Holiday Quick Reviews

A Newport Christmess by Jess Heileman (2022)

Quinn, eager to become an influencer, feels she might have her chance when she is hired by a popular Instagram influencer to make gingerbread houses for her wedding.  When the bride attempts to set her up, Quinn starts a fake relationship with the woman's brother, until they realize they might actually be perfect for each other.  I thought this was a cute premise, and the Newport, Rhode Island setting is fantastic, but this wasn't as a great as I wanted it to be.  Quinn and Landon are both recently divorced, so I appreciate the aspect of them being able to relate to each other at that level.  But, Quinn was just a hard character for me - she's disorganized, absent-minded, scared of everything, and really down on herself.  It was just draining sometimes, and also hard for me to see what Landon saw in her.  His contributions to the relationship were mostly financial, which felt weird to me.  I just didn't feel any chemistry between them, the pacing wasn't great, and the side characters added little to the story.  3 stars

Emergency Contact by Lauren Layne and Anthony Ledonne (2023)

When Katherine is involved in a car accident and diagnosed with a concussion, the hospital calls her emergency contact, which happens to be her ex-husband Tom who was heading out of town to propose to his girlfriend.  He reluctantly agrees to take care of her but only if she'll come to Chicago with him for Christmas.  When their road trip hits every possible snag, it gives them plenty of time to think about what they really want.  Sigh, guys - I loved this book.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of second-chance romances, but there was something about Tom and Katherine that had me hooked from the start.  Their witty banter actually had me laughing out loud; even though they claim to hate each other, things like Tom's unconscious use of a special nickname for Katherine had me thinking otherwise.  It just seemed like they had a lot of unfinished business, and I loved that we got both Tom and Katherine's perspectives.  There was depth to the story without it feeling too heavy, and I especially enjoyed the way Katherine evolved over the story, from a tough, no-nonsense (maybe even a little cold) lawyer to something more.  4.5 stars

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