Mini Reviews: How to Lose a Guy Before Christmas & A Highland Ghost for Christmas by Jo-Ann Carson

After a snowstorm grounds her flight, Lucy makes a last-ditch effort to get home for Christmas using a rideshare app. She thinks she’ll be taking a road trip with a stranger … but the guy who shows up is someone she knows all too well. He’s the hookup she ghosted a few months ago, and now she’ll be stuck in a car with him for the most awkward road trip of her life.

 

Making matters worse, he’s even more gorgeous than she remembers—too bad things between them are frostier than the North Pole. Will the long ride home allow them to get to know each other in surprising new ways? And more importantly, will the season warm things up and send sparks flying yet again? Whatever happens, one thing is clear: It’s going to take a whole lot of Christmas magic to unlock their guarded hearts.

 Publisher: Audible  | Narrators: Jason Clarke, Andi Arndt | Length: 5 h 24 min. | Genre: Contemporary Romance  | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 3.5

If you’re looking for a fun, quick, slightly cheesy Christmas rom-com, this is the book for you. Imagine having to share a rideshare with your one-night stand then getting stuck in a Christmassy little town full of zany residents while trying not to fall for the guy you ghosted. While I did enjoy the majority of this one, it had a few minor issues (mainly the cause of the conflict not being strong enough and a few odd things at the end) but nothing that couldn’t be overlooked.

Overall, it wasn’t the best book in the world but it was fun, especially for an end of the year read. Think of this as a PG-13 Hallmark movie, they’re not the best but they make the season bright. 

Jilted by her fiancé, librarian Maddy Jacobson is nursing a broken heart, when her best friend gives her an early Christmas present. Intended to be a fun, psychic reading in a spooky, tea house, the gift turns out to be life changing. Maddy becomes haunted by a mischievous, Highland ghost.

Ruggedly handsome, Cullen Macfie, the Highlander, has been dead for over three centuries, and never in all those years has he been so attracted to a woman, as he is to Maddy. He falls hopelessly in love and decides to woo her.

Can there be a future for a librarian and a naughty, Highland ghost?

Series: Gambling Ghosts #1 | Publisher: | Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Romance  | Source: Purchased  | Rating: 2.5

A haunted teahouse, a Highlander ghost, and a brokenhearted librarian have a festive holiday season while trying to heal her broken heart.

 

This was a cute concept for a novella and made for a quick, light read. While it was fun, it was a bit over the top and not fully developed. The ending was a little out there, but this concept was a little out there, and, for some reason, there’s a lot of baking going on in such a short amount of time. We’re also treated to a lot of Gaelic quotes straight from Outlander.