the_literary_rebel's review
5.0
With a dash of fake dating, an annual Christmas Town Festival, hilarious banter, sizzling chemistry and an epilogue that made me swoon with delight- this book is perfect
kimber_reads's review
4.0
Kiss the Girl by Melanie Jacobsen is a holiday themed rom com with fake relationship & forced proximity tropes.
Grace and Noah live/work in the same small town. Grace is running her Dad’s hardware store while he battles cancer and Noah coaches football at the high school while supporting his sister and niece. Grace and Noah end up working together to help the football team build a booth for the town’s big Christmas festival. As they spend more time together, they find themselves falling for each other. But how can they be together when Grace wants to move away to pursue a career of her own and Noah needs to stay and support his sister?
This was a really cute Christmas romance! I like that the plot took place over the course of several months, not just at Christmas time. But there were definitely a lot of fun holiday elements as the town prepares for their big Christmas festival.
I liked seeing Grace and Noah together. Grace is a very intelligent and capable young woman, and although not everyone sees or appreciates that, Noah does, and I enjoyed that. I liked seeing both Grace and Noah make sacrifices for the people they loved. I especially loved Noah’s niece Evie! Evie brought that special magic to Christmas that only children can.
Overall this was an enjoyable holiday read! The main characters had great chemistry but the story was clean. The characters do drink alcohol and share some steamy kisses, but other than that the story was very clean.
If you enjoy clean romances in small towns during the holiday season, fake relationship tropes, and strong independent main characters, you should check out Kiss the Girl!
Grace and Noah live/work in the same small town. Grace is running her Dad’s hardware store while he battles cancer and Noah coaches football at the high school while supporting his sister and niece. Grace and Noah end up working together to help the football team build a booth for the town’s big Christmas festival. As they spend more time together, they find themselves falling for each other. But how can they be together when Grace wants to move away to pursue a career of her own and Noah needs to stay and support his sister?
This was a really cute Christmas romance! I like that the plot took place over the course of several months, not just at Christmas time. But there were definitely a lot of fun holiday elements as the town prepares for their big Christmas festival.
I liked seeing Grace and Noah together. Grace is a very intelligent and capable young woman, and although not everyone sees or appreciates that, Noah does, and I enjoyed that. I liked seeing both Grace and Noah make sacrifices for the people they loved. I especially loved Noah’s niece Evie! Evie brought that special magic to Christmas that only children can.
Overall this was an enjoyable holiday read! The main characters had great chemistry but the story was clean. The characters do drink alcohol and share some steamy kisses, but other than that the story was very clean.
If you enjoy clean romances in small towns during the holiday season, fake relationship tropes, and strong independent main characters, you should check out Kiss the Girl!
one_happydappy_bookworm's review
4.0
I loved this book! The banter was fun and natural. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I felt that the male character gave up everything he was working so hard for. It felt like he was giving up everything and she didn't make any compromises on her part.
anyjas17's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
readingwithemmett's review
4.0
This book took place between August to December (Christmas). Most of the book was not really holiday related, except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and part of Christmas Day. The point of views switched between Noah and Grace, and while I loved both their characters, the author didn't really make a distinction between their two voices, so it sometimes took me a page or so to figure out who's perspective I was reading from. While I was usually able to figure it out quickly, it would have been nice to know just from reading from their perspective. The plot of the story was cute. I really enjoyed it. I liked the author's writing style. The main reason why I didn't love this book was because there was like zero spice. I mean the two are 26 and 27 years old, and all they did was have a few brief kisses and made-out like one or two times. I mean they were even talking about being friends with benefits (it'll make sense if you read the book why), but then they only talked about just kissing... like I don't know. I feel like it should have had more, but maybe that's just me. Also, I read this book first because I thought it was the first one in the Creekville series, but now that I'm reading the other one, I think this might have been the second book.
punandprose's review
4.0
Ok, we all know that Melanie Jacobson does a more than marvelous job with her stories. Again, she's provided witty banter and perfect chemistry in an authentic way that leaves us wondering if any men like Noah actually exist. That said, Grace started to bug me so flipping much because of her reasons for not wanting to be in a real relationship with quite literally the most perfect book boyfriend ever. C'mon girl! That man deserves way more respect from you!
thatmamareads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dimpleswhore's review
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer
kduncan's review
4.0
A little slow at first but still a really fun story. It didn't seem like a Christmas book until towards the end. I really loved Noah and Grace's chemistry. I just wish there had been a better conversation between Grace's and her mother. I really hated the pressure her mom put on her about leaving town. It really didn't even make sense to me, especially since Grace was so determined to go back to her regular work anyway. It was unnecessary and made me dislike her mother. The other secondary characters were pretty great though. The principal was horrible with her standards and I wish something had happened to make her see that. Overall a feel good Christmas time love story.
thesublibrarian's review
3.0
An embarrassing first encounter between Noah and Grace sets the stage for this feel good holiday read.
Grace is temporarily back home to help run the family hardware store. Not planning to stay in Creekville for long the last thing Grace is looking for is a relationship. Until she meets Noah, with intentions made clear early on, the two decide that this can be nothing more than friendship.
I loved that both of the MC's held their families and their commitment to them in such high regard. Extremely understandable circumstances make it easy to sympathize with both characters. I couldn't help but cheer them on.
Read this if you like
*Fake Dating
*Small town romance
*Christmas traditions
*Friends to lovers
*Relatable characters
Grace is temporarily back home to help run the family hardware store. Not planning to stay in Creekville for long the last thing Grace is looking for is a relationship. Until she meets Noah, with intentions made clear early on, the two decide that this can be nothing more than friendship.
I loved that both of the MC's held their families and their commitment to them in such high regard. Extremely understandable circumstances make it easy to sympathize with both characters. I couldn't help but cheer them on.
Read this if you like
*Fake Dating
*Small town romance
*Christmas traditions
*Friends to lovers
*Relatable characters