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A review by lollylovesbooks
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
A fun Christmas romance movie in book form.
I knew very little about this book going in, only that it was a sapphic Christmas romance written by Ashley Herring Blake - possibly I'd never looked at details, possibly I'd forgotten. Having really enjoyed the experience of reading with no knowledge, it makes it somewhat harder to write a review and choose which bits to highlight.
Charlotte is a violinist in New York, and is having all the career success she ever dreamed of. But she won't admit to anyone, not even the other members of her quartet, why she thinks December is cursed and wants to avoid Christmas. One of the quartet takes matters into her own hands and invites the whole group home for Christmas. Meanwhile, in Nashville, Brighton is working in a bar and feeling sorry for herself, after being kicked out of the band she helped form. After plans with her parents get cancelled, her friend decides to drag her to their family home for Christmas. The only problem is that Charlotte's friend and Brighton's friend are sisters... and 5 years ago Brighton left Charlotte at the altar.
I have really been enjoying second chance romance this year, but it's a trope that's so easy to do badly. In this case, though, it was done so so well. The reasons for what happened 5 years ago, as they were slowly revealed, made perfect sense. And they also really fit with the opportunity to return to the relationship after the characters had grown up a bit more.
If you prefer your romance books to have 'normal' and 'realistic' plotlines this isn't for you. In the best spirit of Christmas movies we have, aside from the whole managing to end up in the same house thing, a series of Christmas-themed dating activities for singles in the town. It's honestly amazing, and fits the setup so well.
The queer rep in this book is sensational, and completely normalised within the story. It's so nice to see this type of rep included as standard, without it being a big deal to the characters.
And I have to mention the steamy scenes (partly so those who only read closed door know to avoid). I loved how we got a flashback/memory scene while Charlotte and Brighton were still dancing round each other in the main timeline. And all the scenes were both hot and beautiful.
I had such a good time reading this book - with the biggest grin on my face throughout. In case you couldn't guess, I highly highly recommend it, and am planning to make it an annual Christmas read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
I knew very little about this book going in, only that it was a sapphic Christmas romance written by Ashley Herring Blake - possibly I'd never looked at details, possibly I'd forgotten. Having really enjoyed the experience of reading with no knowledge, it makes it somewhat harder to write a review and choose which bits to highlight.
Charlotte is a violinist in New York, and is having all the career success she ever dreamed of. But she won't admit to anyone, not even the other members of her quartet, why she thinks December is cursed and wants to avoid Christmas. One of the quartet takes matters into her own hands and invites the whole group home for Christmas. Meanwhile, in Nashville, Brighton is working in a bar and feeling sorry for herself, after being kicked out of the band she helped form. After plans with her parents get cancelled, her friend decides to drag her to their family home for Christmas. The only problem is that Charlotte's friend and Brighton's friend are sisters... and 5 years ago Brighton left Charlotte at the altar.
I have really been enjoying second chance romance this year, but it's a trope that's so easy to do badly. In this case, though, it was done so so well. The reasons for what happened 5 years ago, as they were slowly revealed, made perfect sense. And they also really fit with the opportunity to return to the relationship after the characters had grown up a bit more.
If you prefer your romance books to have 'normal' and 'realistic' plotlines this isn't for you. In the best spirit of Christmas movies we have, aside from the whole managing to end up in the same house thing, a series of Christmas-themed dating activities for singles in the town. It's honestly amazing, and fits the setup so well.
The queer rep in this book is sensational, and completely normalised within the story. It's so nice to see this type of rep included as standard, without it being a big deal to the characters.
And I have to mention the steamy scenes (partly so those who only read closed door know to avoid). I loved how we got a flashback/memory scene while Charlotte and Brighton were still dancing round each other in the main timeline. And all the scenes were both hot and beautiful.
I had such a good time reading this book - with the biggest grin on my face throughout. In case you couldn't guess, I highly highly recommend it, and am planning to make it an annual Christmas read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.