In Hostile for the Holidays, childhood nemeses and rivals Stella and Jasper end up on the same flight home for the holidays, and it’s a DISASTER. Stella gets sick on the plane, leaving her mortal enemy to care for her and giving him yet another thing to hold over her. Only Stella has no idea Jasper’s always been in love with her…

When ex-fling she’d rather not see comes to pick her up from the airport, Jasper promptly jumps in and pretends to be Stella’s boyfriend. And a fake relationship scheme is born! Hostile for the Holidays indeed. As Stella’s forced to spend time with Jasper, little by little she sees what’s inside, learns he’s not such a bad guy, and wants him more and more.

I LOVED Hostile for the Holidays! Holiday romances are 100% my jam right now, and when you add enemies-to-lovers and fake dating, I am all over it!!! Stella and Jasper are really interesting, likeable characters, and I was so dialed into their relationship development. The author does a magnificent job of showing their personalities and giving us pieces of each of them. You really feel Jasper’s longing, and I was rooting so hard for him (well, for both of them, but I am a sucker for the “he’s loved her forever” trope).

I also love that Stella is smart and successful in her own right, as a talented New York creative director. And Jasper takes his extreme success and wealth to create a foundation that helps children. My only knock on Hostile for the Holidays is that I didn’t love the third-act breakup or whatever you want to call it. The book didn’t need it and I would have liked the story to go the opposite direction at that moment, but it didn’t ruin  the book or anything. It’s the only reason I didn’t go with 5 stars.

One more thing—Hostile for the Holidays was the perfect length! Long enough to develop the plot and characters, but short enough to hold my attention and never drag. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Pen Pal Marketing and Erin Hawkins for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Rating: 4.4
Themes and Tropes: Enemies/Childhood Rivals to Lovers, He Falls First/He’s Always Loved Her, Fake Relationship, Holiday Romcom
Steam: Medium to High