Synopsis:

Miriam Blum has no choice but to face the past she thought she’d left behind when she inherits her great-aunt’s Christmas tree farm in this witty, glittering, heart-filled romcom.

Thanks to her thriving art career, Miriam Blum finally has her decoupaged glitter ducks in a row—until devastating news forces her to a very unwanted family reunion. Her beloved great-aunt Cass has passed and left Miriam part-owner of Carrigan’s, her (ironically) Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.

But Miriam’s plans to sit shiva, avoid her parents, then put Carrigan’s in her rearview mirror are spoiled when she learns the business is at risk of going under. To have any chance at turning things around, she’ll need to work with the farm’s grumpy manager—as long as the attraction sparking between them doesn’t set all their trees on fire first.

Noelle Northwood wants Miriam Blum gone—even if her ingenious ideas and sensitive soul keep showing Noelle there’s more to Cass’s niece than meets the eye. But saving Carrigan’s requires trust, love, and risking it all—for the chance to make their wildest dreams come true.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for an eARC of this book.

I thought this was a really cute romance. Miriam and Noelle were really interesting characters to read about. I think it was an interesting concept to have Miriam return to the tree farm of her childhood after a lot of trauma and issues, that other people didn’t know about. It made a really tense situation and it was definitely hard to read at times because there was so much pain involved in her return.

I will admit that I don’t love an enemies to lovers romance trope and while this one did bother me at times because Noelle had preconceived notions about who Miriam was when she only knew one side of the story, I think it was good to see her learn and grow that maybe she was making assumptions when she shouldn’t have been. I was definitely frustrated with how she immediately had an issue with Miriam without knowing anything about her other than information from her best friend and Miriam’s aunt. I liked that as time went on she started to change her mind, but it did bug me in the beginning.

I loved how much food was mentioned throughout the book. It’s definitely one of those books that will make you hungry to read. I also loved all the holidays involved. We got to see a lot of Jewish holidays, as well as the group getting ready for Christmas. I liked a lot about how the plot followed the space of time between when Miriam arrived and Christmas.

One thing I really admired in the book is that there was a lot of discussion about trauma, trauma responses, and habits based in fear and trauma. It was really nice to actually see both Noelle and Miriam working through their trauma, making changes, trying to be better people for themselves and the people around them. It was really great that so much of the book was dedicated to the trauma discussions and watching these characters grow and change.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars