Second Chance Friends-to-Lovers meets Taylor Swift in this new holiday romance by Kimi Freeman!

Kimi Freeman crafts a perfect world of snow angels, Christmas carols, and falling in love. This book felt like a warm cup of hot chocolate while driving around to look at Christmas lights. The masterful hidden Taylor Swift lyrics enthralled me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the song lyrics as chapter titles. The plot was well constructed and balanced the line between a sweet romance and essential commentary about harassment and rumor mills in Hollywood and the Influencer World.

The main and side characters were well-fleshed out. I cared about Aspen's music career, but not as much as her finally admitting she was in love with Roman. I would have loved Roman and his thoughts more, but with a single POV, we obviously get a subjective narrative. The choices all characters made were believable and fit the characterization laid out in the exposition.

All in all, this was a delightful holiday romance that, when taken for what it is, a light romance read. If you are a reader searching for a profound novel about second chances and the debilitating trauma from Hollywood, you are better off searching elsewhere. However, if your heart yearns for jingle bells and a holly jolly romance, run to your nearest bookstore to pick up Tis the Damn Season.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Parson Press for this Advanced Readers Copy in return for a fair and accurate review <3

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this arc for my honest review. I’m giving this book 3.5 stars. I did enjoy the concept of the story but wished there was more. I felt like things were rushed and needed more depth. Rome was boring, I feel like he just went along with anything aspen said or did and never spoke up for himself. I am glad aspen finally stood up for herself in the end after all the scrutiny she went through. Overall okay book!

"All I'm thinking about is me, my guitar, and singing to the love of my life."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

I'm a simple girl. I see a book with Taylor Swift lyrics in the title, and I am going to read said book.

'Tis the Damn Season is a cute, contemporary holiday romance. Admittedly, this is a bit more in the YA category than I thought it was since it was marketed as New Adult, but it turns out that Kimi Freeman herself is only 16!! To write a novel this good at that age is impressive, and I just want to give her a round of applause for that alone.

We all love how masterful Taylor Swift is at writing a convincing couple and storyline. So, if these things are for you, then you'll love this book just as much as we love our girl Taylor:

•Small town/ second chance romance
•Former high school sweethearts
•Famous girl and small-town boy: she’s a famous singer, and he’s her muse
•Forced proximity as our two love birds co-produce their small-town Christmas play together

Overall, I enjoyed the fun, lightheartedness of this book, and it's perfect for a quick read during the holiday season!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

'Tis the Damn Season was published in October 2023. Thank you to Parson Press, NetGalley and the author for the digital advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was debut book by this author and I had a nice time reading it. It's a small town, second chance romance between high school sweethearts. Aspen followed her dreams and became a Hollywood starlit. But as successful and as famous as she is, she is not happy and can't shake the feeling that she's missing something, proving the fact that money can't buy happiness. When she gets caught up in a scandal, she decides to go back home to her small hometown in Pennsylvania. While there, she reconnects with her former high school sweetheart, Roman. She knows things can't go far with him, their lives are too different now. But that doesn't stop the sparks that burn between them and the undeniable chemistry they have. After spending more time with Roman, Aspen begins to wonder if being a star is worth sacrificing her happiness and if she is finally right where she belongs.
A cute and cozy holiday read! The story was more of a YA theme, which I'm typically not drawn to, but it was a sweet story with endearing characters, and was quite enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a complimentary copy. This is my voluntary and honest review.

Is there anything a swiftie loves more than references to Taylor Swift? No! If you're a swiftie and a book lover, this is the book for you.

Aspen is a pop star, but she's also hiding in her hometown. A cruel rumour in the news has ruined her relationship with her best friend and left her without a place to go. She's a villain in her own story.

Enter Rome: her childhood sweetheart and long-time... friend? Working for her dad, Rome provides some much-needed support and friendship for Aspen. When her dad asks them to direct the church nativity, they couldn't help but say yes, and in the words of Taylor, Sparks Fly...

This book was full to the brim with Taylor Swift references, lyrics, and vibes, but do you know what? If you're a swiftie, you'll love it! It was well-written, the characters were well-developed and likeable, and most of all, there is an important message about self-worth and standing up for yourself woven throughout the novel. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book.

A Hollywood starlet caught in a scandal. The boy she never got over. A Christmas season they’ll never forget… So this description hooked me right in. I did enjoy this book, I loved the Taylor Swift references, the setting. This was a great start to getting into the Christmas reading mood.

This book came across as very immature and I think should have been marketed more as a YA read than New Adult. I didn’t love it but it was a relatively quick read. If you’re looking for a cutesy high school level romance, this is for you. If not, I would pass.

DNF @32% - I’m sorry I just couldn’t do it. This book was so extremely juvenile it was painful. Why are these grown ass adults in such stupid high school drama situations? It just absolutely made me eyes roll. There are also flashbacks to when the two main characters were first getting together in high school, and there truly was no distinction between that timeline and the present day one. They felt completely the same. I also didn’t really like the romance. I just feel 0 chemistry, and it mostly felt like the guy pushing her into things most of the time. On top of that the writing was just extremely simple, with several extremely forced Taylor Swift refferences. Yeah, I just wasn’t a fan. It was quite a quick read though, so there’s that at least.

i didn't get to read the book because netgalley never gave me a chance to download it. But i have the copy so I will read it soon.

I loved this book! I devoured it in only a few sittings and wish there was more to read. The story line was paced very well and the characters were easy to love!

Well I love a book that has a playlist attached and even though the snappy chapters are often shorter than the songs on the playlist, this was a fun peppy read from the opening chapter. With the returning home after a heartbreak (and a friendship one too, which made a nice change!), this really felt very Hallmark movie. This will really appeal to the cross section of festive romance reader and Taylor Swift fan, with the Americana vibes throughout. This is a really cute and easy read to cosy on up with during the holiday season but might be slightly saccharine for more mature readers.

Thank you, Net Galley, for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was originally drawn to this one because of the title and I am a HUGE swiftie. I also love a good holiday read! For some reason, I couldn't really get into it. I wasn't super attached to the characters or the storyline, and it felt a little young for me. The characters felt more teenage age to me, instead of mid twenties. It was a cute read, just felt a little young.

I wanted to love this one based on the title, Swifty vibes, and tropes listed in the description, but it fell flat for me based on the juvenile dialogue and flat character growth between the dual POVs. I kept setting it aside and coming back to it, but eventually decided to DNF the book around 45%. There is a lot of potential here and I look forward to trying again on Freeman’s next project.

3.5 out of 5. A really sweet, yet also very predictable Christmas love story. It is the perfect plot for a fabulous Hallmark Movie, and you know how much I love those. I know I enjoyed it, I also forgot all about it very shortly after, so the characters were not very memorable to me.

I think that this author has a future in romance, but right now she's 16 years old. And that means that the flashback scenes with the character as a teenager, and current as the adult have no difference in tone. They feel flat and feel like teenagers even when they aren't.

I wanted to give this all the stars based simply on the fact that a 16-year-old wrote a whole novel! The premise was great, but it’s just lacking a lot of polish. The dialogue was rough. I also think it’s hard for a teenager to write believably from the perspective of a 20-something. Kimi Freeman will write great things one day, though, if this is the ability she has at only 16.

Christmas, second chance romance, and a lot of Taylor swift makes for a great holiday read ! Join Aspen and Romen as they reconnect over a holiday production in their home town.

Overall, I liked the plot of the book. It was more on the YA side, but I didn't mind. Although it felt kind of rushed, I was satisfied with the ending. Most of all, I loved the love shown between the main characters Roman and Aspen. However, there were a couple of things that made this only a 3-star read for me.

Because of the title, I was expecting there to be more of the holiday spirit throughout. It was severely lacking for me and really didn't even get incorporated until 75% of the way through. I wanted to read the book because it seemed like it was going to be holiday-themed.

This book was also a little chaotic for me. There was a lot of jumping back and forth between the main characters' teenage years and the present, and I felt some if it was just unnecessary. Some of the scenes weren't fully played out and just went to the next scene without describing any purpose. The book could have been a lot shorter.

'Tis the Damn Season really needs to be classified as Young Adult. It has a great story and plot. It just isn’t the romance I expected it to be. It is a great coming of age, finding your true self, kind of novel. The romance is really a beautiful friendship/relationship that took a back seat while these two grew into their own adult selves. It’s a sweet story, just marketed wrong. I enjoyed it.

Very cute! Here are some facts/tropes:
❤️romance
👫childhood lovers
🎬celebrity
🏘small town

This romance is absolutely adorable. I love the way Rome is there for Aspen while her life is falling apart and I am convinced that everyone needs a Rome. I also really liked the parts where the both of them interacted with the children in the show they were producing, that is very wholesome.

Recommend!

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review.