I did feel for John Cavendish (Cav), he had been in love with the same women (Emily) for 10 years. For him it was love at first sight, unfortunately, she was to become the wife of his best friend. Now, five years after his friend had died, he is at a houseparty arranged by Emily. Cav had been a good friend to Emily for all those years but had kept his feelings to himself. Time had come for him to marry and secure an heir. Cav and Emily are unsure of each other’s feelings. Will they be able to come to terms with how they truly feel? I did like the theme of the house party, based around the 12 Days of Christmas, even though things didn’t work out exactly as planned. There is a good deal of heart searching to take place, as well as some very passionate times. I found this to be an engaging read. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a gorgeous story - a friends to lovers story that was heart warming and oh so romantic. Cav and Emily had a lovely friendship and this was so lovingly portrayed by Jess Michaels. Their friendship to lovers was a seem less thing, so well written, their scenes full of passion and sincerity.

I don't have much more to say you'll have to read it for yourself if you need a few hours of warmth and a feel good happily ever after this one's for you!

Jess Michaels always had a unique take on even the most traditional settings and situations regency stories. In this case, we have a holiday house party hosted by a young widow.  Lady Emily Rutledge was married to John Cavendish's best friend.  His friend died of a sudden fever five years ago and Emily has been shrouded in grief for much of that time.  She has only recently returned to society, but throughout her mourning her husband's best friend has been by her side and has become her best friend.  

For John it was love at first sight with Emily.  But by the time he met her, she was already engaged to his best friend.  John has not been able to get over his feelings for Emily in the 10 years he has known her.  

As Emily and John participate in Emily's Twelve Days of Christmas themed house party - we see them both at a crossroads.  Emily's brother-in-law is planning to get married and she'll become a dowager viscountess and need to move on from her home for the last ten years.  She's not sure where that will take her.  The party is an attempt at matchmaking - that really doesn't go very well.  John's family is pressuring him to move on from Emily, get married, and just generally get his own life sorted.  The house party brings John a chance to see if he and Emily can be more - and serves as a wakeup moment for Emily in her own life.

I loved John and his commitment to his relationship with Emily.  His love was not returned - but he didn't lay that burden on Emily or his friend - he just moved on in his life as best he could and didn't let them know how he really felt.  Emily is a force of nature who is a little lost when we meet her - but she definitely had a lovely light about her.  I would definitely be interested in reading stories about some of the others who were at her house party - there are some great stories there!  

Overall this is an emotional - but overall - cheerful holiday read.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

Mismatched Under the Mistletoe by Jess Michaels

How hard it must be to hide your love from the woman married to your best friend…for years and years to have to be around the woman you love without being able to be more than a good friend. And then to have to continue even after the woman is a widow…will the time ever be right for John Cavendish and Emily Rutledge to be together? Hope springs eternal and at a matchmaking country house party the situation might change but will they change in favor of John finally achieving the love of his life…or not? 

Emily has the idea of playing matchmaker with the 12 Days of Christmas theme so invites a selection of people she hopes will find love while under her roof. She is not thrilled with the results or with some of the animals brought to be part of the entertainment BUT she hopes it won’t all be in vain. 

This book was so much fun! I felt so badly for Cavendish as he waited and waited and took such good care of Emily. I was hoping that she would realize what a good man he was and fall for him…as they both deserved to be happy. I also wondered about some of the guests at the party and hope they will show up in future books not yet written yet. 

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and The Passionate Pen LLC for the ARC – This is my honest review. 

5 Stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

I love friends to lovers/second chance, so Mismatched Under the Mistletoe was a lovely early Christmas gift, especially since I wasn’t aware it was coming until I saw the ARC posting (although apparently it was always on Jess Michaels’ schedule for the year). 

I love that this is a story where the hero, John “Cav” Cavendish has been in love with Emily for years, since meeting her when she was about to marry his friend, although he of course did not act on it during their marriage, and still fears losing their friendship if he makes a move, until he’s being pressured to finally settle down by his family. 

I liked seeing Emily becoming aware of the mutual attraction during the Christmas party, especially as she’s also being faced with pressure (of a different sort) due to family ties, as her husband’s heir plans to remarry and displace her. 

There are some elements I’d love to see fleshed out, like that of the other attendants of the party, but this is otherwise a lovely Christmas novella with a lot of feels, and a great balance of sweetness and steam, sure to delight historical romance readers during the holiday season.

John has been in love with the wife of his best friend all his adult life, Lady Emily Rutledge
His best friend had died  and they have become the closest of friends.She has invited him Christmas theme party. He finally kiss her ,They  get their happy ending.
When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Jess Michaels is magnifysent and amazing writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this book.Can't wait for the next book.

This was a very feel good book.  Lady Emily and Lord Cavendish meet through his best friend and her fiancee, Andrew. It is love at first sight for Cav.  But Emily and Andrew only have eyes for each other. So Cav resigns himself to be the very best friend possible to both. 
Thru the death of Andrew and the death of her parents, Cav is there for Emily.  Thru the years they become extremely close but always just friends.
Cav needs to marry, but he can't picture himself with anyone other than Emily.  
Can he make her see there can be so much more to their relationship? 
Jess Michaels has you rooting for Emily and Cav to work things out. And when they get their happily ever after,  all is how it should be. 
5 stars 
I want to thank Netgalley for the chance to review this book.

I love a story of pining, especially when the hero is pining after the heroine. This was just such a NICE story about two NICE people and it was soothing and calming. No real angst, just a friends to lovers and I really liked it. The fun festive setting was a delight as well.

This book hooked me in. I really liked that it included the perspectives of both main characters - it made me feel more connected with the characters, and love them both! It's definitely one of those stories where you're excited to know how it ends, but at the same time, don't want the story to end. Aside from the 12 days of Christmas theme for the party mentioned in the description, the story isn't super Christmasy. I think it can be enjoyed all year round. Make sure to put this book on your reading list!

There are a few great tropes in this book, Emily and Cav are best friends, she is also the widow of his deceased best friend. He's also been secretly in love with her since he met her a decade earlier. She decides to hold a Christmas house party, as a way to matchmake several of her spinster friends, hoping they will find the happiness she once had with her husband. Cav agrees to help her, deciding this is his time to finally convince her that what they have is more than friendship. Over the Twelve days of Christmas, Emily comes to see Cav in a whole new light, and gradually they go from friends to friends with benefits, to so much more. This was a truly wonderful love story and introduced several new characters at the house party that I hope we will see in books later on. A perfect Christmas read!

Really loved this book!! This is the first book by Jess Michaels I've read and I'm fairly confident that this book will turn into a series, and I can't wait to read the rest if she does! It's festive and I found I could not put it down until it was finished. The perfect book to get lost in this Christmas.

GUARANTEED TO ROUSE YOUR CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

At least, it did so for me. I really enjoyed this sweet novella, even though I actually wished it would have been a full book. Perhaps I might wish for it to be continued, because a lot of stories were started but not finished, so here's to hoping that this will become a series 🤞

👍 What I Liked 👍

Friends to lovers: I really like the friends-to-lovers trope and this book did it in such a great way. Cal and Emily are friends because Emily married Cal's best friend, Andrew. Now Andrew is dead and even though Cal has been in love with Emily since he first laid eyes on her, he hasn't made a move. The added difficulty of the dead friend and husband between them made this friends-to-lovers story even more engrossing.

Cal: Oh my gosh, Cal was an absolutely perfect romance hero! He was sweet, considerate and a genuine gentleman. I liked how he took care of Emily and supported her in everything without expecting anything in return.

12 Days of Christmas: Taking inspiration from the 12 Days of Christmas poem was a sweet twist for this story and gave a great Christmas theme.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

Missing endings: This story revolves around a house party thrown by Emily, where she endeavors to play matchmaker for 12 single people. While these side characters were never really all that fleshed out and you don't get a feeling for very many of them (on account of this being a novella, I would presume), I still wanted to find out the ending of their stories as well. Did any of them form any kind of bonds? We never find out. But of course, that does give me hope for series somewhere down the line!

This is a lovely little Christmas romance with some excellent friends to lovers and secret crush tropes.

I adore Emily's plans for a 12 Days of Christmas inspired house party. How fun! She's so exuberant and full of life and fun. I also really felt for Cav. The dynamic described between Cav, Andrew, and Emily makes me wonder if polyamorous relationships were something that was discussed/accepted at the time if they might have been a triad. Regardless, the strong friendship and then sparks of something more between Emily and Cav were a delight to read. They've got great chemistry, and the hesitancies and pushes forward felt authentic and believable. There are, of course, the usual sorts of stumbling blocks to the friends to lovers trope in that neither wants to risk their friendship if trying to change it fails, with an added layer of the ghost of Andrew hovering between them. What really takes this above and beyond your typical friends to lovers romance is the long-standing one-sided love on Cav's part, and then the fun twist of the 12 Days of Christmas themed house party. I laughed out loud several times, and also teared up quite a bit. This is a fun, quick read for the holidays.

Who is already feeling the Holiday cheer? It's me! YAY! This book is what put me over the top. That's all it takes, one Christmas story and I'm in it to win it. And you guys! It was so good!! 


I am always, 100% of the time, here for best friends eventually falling in love or realizing they've been in love forever, or even unrequited best friend love for ages until suddenly, the other realizes they've been in love for ages too! I love it. I love it all. Give it to me. I'm here for it. 

The characters in this story are truly amazing. I love the relationship between Cav and Emily from the first chapter. These are two friends who are real soul mates. They've been together, and leaned on each other, through some terrible tragedies; all of which have only brought them closer. I adore these two. 

The story is engaging and the scenes vivid.  This is a story you can disappear into for a few hours, and which you'll have to shake yourself out of when you finish. It is steamy, it is sweet, it is all things good. 

As always, Jess Michaels absolutely stuns with this fantastic story. I hope you'll pick up your own copy and give yourself a little jump start into Holiday fun!

How I'd have loved to have attended Emily's "12 Days of Christmas" party!! It sounded like so much fun and at times I laughed out loud at the situations she'd find herself with the various birds. This was such a wonderful story and I loved Emily and Cav's characters. 

My heart did go out to Cav, though, imagine being in love with someone for almost 10 years but not being able to do anything about it.  Emily was married to his best friend and after she became a widow, he was determined to be there for her as a good friend and nothing else. When she asks for his help at her party, emotions run high and when he finally kisses her, she's surprised at how much she wants him. They are two friends who are afraid of changing things in case it ruins their friendship.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review 

Both sweet and sexy, this author just keeps getting better and better! Looking forward to the next one

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Mismatched Under the Mistletoe is a second chance at love novella by Jess Michaels. When his best friend Andrew Rutledge told John Cavendish (Cav) that he’d fallen in love and was going to get married Cav had his doubts as he felt they had wild oats to sow and adventures to explore before settling down. Meeting Lady Emily made him understand completely why his friend had fallen under her spell because for him too it was love at first sight. Nine years later and five years after the sudden death of Andrew Cav is under pressure from his grandfather to marry and he realizes that the Twelve Days of Christmas themed house party Emily is holding with the idea of matching up some rakes and wallflowers may be his last chance to tell her how he feels and to see if there is any hope for them as a couple with out ending their close friendship. This was one of the best novellas I’ve read this year, Jess Michaels excels at the form, and I highly recommend it. Steam Level: Medium. Publishing Date: November 10, 2020. #MismatchedUnderTheMistletoe #JessMichaels #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalRomanceNovella #SecondChanceAtLove #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #NetGalley

John Cavendish has been in love with Emily for nine years. He never said anything because she was the wife of his best friend. Now that his friend is dead he is determined to make Emily his own.
A poignant story of misbegotten love. It has good character development and an interesting storyline.
Jess Michaels at her best.

Such a fun story. With lively characters and a mix of romance and humor, that creates a fast paced story.
The main characters have incredible chemistry and they make one of the most fun couples that I've read in the last month.
It is a novella length book so it is so easy and entertaining to read.

I received an Arc from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Nine years of unrequited....friendship?

John "Cav" Cavendish meets his best friends' intended and falls in love with her. He's an unrepentant rake (this part was kind of icky and honestly, unnecessary as we were hit over the head with it repeatedly as was quite frankly, distracting). Nine years, later, Lady Emily Rutledge has been widowed for five years and is joust moving on. So, she's throwing a 12 Days of Christmas party (this was clever and entertaining). Cav is her best friend and confidant, always there for her after Andrew died. 

Emily is confused and just reawakening from a limbo as a widow. She's seeing Cav in a whole new light. 
Cav is very well developed and understands Emily better than she knows herself (this was awesome). 
What I liked was their communication and understanding. How close their friendship truly is and what's better than friends to lovers? Of course the path isn't easy, but I really enjoyed both Cav and Emily taking a chance and evolving their relationship. 
Recommend.