Reviews

Half-baked Holidays: A Romantic Comedy Holiday Collection by Kat Bastion

books_by_the_bottle's review

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4.0

This was a fun collection of short holiday rom-com’s. I kept thinking as I was reading, that this would be the perfect book during the craziness of the holiday season when there’s not always as much time for a longer book. I loved how they were all so short and sweet, basically like little hallmark movies all on their own. A perfect read to get into the holiday spirit :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Kat Bastion for the ARC in exchange for my review. I will be sharing my review on my Instagram blog (Instagram.com/books_by_the_bottle) soon!

bookishboujeeandbossbabe's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

paula_90's review

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4.0

I enjoyed this book, is the perfect holiday reads. Fast paced stories to put you into the mood for Christmas.
I need more!

kskincheloe's review

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5.0

I enjoyed this book of short stories that were holiday themed. They were quick easy reads. The characters and storylines were enjoyable. The author is great at painting a descriptive holiday feeling in each of the stories. Since they’re shorter, they character development isn’t as deep as longer reads but there’s enough to get you to root for them. Quite honestly, several of the shorts reminded me of Hallmark holiday movies! There were several times I could actually envision the writing coming to life in a Hallmark movie on my TV! This book was just what I needed to read in my downtime when trying to just find a moment of enjoyment.

carolsnotebook's review

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4.0

Half-Baked Holidays is a collection of novellas full of romance and holiday fun. They’re short and pretty much rely on love at first meeting, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. All of the characters are charming or adorable or sexy. The stories are light, with attraction and flirting and learning about themselves and each other, but no major complications, no major tensions, just sweet stories. There’s no cheating on each other, no love triangles. There’s also no sex, just plenty of kissing and holding hands and cookies and hot chocolate. I don’t know that I had a favorite story – they all made me smile.

kjherv's review

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3.0

If you're looking for short and sweet holiday romance stories, this is your book! Half-Baked Holidays does a great job of getting you hooked from the beginning of the story and wanting more when the story is over. Be careful though, once you start, you'll be finished with the collection of stories in no time because they go so fast. A perfect book to pick up for some feel good feelings!

addingtonsofbooks's review

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slow-paced

2.0

emilyrainsford's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

3.0

The premise here is great - holiday themed meet cute short stories. But a short story is meant to be a snippet of life. It doesn't mean that you have to cram the entire falling in love and planning a future together into the first five minutes they meet! The insta love in these was way too much for me.

The good:
- light easy reads
- all very varied and creative settings

The less good:
- extreme insta love
- what the heck was with that rainbow family thing, and the couple getting married AND having a baby within ONE YEAR?? These people need to calm down.
- choppy, staccato writing style with nary a complete sentence to be found. Why was every sentence chopped into about 5 grammatically incomplete sentences?

It was definitely a low brain power kind of easy read, but the speed at which the relationships moved and the strange writing style mean I wouldn't recommend this one.

tyreadsbooks's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

2.5

vishuslit's review

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3.0

Got an advance copy of this one. Wanted to share my review

So NOT a Silent Night is a cute story that gives that warm and fuzzy Christmas feeling. I would’ve liked to have seen this one as a much longer story so that I could have built up and had more time to savor the characters and relationships.

Enticing wrapper number nine really tugs at your heartstrings. I laughed, I cried, it was better than …well it was a nice holiday read. Works as a short.

Give me a Christmas break was a cute story. I wasn’t as invested in this one. I didn’t get the holiday feels. The ending was really one of two options that you imagined while reading.

Half baked holiday was ok.

Billionaire Bash New Years took a very long time for anything to happen. I would say I’m well introduced to the setting! The end was very cute. It certainly redeemed the short.