Category: Friends To Lovers

Review: Tessa Bailey's WRECK THE HALLS.

10/4/2023

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Whew. That’s what I always think about a Tessa Bailey book. So much feeling, so much passion, so much intensity.

Wreck the Halls has all of those things, plus a friends to lovers romance arc that shouldn’t work for me bc it moves so quickly & yet it does.

Melody Gallard & Beat Dawkins meet when Melody is 16 & feeling a distinct lack of confidence largely thanks to how the media portrays her appearance. She & Beat are the kids of a legendary rock duo that split decades ago, & they feel an immediate connection.

Years of not talking later, they’re offered the chance to make mega bucks if they’ll allow themselves to be filmed as they work on convincing their mothers—members of the Steel Birds—to reunite for a Christmas Eve concert.

This book is not fated mates but it has those overtones to me. These people have a primal, body- & soul-deep connection that I would call call sweet even as they rock each other’s faces off.

The chemistry is great, the friendship is great, & it has this moment where Mel gets sent to jail & unruffable Beat is very RUFFLED & he’s like hell no I’m about to call the President (not really but basically).

But there are a couple of things about the plot that I either wanted less of or more of, respectively . Like his orgasm denial kink. Totally cool with the kink itself but the rationale that is consistently offered for it just doesn’t work for me .

Anywho, this is another hot, passionate offering from a queen of DIRTY/TENDER MOMENTS & I had a lot of fun with it.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

4⭐️. Out now!

Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary book. All opinions provided are my own.

4.5⭐️. Out now!

CWs: Reference to suspected sexual assault. Cheating. Exile from family. References to swinger parents.[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the book in front of a chandelier hanging from a tree. Various colored zinnias are tucked into the chandelier.]

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hard copy. All opinions provided are my own.

4.5⭐️. Out 07/11.

CWs: threat of violence, emotional manipulation, reference to past insurance fraud that David’s father perpetrated & that led to people dying.[ID: a copy of the book sits on a distressed antique mantle. In the background is a wall of white brick.]

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary galley. All opinions provided are my own.

5⭐️. Out 06/06.

CWs: Homophobia; Nick’s previous arrest for “vagrancy”; blackmail attempt; fear & lingering trauma.[ID: Jess, a white woman wearing a navy dress covered in multi-colored polka dots, stands in a field hoping a copy of the book.]

Thanks to the author & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

4⭐️. Out 07/25.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

5⭐️. Out now!

CWs: references to racism; reference to parental abandonment.[ID: a red dress is on a white quilt; on top of the dress is a pink heart garland & the ebook on top of an open hardback.]

Thanks to the author for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

4.5⭐️. Out 11/15.

CW: please consult the author’s note for a detailed list of CWs.ID: a white hand holds up the ebook in front of assorted plants in a greenhouse including an avocado tree & mums.

Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary finished copy. All opinions provided are my own.

4⭐️. Out 09/06.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

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CWs: Reference to suspected sexual assault. Cheating. Exile from family. References to swinger parents.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the book in front of a chandelier hanging from a tree. Various colored zinnias are tucked into the chandelier.]

CWs: threat of violence, emotional manipulation, reference to past insurance fraud that David’s father perpetrated & that led to people dying.

[ID: a copy of the book sits on a distressed antique mantle. In the background is a wall of white brick.]

CWs: Homophobia; Nick’s previous arrest for “vagrancy”; blackmail attempt; fear & lingering trauma.

[ID: Jess, a white woman wearing a navy dress covered in multi-colored polka dots, stands in a field hoping a copy of the book.]

CWs: references to racism; reference to parental abandonment.
[ID: a red dress is on a white quilt; on top of the dress is a pink heart garland & the ebook on top of an open hardback.]

CW: please consult the author’s note for a detailed list of CWs.

ID: a white hand holds up the ebook in front of assorted plants in a greenhouse including an avocado tree & mums.