I know, generic, blathering review. But "it was good and I enjoyed it but I knew I would before I even started it" doesn't take up very much space. ( )

I really enjoy Shannon Stacey's writing.
In general, the emotions seem real, the situations are believable and there is thought put into each word, or so it seems.

Novellas are not usually my thing, but Ms. Stacey can a novella like nobody's business. There is not a lot of show and tell. The stories evolve organically.

In particular in this book, all the above apply. It could have been a book a "oh, no, I love my BFF's wife; gloom and despair befalls me," for 180 plus pages. But no, that is not the way it is handled. The guilt of falling in love with the best friend of a lost spouse or the best friend's love for the widow is handled with care and compassion and realism.

Yeah, I know, generic, blathering review. But "it was good and I enjoyed it but I knew I would before I even started it" doesn't take up very much space. ( )