So cute, cozy and Taylor themed 0 Great READ!
"Tis the Damn Season" was so sweet and cozy. Inspired by the song of the same name, the book tells the story of Aspen Moore, an actress and singer, who falls back in love with her high school sweetheart every time she visits her hometown. I liked the past and present alternating chapters because you got to see how their relationship developed and changed over time. They really seemed to care about each other, and there was chemistry. The author dives into the ugly parts of the entertainment industry. This book was just what I wanted it to be for a fun holiday read: fast-paced, cozy, just enough drama, and a good cast of characters.

All the Taylor Swift lyric easter eggs were so fun!

I'll be honest, as a swiftie, this title was the main thing that caught my eye but what I dove into was something so heart-warming and cosy and romantic, everything you could ask for!

This book!!!! The themed chapters with the songs for each chapters made me so excited to get to the next chapter. I loved that aspect. So clever! A heartwarming love story showing how true love prevails. The ending had me very emotional. I really enjoyed the celebrity drama in this as well.

DNF at 40%, so rated 2.5 and rounded down.

Whilst the obvious Taylor Swift vibes appealed to me I don't think me as a 30 something was the target audience, even though the characters were early 20 somethings. I commend the author for being so young when this was written, I just felt like I could tell throughout that the character's POVs didn't match the writing.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Best of luck to the author, I do hope to read more of your stories in the future.

This book is the perfect read for any Swifites looking for something Holiday themed and romantic! I loved reading it. The cover is perfect and it really caught my eye!

honestly this felt like a deeeeecent first draft that needs so much more work. it felt like reading about teenagers in high school but the characters were supposed to be adults? personalities were so flat and two dimensional and uninteresting. a lot of potential here for a fun cosy christmas romance but it fell quite flat unfortunately.

This was a cute fast paced holiday romance and while it wasn’t my favourite I definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a book with the vibes of a Christmas Hallmark movie. However, I would recommend checking/researching the trigger warnings before reading. This book did feel more like a YA contemporary romance rather than an adult romance (which is what it’s marketed as), but it was still an enjoyable book nonetheless.

I’m such a mood reader, Christmas is over but I have tons of Christmas books to read. I may or may not try to a Christmas in July challenge to finish and review all these Christmas romances. I’ll fix my reviews eventually! I promise

I was pleasantly surprised by this one, I had heard some mixed reviews before reading this, but I ended up really enjoying it. I liked the characters and I liked how the romance played out, I'm not always the biggest fan of second chance romance, but they way this was written with their history being when they were teenagers worked really well and made me really root for them to get their second chance as adults

I didn't really get into the book in the beginning; it didn't really pique my interest much. I think what saved it was the second half of the book, where it got progressively cuter, and Aspen had a character development.

2/5 Stars

This was not for me, I really thought I would love it especially given the title. I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing, and everything felt very young. I found myself getting very annoyed and frustrated with the characters and their choices. I think this would have been better as a YA book rather than an adult. The Flow of the story felt disjointed and wasn't great. Overall this just didn't do it for me.

Did I read this solely because the title is a Taylor song? Perhaps. Does the author know how to pull a specific audience? Likely, yes. This was cute! The main characters acted a bit immaturely at times, but who am I to judge. I read books depending on how closely related they are to the Swiftie universe.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

If you thought this being inspired by a Taylor Swift song would mean I'd love it, you'd have thought wrong. I can't even put into words how boring this was. It was really repetitive and it also felt like it was trying to be two different stories. I didn't care for the on again off again romance between the two main characters either. They know they have feelings for each other but neither were willing to compromise so why go round in circles?

One thing that I really did not like was that the ex boyfriend/on again off again fling was told about the FMCs dad's medical conditions months before she did and then had the nerve to be annoyed at her when she was rightfully angry about it. She then is only angry for a little while beore forgiving everyone and I'm like ??? you're parents and whatever you want to call Rome lied to you about something serious and you forgave them so quickly. Could never be me.

I did like this was dual timelines though even if the rest of this book annoyed me.

Missed the download date for this one but finally got around to reading it through the library! A perfect little holiday romance!

A fictional debut friends to lovers romance that features a singer/actress whose life gets blown up by a false cheating scandal. Told through flashbacks to the past we get to follow Aspen and Roman as they date and get torn apart by life circumstances. I enjoyed this holiday romance quite a lot as Aspen returns home for Christmas and works with Roman to produce the town nativity play for her father. Mostly a kissing only romance, this book does tackle important topics like gaslighting and rape. It's maddening that these kinds of things continue to happen in real life (Blake Lively anybody??!?!?). This was a fun holiday romance with tons of Taylor Swift vibes. It's quite impressive considering the author was only 15 when she wrote it. It also makes for such a timely backlist read and I loved it on audio narrated by Liza Jacob. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. I know a lot of reviewers have been harsh on this young debut author but I thought it was solid!

CW: parents who die from cancer and one who is diagnosed with Parkinsons

Dnf at 20%

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own.

Tis The Damn Season by Kimi Freeman

Never knew that such young authors write such superb books!!

The story revolves around a female lead who is trying hard to cope up with her Hollywood life. She has begun her carrer at a very young age and being famous made her wise earlier. However, one wrong step and everything goes downhill which means, she has to get away from everything and back to her hometown till the issue subsides. There, in her little town, with her little family, she finds her high school sweetheart and both of them back on the track of being with each other. But for how long??

The book has many ups and downs and the roller coaster journey is very interesting.
📚 One point that interested me the most was how the MC was dealing with being famous, paparazzi and keeping a low key when things didn't workout.
📚 One thing that disappointed me was how the couple never discussed their future. They were anyways not being together due to their career gaps, talking would have helped them come to a singular point in their relationship.
📚 The backdrop is very well described as a life of a hollywood singer - the topic looks well researched as it covered writing music, tours, parties.
📚 Story is interesting but I felt like it turned away from reality when they showed that the guy was waiting for the girl even after some years and was not in any relationship.
📚 There were somethings that the female lead did not do but was called out on media again and again and she was silent about it. This thing felt like stretching as in this era, no one listens so much.
📚 Authors style of writing is lucid and up to the mark, no long and boring description. Infact, while reading, I never knew that the author was so young.

Overall, the book is for RomCom reader and if you are into exploring books from debut authors then go for it.

I really liked this one which surprised me a little! It was a little hard determining if it was YA, New Adult, or adult romance but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the book. There were lots of cute b stories, lots of trauma we unfolded throughout the pages, and lots of love shown throughout as well.

Description
Told in a dual timeline and inspired by the Taylor Swift song of the same title, ‘Tis The Damn Season is a charming new contemporary romance destined to break your heart and put it right back together.

A Hollywood starlet caught in a scandal. The boy she never got over. A Christmas season they’ll never forget…

Aspen Moore is living proof that money doesn’t buy happiness. At twenty-three years old, the singer-actress has it all. Fame. Fortune. Her own headlining tour. And yet something—or someone—is missing.

When a scandal rocks Aspen’s carefully constructed Hollywood life, she’s forced to return to her Pennsylvania hometown, where she reconnects with her first love, Roman Torres. Aspen knows they must keep their relationship strictly platonic. This game of push and pull, catch and release she plays with Roman is bad for her. She’s not staying in Fertsville, and he’s not moving to LA. But their chemistry is undeniable, and amidst rumors and drama, the bright lights of Hollywood begin to pale in comparison to the dark brown eyes she fell in love with all those years ago. Could Aspen be willing to give up everything she’s ever wanted for the best thing she’s ever had?

I really wanted to like this, but I think I've gotten too old for this. This felt very middle school even though the main characters were around 25 years old for most of the novel. BUT the author was only 16 when she wrote this, so I guess that's why.

This almost read like fanfiction, and was not realistic at all. I did like the progression of the romance and how Aspen and Roman reconnected, but I feel like the focus was on the past a little too much, which made the pacing feel off and the ending seemed rushed in comparison.

I also expected more of a Christmassy feel because of the title, but I didn't get any of that, which was a shame.