For Officer Justin Weaver, Christmas is the most hideous time of the year. To improve his “holiday cheer,”he’s been put on Officer Kringle duty, collecting toys for the Ho-Ho-Patrol.Review:
It’s a week in holiday hell.
Worse, it comes with an elf—his little sister’s gorgeous best friend—but Lilly Maddox isn’t so little anymore. And as an annoyingly festive reporter looking to make her mark, she’s there to document his every move.
Justin’s always had a thing for Lilly, but he refuses to go there with her. Ever. Not after watching what his mom went through as a cop’s wife. But now that they’re trapped in his squad car, avoiding her just got a lot more complicated...
I have been devouring holiday romances at a rapid rate this year so when I caught wind of Cyn D. Blackburn's Wrapped Up In You I instantly added it to my TBR pile.
The Result? My excellent holiday book trend continues! Wrapped Up in You is downright adorable. The characters are perfectly imperfect, the romance is sweet, and the HEA has enough sugar and spice to make even the grinch smile this Christmas.
Wrapped Up In You introduces us to Lilly Maddox and Justin Weaver, childhood enemies turned Ho-Ho-Patrol team members. Lilly and Justin have a complicated history, one that was only made worse by a horrible prank in high school, so to say there's some unresolved issues there would be an understatement. There's A LOT of unresolved issues, and they're all about to come flying out.
At first, I didn't love Lilly and Justin. Honestly, they annoyed me a little bit.
Justin was so grinch like - crotchety, grouchy, and slightly mean spirited. I could understand why he hated Christmas, but boy, I just wanted him to find some happiness and peace in the bad. However, as the book progressed, Justin became more likable and even a tad bit lovable. His interactions with the children of the Ho-Ho Patrol were some of my favorite moments of the book. They also made Justin appear more humanlike - a guy that could use his pain in life to help others in the same situation. Lily also made him more human like. Sure, she sometimes brought out the bad in him, but more times than that, she brought out the good in Justin.
At first, Lilly seemed very childlike. Her prank on Justin in high school was horrible, and it really left a bad taste in my mouth. As the book progressed, though, it was easy to see that Lilly just had some growing up to do. She's someone who has a hard time of seeing the consequences, of thinking before she acts and speaks, and really, which of us haven't been there before? Her relationship with Justin also became heartwarming as the book progressed. It was nice to see her try to resolve their past while also helping him towards his future.
The plot in this mainly revolves around Justin and Lilly's romance and the holiday season. Justin and Lilly's romance is the prime enemies-to-lovers romance, and I loved seeing it unfold. Times even got a tad bit suspenseful at the end, and even though I knew it would end up as a happily ever after, I still was on the edge of my seat. The holiday season in this was also a ton of fun! I loved seeing all the Christmas cheer and spirit, and it was also fun to see the mixing of a person who HATED Christmas and one who LOVED Christmas.
In all, Wrapped Up In You is another fun holiday romance, one that makes me incredibly excited to see what Cyn writes next. However, I will warn you all: this book takes a little while to warm up and get going.
Grade: B+
Wrapped Up in You is now out!
Source: eARC provided by publisher
Buy Links:
Author Links:
Lilly and Justin sound like they really did have some issues at the beginning of this! But, I do like that it moved on from that, and turned out to be something more. Great review!
ReplyDelete