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javalenciaph's review
4.0
White-Hot Holiday is a Christmas novella in the Real Men series by Coleen Kwan. This quick read introduces us to two people in the life of Luke Maguire, male lead character of book two--one of his closest friends and one of his nieces. Even as Luke warns both of them to not pursue anything more than friendship, fate has other plans when a family emergency forces Luke and his family to leave the house for a few days and brings the two people who seem like such opposites closer than they ever thought possible.
Aaron Cade doesn't do Christmas. He's not into decorating every single inch of an area, he can't stand the songs that are played over and over again, and he doesn't understand how there are people who are just so gung-ho about the holiday season. So, when he decides to visit his friend Luke Maguire in Australia, the heat is certainly different from what he's used to but then he meets Luke's niece and sees that she appreciates Christmas and all its traditions and trimmings. Oh, he notices that she's quite beautiful too.
Naomi Spencer is looking forward to Christmas. It gives her something other than her failed relationship. She uprooted her life in order to try and build a new one with her boyfriend in London but he was too busy flaunting his wealth to even see that their relationship was doomed. Now, she's spending time with her uncle's family and even plays hostess to her uncle's friend from the U.S. Unfortunately, he could give Scrooge and the Grinch a run for their money, what with his cynicism regarding the Christmas holidays.
Though Aaron and Naomi notice each other right away, both are approached by Luke, asking them to keep their distance and not engage in anything that may result in a broken heart for Naomi. But when Luke and his family have to leave to tend to his mother-in-law, Aaron and Naomi spend more time together and Naomi starts to see that there's more to Aaron than his money and success and Aaron realizes that Naomi knows more about him now than any of the women he's been involved with before.
Naomi and Aaron's romance is like a start-and-stop love story, which lends to it a sense of realism because these two were very much aware that Aaron was only going to be in Buronga a few days and then return to his life in America. This wasn't even a case of insta-love but more of two people experiencing mutual attraction and feelings for each other spending every day in a short amount of time together resulting in a more compact but still intense road to realizing that they may, indeed, find happiness with one another.
This was a short but still substantial read. Naomi and Aaron were interesting characters and the fact that Naomi has an aversion towards wealthy guys made her thing with Aaron more intriguing. So far, this series has been consistently enjoyable and you know you're addicted when you enjoy having the old characters still be part of the story line. I'm on to the upcoming third book in the series and I've got my fingers crossed that it'll put a smile on my face just like White-Hot Holiday has. Four stars for this one! ♥
Aaron Cade doesn't do Christmas. He's not into decorating every single inch of an area, he can't stand the songs that are played over and over again, and he doesn't understand how there are people who are just so gung-ho about the holiday season. So, when he decides to visit his friend Luke Maguire in Australia, the heat is certainly different from what he's used to but then he meets Luke's niece and sees that she appreciates Christmas and all its traditions and trimmings. Oh, he notices that she's quite beautiful too.
Naomi Spencer is looking forward to Christmas. It gives her something other than her failed relationship. She uprooted her life in order to try and build a new one with her boyfriend in London but he was too busy flaunting his wealth to even see that their relationship was doomed. Now, she's spending time with her uncle's family and even plays hostess to her uncle's friend from the U.S. Unfortunately, he could give Scrooge and the Grinch a run for their money, what with his cynicism regarding the Christmas holidays.
Though Aaron and Naomi notice each other right away, both are approached by Luke, asking them to keep their distance and not engage in anything that may result in a broken heart for Naomi. But when Luke and his family have to leave to tend to his mother-in-law, Aaron and Naomi spend more time together and Naomi starts to see that there's more to Aaron than his money and success and Aaron realizes that Naomi knows more about him now than any of the women he's been involved with before.
Naomi and Aaron's romance is like a start-and-stop love story, which lends to it a sense of realism because these two were very much aware that Aaron was only going to be in Buronga a few days and then return to his life in America. This wasn't even a case of insta-love but more of two people experiencing mutual attraction and feelings for each other spending every day in a short amount of time together resulting in a more compact but still intense road to realizing that they may, indeed, find happiness with one another.
This was a short but still substantial read. Naomi and Aaron were interesting characters and the fact that Naomi has an aversion towards wealthy guys made her thing with Aaron more intriguing. So far, this series has been consistently enjoyable and you know you're addicted when you enjoy having the old characters still be part of the story line. I'm on to the upcoming third book in the series and I've got my fingers crossed that it'll put a smile on my face just like White-Hot Holiday has. Four stars for this one! ♥
erinnejc's review
3.0
This was a enjoyable, quick to read novel. I enjoyed the Australian setting, the love story and everything in between.
bananatricky's review
3.0
Three stars.
I have recently read some of Coleen Kwan's Accidentally in Love novels and this was the main reason I bought the anthology.
TBH, by the time I got around to reading the anthology I had forgotten why I bought it and I was probably half way through this before I realised that it was part of the series and who everyone is.
Quick recap. Luke Maguire was the writer suffering from writer's block in Real Men Don't Quit who falls for the single mother next door. In this novella Luke invites his old college buddy Aaron to spend a few days with them just before Christmas. Aaron is from New York and is travelling. Luke's niece (daughter of his bossy older sister Helen) has just returned from living in London with her ex-boyfriend and is staying with Luke and Tyler and working in the cafe cum gift shop with Tyler.
Naomi is all about Christmas, she loves every part of it and loves spending it with her family. Aaron on the other hand hates being forced to spend Christmas with his family in small town Mecklenberg (sp?), wearing Christmas jumpers, eating turkey etc, etc. Of course the two of them don't get along from the first moment when Aaron flattens Naomi's mini fir trees with his flashy rented Porsche. Neither of them can deny the sparks between them but Aaron reminds Naomi too much of her ex, with his flashy car, big salary and living overseas. For his part, how can Aaron get involved with his best friend's niece?
This was perfectly pleasant, I am not a huge fan of Christmas novellas (especially in May) and I found this to be a bit light - I know it's a novella but I didn't really feel I got to understand either Aaron or Naomi and some of her thought processes (she only agrees to sleep with him when she thinks he is leaving the next day - when his plane is grounded by a volcano she starts avoiding him!) were a little unusual. I also felt the end suggested that Naomi had caved on her reason for not getting involved with Aaron in the first place.
I have recently read some of Coleen Kwan's Accidentally in Love novels and this was the main reason I bought the anthology.
TBH, by the time I got around to reading the anthology I had forgotten why I bought it and I was probably half way through this before I realised that it was part of the series and who everyone is.
Quick recap. Luke Maguire was the writer suffering from writer's block in Real Men Don't Quit who falls for the single mother next door. In this novella Luke invites his old college buddy Aaron to spend a few days with them just before Christmas. Aaron is from New York and is travelling. Luke's niece (daughter of his bossy older sister Helen) has just returned from living in London with her ex-boyfriend and is staying with Luke and Tyler and working in the cafe cum gift shop with Tyler.
Naomi is all about Christmas, she loves every part of it and loves spending it with her family. Aaron on the other hand hates being forced to spend Christmas with his family in small town Mecklenberg (sp?), wearing Christmas jumpers, eating turkey etc, etc. Of course the two of them don't get along from the first moment when Aaron flattens Naomi's mini fir trees with his flashy rented Porsche. Neither of them can deny the sparks between them but Aaron reminds Naomi too much of her ex, with his flashy car, big salary and living overseas. For his part, how can Aaron get involved with his best friend's niece?
This was perfectly pleasant, I am not a huge fan of Christmas novellas (especially in May) and I found this to be a bit light - I know it's a novella but I didn't really feel I got to understand either Aaron or Naomi and some of her thought processes (she only agrees to sleep with him when she thinks he is leaving the next day - when his plane is grounded by a volcano she starts avoiding him!) were a little unusual. I also felt the end suggested that Naomi had caved on her reason for not getting involved with Aaron in the first place
Spoiler
, that she wouldn't move abroad to be with a man again, she was concentrating on her own career and wanted to be near her familyghumpherys's review
4.0
Fun to read a Christmas story that takes place in the southern hemisphere where everything is hot and summery! I liked the epilogue of this short story that gave a more realistic feel to how the relationship developed and a brief look at how they handled some of the challenges of their relationship.
tiffanyylizz's review
2.0
Meh. That is how I feel about this one. It was free on Goodreads so I decided why not? Who doesn't love free books? This one you could literally do without.
Right from the get go the author had the main male character saying things like "...scantily dressed and not actively discouraging him..." uh, she was in her pajamas, in her uncles house. She can wear whatever she wants and just because she doesn't tell you to stop staring at her legs doesn't mean she's encouraging you to make moves against her. Get out of here. Next, Xmas. It is Christmas, not XMAS. Don't be a lazy POS. The whole novel is about CHRISTMAS, why would refer to it as XMAS. Who is your publisher again?
Obviously, I wouldn't of been okay paying for this. I barely finished it and it was free and only 100 pages. It was kind of cute, and when I say kind of I mean calling this "novella" cute is a stretch.
Right from the get go the author had the main male character saying things like "...scantily dressed and not actively discouraging him..." uh, she was in her pajamas, in her uncles house. She can wear whatever she wants and just because she doesn't tell you to stop staring at her legs doesn't mean she's encouraging you to make moves against her. Get out of here. Next, Xmas. It is Christmas, not XMAS. Don't be a lazy POS. The whole novel is about CHRISTMAS, why would refer to it as XMAS. Who is your publisher again?
Obviously, I wouldn't of been okay paying for this. I barely finished it and it was free and only 100 pages. It was kind of cute, and when I say kind of I mean calling this "novella" cute is a stretch.
clak5686's review
4.0
Aaron Cade goes to Australia on a forced vacation and is going to visit his college roommate, Luke. when he gets there he meets Naomi Spencer who is Luke's niece. He's immediately attracted. Luke warns him off Naomi who has recently been hurt badly in a relationship. Luke also warns Naomi that Aaron is a playboy. Both Aaron and Naomi end up sharing more information about themselves than they have with anyone else. Aaron dislikes Christmas and Naomi loves it. Aaron gets stuck in Australia. Naomi helps him learn a lot about himself. He also knows he wants to get to know her better. Because of her past relationship failure, Naomi is very reticent. This is a easy-to-read and positive story. It was great to see the growth in the characters and eventual trust. I'll definitely try the rest of the books in this series.
vosteguin09's review against another edition
4.0
FLUFF. FLUFF. FLUFF AND SOME MORE FLUFF. GAH this book was mountains of adorableness. I found myself squeeling at how cute these main characters were. Just GAH. Adorable.
Okay now that I'm done with that here's the actual review.
Again. ANOTHER SHORT BOOK THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO END. These short books are going to be the death of me. But GAH I love them so much, especially the ones that are written this well.
Naomi's emotions were on her sleeve. You saw every emotion she was going through if you paid attention, and Aaron paid attention. She had no secrets. She was willing to tell you anything and be straight about it. And the same goes for Aaron. Though he liked to think that he hid his emotion well, they were just as obvious.
This is like Christmas Carol meets romance story. And it is so adorably cute. The characters interact and fit so well together. You don't want to leave this happy state that this books puts you in. I want more.
Okay now that I'm done with that here's the actual review.
Again. ANOTHER SHORT BOOK THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO END. These short books are going to be the death of me. But GAH I love them so much, especially the ones that are written this well.
Naomi's emotions were on her sleeve. You saw every emotion she was going through if you paid attention, and Aaron paid attention. She had no secrets. She was willing to tell you anything and be straight about it. And the same goes for Aaron. Though he liked to think that he hid his emotion well, they were just as obvious.
This is like Christmas Carol meets romance story. And it is so adorably cute. The characters interact and fit so well together. You don't want to leave this happy state that this books puts you in. I want more.
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