Just a light hearted funny read. I read this over my holiday break from college and it was just what I needed. So funny and so easy to keep up with. I highly recommend this author and book.

I kept struggling to start this and then I just could not finish it. There were several statements made through the book that felt problematic and made it even more difficult to read. It was difficult to read when the MMC was misogynistic and just rude. What was the point of that?

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A romcom with no chemistry, no butterflies, a lacking plot that doesn't draw the reader in but so many sub stories that the reader can't keep any of the story lines straight, and an absolute ass of a hero.

I was so close to a DNF, this was, frankly, such a boring read. The Cornwall setting was really the only thing this book had going for it, I'm a suckered for a dreamy English country side setting.

Thank you Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC in exchange for my review!

This was a cute enough romance, nothing special but it was easy enough to read. Will look out for Taylor in the future to see her other books!

Not my favorite.. I had high hopes from the cute cover and the interesting plot but it was just not really my thing..

I just tried so hard to enjoy this book and I couldn’t connect with each of the main characters. The familiarities with Beach Read was obvious and it felt like this is unlikable execution of the similar plot line.

I enjoyed this book. It brought some summer warmth into the cold winter season and was a good story to escape into.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

Thank you netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately this is not a book I will be recommending

To start, the title is very misleading. This book is not set in the holidays and therefore I imagine the title was to lure Emily Henry readers, but this book was not comparable to Emily Henry, even in the slightest way.

The plot was all over the place, dialogue felt forced and awkward. The male love interest was a blatent mysogynist causing the entire romance to not sit well.

Wonderful fun with a terrific storyline and great characters. This is the kind of book that just makes you happy - happy to be reading and happy at meeting this people and how it ends. Especially perfect for fans of Emily Henry

I loved the summer vibes in this one! Exactly what I needed on a dull winters night and this one did not disappoint!

The bigger cast of characters saved this for me. I particularly love Candice's two closest friends and how they properly show up for her when he ex-husband comes back into the picture. The chosen family side of things is where the love really was for me.

I'm seeing some people who DNF because of the dynamic shift part of the way through. I completely get that, and more than one there are consent lines that are dangerously close to being crossed. I think there's a real flaw here in how it lulls you into a false sense of security. I get what it was going for, but then we continue forward with that character in an uncomfortable way.

Then introducing Daniel felt confusing and I never really got on board. Honestly I didn't feel chemistry with Alexis or Daniel. So how the romance side comes together just didn't pan out for me. Shame because some bits were genuinely enjoyable.

I liked the premise of ‘Holiday Read’ – it promised a fun romance with well-rounded characters in the nice, summer setting. And while in some ways, it has been delivered in the book, I wasn’t particularly fond of most of the characters by the end of it, which has taken a little out of enjoyment of the book.

I think I generally enjoyed more the first half of the book, and the more came up to the surface regarding all the characters, the least I enjoyed the story. At moments, it felt like the story wasn’t trying to pull you into too many directions, into too many subplotlines, and not exactly succeeding.

I expected a summer, fun story to read at the beach or to relax, and ‘Holiday Read’ wasn’t fully that.

Every part of the marketing of this book screams the Beach Read comparison, but Emily Henry would never write this. I just think that the comparison makes this book look a lot weaker.

This was a fun read!! I couldn't stop reading this book and it was out in no time!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Aria team for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost, thank you NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me an ARC.

I saw that a lot of the reviews said this book was similar to Beach Read by Emily Henry, but I’m here to disagree.

Second, I was so thrown off they Alexis was a male. Little spoiler there. I wasn’t really a fan of it, I felt like there was just too much going on in the book and it was hard to focus and dive into having connections with characters. I feel like there was a lot of historical info being thrown out, which made it less interesting in the community of readers you’re trying to reach.

I wouldn’t say it’s completely awful, but it definitely left me confused and frustrated by the end of the novel.

What I loved bout this book is it’s heartwarming propensity to help us see that we can choose our family. That we can curate what works for us. That best friends and family can show up for us in many different ways and help us to see our worth. Anything less and we should and can choose our boundaries, people who don’t respect that, likely have an ulterior motive or not our best at heart.
When surfer Candice moves from Hawaii to Cornwall she is not just escaping her cheating and controlling husband, she’s in search of her ‘dad’, her roots, what to do with her life, but most importantly I’d say, find herself.

Sometimes when we’re looking for something we are too blinded by our obsession of it. I’m also booking my trip to Fistral now, possibly one of the posh DFL ones!

I really loved the relaxed and beach vibe feel of this book, set in Newquay and with all the requisite surf & seaside references.
Candice was a likeable, authentic character to me, her complicated history and love shy approach to life was in direct odds with her love of reading romance books & Jane Austen. There was a lot going on for her but I felt I truly connected with her story and I adored her relationship with her friends Mikayla and Demi who were the dream sisterhood.
The book threw a curveballl halfway which I really enjoyed and the simmering chemistry was built up well. I laughed out loud several times with the witty banter and comic happenings and found it ultimately a book about self discovery and finding your true path in life.

This book gave me Beach Read by Emily Henry vibes, but not in the way that it felt like a rip off of her book. It's more like Beach Read is the big sister and Holiday Read is the little sister. If that makes sense. Similar but still different. I enjoyed reading this story. It was a feel reliable rom com that would probably do well as a movie.

I have read a lot of romance novels, so it's rare when one comes along that surprises me. While I could have predicted the ultimate outcome of this one from the blurb, the journey from start to finish held some unexpected twists. And while it did have the quintessential happily ever after, the characters faced legitimate obstacles and experienced clear growth. I'd definitely read another novel by this author -- the side characters were fun, some of the villains were nuanced and it was easy to root for the main character.

It is very rare that I don't finish a book, but I could not finish this book. I tried and it was just so slow and confusing. I was hoping I'd be able to come back to it and have a better experience, but that has yet to happen.