The Naughty, The Nice, and The Nanny by Willa Nash (Holiday Brothers #1)

One week with one little girl—an angel, according to my staffing agency. Acting as the short-term nanny for a single dad should have been an easy way to make some extra cash. Until I show up for my first day and face off with a demon disguised as a seven-year-old girl wearing a red tutu and matching glitter slippers.

 

Oh, and her father? My temporary boss? Maddox Holiday. The same Maddox Holiday I crushed on in high school. The same Maddox Holiday who didn’t even know I existed. And the same Maddox Holiday who hasn’t set foot in Montana for years because he’s been too busy running his billionaire empire.

 

Enduring seven days is going to feel like scaling the Himalayas in six-inch heels. Toss in the Holiday family’s annual soiree, and Christmas Eve nightmares really do come true. But I can do anything for a week, especially for this paycheck, even if it means wrangling the naughty, impressing the nice, and playing the nanny.

 Series: Holiday Brothers #1  |  Genre: Contemporary Romance  | Source:  Kindle Unlimited | Rating: 3 

This was a cute, quick holiday read that’s the first in a series that follows three brothers in the days leading up to Christmas.  While this book wasn’t overly Christmassy, it’s still enough to give you that holiday cheer.

 

Maddox needs a nanny for his troublesome daughter, Violet, so the agency sends Natalie, who happens to be in need of a little extra cash to fix up her vehicle so she’s determined to not to let Violet get the best of her. Although, surprisingly, it’s not Violet that’s causing the problems, Natalie’s still harboring the crush on Maddox she’s had since high school and it appears he’s been harboring one for her as well. The only problem is, she doesn’t date her employers.

 

If there’s a governess/nanny and employer romance I will likely read it thanks to my love of Jane Eyre and this one did not disappoint. I thought that this was a cute novella. Violet was a bit of a brat and I found part of me wanting her father to sit her down and figure out what was going on with her but he’s a little preoccupied with having a house built in his hometown and running his streaming company. Natalie’s able to connect to with Violet because she knows what’s it like to have an absent mother. Maddox and Natalie made a cute couple and they had some fun moments together.

 

This one was a little insta-love and, for a novella, it kind of worked although I would have loved to have more of Maddox and Natalie getting to know each other. While they knew each other in the past, they didn’t have an actual relationship, so I do feel as though a little more relationship building would have been appreciated. While we see their relationship developing off page, there’s a lot bonding between Natalie and Violet and, while that was nice, most of that could have been off the page and summed up in a few paragraphs here and there and the focus put back on Natalie and Maddox.

 

This is the first book in the series and it gives you just enough information about Heath and Tobias Holiday that you want to know their stories. I do recommend picking up the entire series as the books all take place within the same timeframe.

 

Originally, I did pick this series up from Audible Plus then ended up picking them up on Kindle Unlimited.  Vanessa Edwin and Aaron Shedlock did a brilliant job narrating this one and I ended up listening to half of this then reading the other half, just because it was quicker. I did speed up the narration a bit but wasn’t a fan of how jumbled it sounded, so switching to the book was the best option.

 

Overall, there’s a little bit of drama, a little bit of Christmas, some childish hijinks, and a bit of romance. I do think that this would have benefited from giving Maddox and Natalie a romantic past or from making this a full-length book. This is still worth a read and I do recommend it, especially if you’re looking for something quick.