*I received a free copy of Her Naughty Holiday from Harlequin BLAZE via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz Series: Men at Work #2
Published by Harlequin BLAZE on 18 october 2016
Pages: 224
Source: Netgalley
A feast she wasn't expecting!
Clover Greene would sooner crawl into her oven than host family for Thanksgiving dinner. Yet another annual ritual of too much food, served with a side of criticism over "Clover's Bad Life Choices." This year, she needs to distract them all—with a handsome fake boyfriend. And she has the perfect guy in mind.
Contractor Erick Fields is the poster boy for sexy single dads, and Clover has been secretly crushing on him for ages. She certainly wasn't expecting Erick to agree to her insane charade…or to add lots of hot, wicked sex to the deal. If they can pull it off, the worst Thanksgiving ever might give them something to be really thankful for!
Her Naughty Holiday is awesome sauce yumminess galore! Well written, funny, hot, steamy, naughty, hilarious and with really good characters, too!
Simply perfect. Delightful, and so much fun – those are just some adjectives that come to mind when trying to describe Her Naughty Holiday! And hiding in plain sight of the fluffy romance and steamy sexiness of this story, there is also a strong message concerning women. Or more importantly, outside expectations when it comes to women, and how they should live their lives. You know, what women need in their lives to be happy. Because it’s really as if we all share one consciousness, like those little green aliens in Toy Story. And we all need to be married and have children. Plus we need to continue listen to our parents until we have a husband who can tell us what to do instead. /sarcasm
I loved the way Reisz elegantly brought overbearing parents and other seemingly well-meaning people into the plot of Her Naughty Holiday, and even more so because while I knew Clover hated the way her family treated her, she had a very hard time saying anything about it to them. Erick on the other hand, having been raised by his 17-year-old goddess of a daughter knew that Clover didn’t need anyone to tell her what to do, only someone who would stand by her and show her they were proud of her.
So yeah, I got all that, and I also got so much hotness and sexy kinkiness and fun banter I’m still feeling hot myself. And I finished reading Her Naughty Holiday a full day before writing my review. And just thinking of Clover and Erick now makes my toes curl, and I want to grab my kindle and read through one of several favorite quotes I highlighted on it. Because it was the perfect romance, really. Reisz always surprises me in some ways when I read her books, and I am always in awe of her words. The writing is beautiful, and I love that there was more than romance going on. And that Clover managed to feel that confidence she needed to have to make sure she got what she wanted and neede in every aspect of her life.
Her Naughty Holiday is part of a series, but it can be read as a stand alone. Written in third person point of view, past tense, and mostly from Clover’s perspective, it’s a fast read, but it has a lot of substance. Erick was irresistible, the single dad who talked dirty when he was close to coming made so many iffy situations funny, and so many steamy ones even hotter. Run, run, run to get your own copy!!
“Fruit trees are fertility symbols. If we pray under that one you might get pregnant. Or worse, I might get pregnant.”
“Okay, we’ll skip the lemon tree, then. Although if I got pregnant that would shut my family up.”
“Your family wants you to get pregnant?”
“They want me to be happy. It’s awful.”
“Yeah, sounds absolutely horrible,” Ruthie said in her glorious teenage deadpan. “Screw them.”
“You’re very… sweet? Okay, no, but it’s nice of you to defend me. My family wants the best for me, but it’s always their version of ‘the best,’ not my version. I know exactly what Mom will say when I tell her about the buyout offer. She’ll say, ‘Oh Clo, honey, that’s wonderful. now you can quit work and finally focus on your personal life.’ I’d bet money on those exact words.”
“Weird. I’d say, ‘Oh, Clo, that’s wonderful. Five million dollars buys, like, five years of male escort services.”
“Are you offering to pay me to sleep with you?” He asked. “I hope so. That’s been a fantasy all my life. I can go to a bar and you can come in and pick me up. We don’t have to use real money. I’ll accept Monopoly-”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Bummer,” headsail. It was. He’d been nursing a crush on his daughter’s boss for a good year now, ever since he met Clover the day Ruthie started working at the nursery.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
This holiday series sounds great and I like the idea of this fake mates Thanksgiving romance.
Yeah, they knew pretty quickly they didn’t want anything between them to be fake 🙂 and they were both so totally and utterly awesome, Sophia!
Haha – the claaaaw! Now I want to watch Toy Story. I really do want to read this holiday series!
LOL the claaaw indeed 🙂 You should definitely read this series! It is truly awesome, and I’m pretty sure you’ll love it as much as I did, Christy.
I pre-ordered this one, Lexxie! 😀 And now I can’t wait to read it! I love that bit about Erick knowing the Clover just needs someone to stand beside her and let her know they’re proud. *sigh* He sounds like my kinda guy! And since it’s Reisz, I know I’ll love the writing. I’ll try to squeeze this one in this month.
Happy Tuesday, wifey! *BIG HUGS*
WooHoo Brandee! You are going to absolutely fall in love with both Erick and Clover 🙂 He is so our kind of guy, and yes, the writing is gorgeous as always 🙂 {{{BIG HUGS}}}
Twitter: lattenightsbook
Single dads who talk dirty *heart eyes* I need this! Honestly I would read this just for him hahaha
Yup, Gen, Erick is worth the detour for sure. And I think you’ll love him (and Clover) just as much as I did!
I am curious about the message about women, but I can see why this appealed to you, it seems to hold a strong point and thats amazing intertwined into a steamy romance? sounds fun 😀
I think that as women, we have so many people trying to tell us what to do and when to do it… So it’s really great when some of those questions that are important are taken into a contemporary romance it just brings more layers to the romance and makes it more realistic 🙂
I always love stories about “fake boyfriends” and this one sounds really great (and steamy!) =D
It’s really great, Stephanie, and I really love Reisz 🙂
I used to avoid this genre. Then a few authors talked me into reading their books. Now, I wonder how many fun reads I’ve missed. This sounds delicious! LOL
Oh wow… there are a lot of fun stories in contemporary romances 😀 Tiffany Reisz is a master storyteller, too, and her writing is so beautiful!!
Twitter: kbaby81
Great review, Lexxie!
Yeah, this one may be my favorite, and I haven’t read the last one yet. I get so freaking tired of my family and just ppl who I know in general, telling me to hurry up and get married and have some kids. It makes me so mad because I don’t want kids. I love my nieces, nephews and cousins but I have never wanted kids of my own. I just really related to Clover and Erick is just damn yummy!
I will never understand why people think it’s OK to tell women when to have children (or when they’ve had enough children – I have four!). Or why they think we necessarily need to be married even if we do want children. Or why it’s strange that women might not want children at all?
I loved Clover even if we weren’t in the same situation, because I think as a woman, I have been told when to have children (the next child – is it going to be the last one – omg, are you pregnant AGAIN?)…
Reisz is made of amazing, though, and it’s awesome that she can make women from all walks of life feel connected to her characters.