Somehow, I completely missed My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely until earlier this week. I saw the amazing cast of narrators and knew I had to pick this up. I have been obsessively reading this because it is just so good and different from the other holiday romances I’ve read so far this year! This is actually just such a great romance in general with characters and problems that feel real (despite the outlandish premise.)
Wilder (loved the name) and Fable (love that as a name too) work together for the football team Wilder owns. Fable does merch design and Wilder, well, owns the team. They’re friendly and know each other since his best friend is dating, and gets engaged, to Fable’s sister. The connection Wilder and Fable have is electric. The chemistry is tangible. They are so good and play off one another so incredibly well. Both push one another to do more, to be better. Both have the same types of insecurities and similarly flavored family issues. Fable doesn’t let herself get intimidated or bullied around by Wilder and he doesn’t shy away from her. They’re direct and as honest as they can be, given their issues. You can tell that this is an older romance because of it, which I absolutely appreciated. Not only did they connect romantically, but you can also feel how well they work as friends, as colleagues, and of course, as sexual partners. They intuit what the others wants and it is so sexy. This felt like a slow burn but wasn’t actually. I think it felt like that to me simply because I wanted them to let themselves go and fall in love so badly but it took them so long to push past their own barriers and shields.
Onto technicalities, the audiobook was great! I think I might recommend doing the audiobook alongside the ebook/physical book simply because there were parts where I wasn’t sure if the characters were saying something, or thinking it. If I had a physical copy, I definitely would’ve shuffled through to be sure. Otherwise, the voice acting was phenomenal, especially as a full cast production! Pacing was great. It never felt like it lagged, nor did I feel left behind. Just as I was would wonder when we were going to get to the winter games and wedding, we were there. It was perfectly timed to build the love connection up and set up the eventually fall. Yes, there’s a slight fall toward the end, but nothing outlandish. There were a lot of secondary characters, which makes sense if this is part of Blakely’s How to Date series which I haven’t read but really want to now! I think if I’d known more about them, I may have appreciated it more, but as it stood, I still loved it and the characters.
This winter season, I feel like we’ve been blessed with so many great holiday reads and My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely is absolutely a five star hit. If you want a spicy romance with strong leads that feel real and grounded, relatable, then you’ll love this. Definitely, definitely recommend!