Review of ‘Make the Yuletide Gay’ by Ivy L. James

I thought this was a nice boss/employee, wlw holiday romance. Between the ARC’s I have left to read and a few books I’m hoping to get in before the year is over, I wasn’t sure how much time I would have for holiday reads this year. So when I saw that NineStar Press released a new holiday book, I knew I had to scoop it up. It wasn’t a perfect novella for me, it had some bumpy parts, but overall I liked the read and thought it was a solid debut.

My biggest issue was the beginning. Not sure what it was but I could not get into the story. There was a lot of telling me that the characters had feelings for each other but I wasn’t really feeling it. I hate to say this but I actually felt like the story was dragging, which is almost unheard of in a novella. Luckily, that all changed a little before the midway point. The character of Nicola, who I think the author was trying to make into an ice-queen but she was just coming off ornery instead, started to become more of a well-rounded character. She had a history and you understood her more, life was now breathed into her character when it really wasn’t there in the beginning. Not only had that happened but the story itself just got better for me. I suddenly liked the romance that was developing and I didn’t even mind the big conflict moment that normally drives me nuts half the time. I didn’t mind it because I finally felt like I was invested in the characters and cared what happened to them.

This wasn’t quite what I was hoping for but I did still enjoy it. After a rocky beginning, James hit their writing groove and the story got much better for me. If you are a fan of sapphic holiday and or boss/employee romances, this might be a novella for you. This was a solid debut read and I would read James again in the future. 3.25 Stars.

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.