BOOKWORM REVIEW: If Only In My Dreams by Carrie Aarons

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥

What is it with me and holiday books that make me cry? I came for cheery, cheesy enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, and I get an emotional roller coaster about devastating secrets and life-changing decisions.

Madison is back in her hometown, licking her wounds after a surprise divorce from her husband. Dealing with this and small-town gossip, the last she needed is to deal with the other person who made lasting dents in her heart while they were in high school.

Porter just want to be left alone. Sure, he wrote a book that exposed who his father is, and he likes to post videos of him singing original songs on YouTube, but he just want to live in his cabin in peace with his dog Jenny. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently so, since these two keep crossing paths and slowly unraveling each other's secrets, and how that unfolds is fantastic. Porter is broody and can be cutting to Madison at the beginning, but his character's development arc throughout the book is fantastic to read. Madison is his perfect match with her own arc to overcome, and what I love about these two arcs is that while they as characters support each other through that journey, they independently make their own strides.

I don't know what it is with broody recluses, but they apparently make for the hottest bedmates. Those moments in this book were very steamy as their banter carries on between the sheets.

This book is well paced and just has fantastic storytelling. If you are trying to get into the holiday spirit (like me) but need extra feels with your romance, this is a great pick.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

'Tis the season to ... be freshly divorced at twenty-six and moving back into your parents' house?

Because that's my reality this Christmas. As if it isn't bad enough that my entire hometown is buzzing with the news of my failed marriage, who is the first person I bump into at the grocery store? The guy who treated me like his personal booty call in high school just happens to be looking at spices while I'm trying to pick up cinnamon for my mother.

And get this; Porter Kelly, the broody, mysterious recluse who exposed his own secrets to the world by writing a book about his family years ago, is the one who acts like I wronged him. His rude remarks on aisle nine are the final straw as my exhausted unhappiness breaks, and I'm officially calling off the most wonderful time of the year.

Too bad it's literally impossible for the woman whose parents own a railroad that specializes in Christmas train rides to ignore the holiday season. Because I'm back under their roof, it's mandatory to work in the middle of the red and green merriment, Santa himself, and wait for it ...

Porter serenading us with the greatest festive hits of all time. That's right, apparently my teenage heartthrob turned nemesis not only works for my parents, but can strum a guitar like he's trying to get every soccer mom on board pregnant. As we're forced to spend more time together than ever, his past baggage and my marital rejection make their way to the surface, bonding us in ways neither of us knew possible.

I thought I was heartbroken about my ex-husband wanting to end our marriage, but that pain is nothing compared to what Porter could inflict. He seems like a changed man, one on the precipice of a new chapter, which is exactly where I find myself. Would it be crazy to think we could turn the page together?

Returning home was the only option I had. But as I come dangerously close to counting on the first man who broke my heart, I wonder if all of my future dreams are too good to be true.

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Meet Carrie Aarons

Author of romance novels such as Fool Me Twice and Love at First Fight, Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the love stories of her imagination, and the athleisure dress code, much better.

When she isn't writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She's a Jersey girl living in Texas with her husband, daughter, son, and Great Dane/Lab rescue.

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