Holiday Reviews: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year and A Winter Wish

Posted December 25, 2024 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

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I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.

Holiday Reviews: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year and A Winter WishThe Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Mystery/Thriller
Published by HarperCollins on September 24, 2024
Also by this author: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, My True Love Gave To Me, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Only the Good Spy Young, All Fall Down, Out of Sight, Out of Time, United We Spy, See How They Run, Take the Key and Lock Her Up, Not If I Save You First
Format: Audio/eARC (304 pages) • Source: Publisher, Spotify Audiobooks
GoodreadsAmazon Barnes & Noble
four-half-stars

"Full of tongue-in-cheek humor, excellent dialogue, and fantastic characters, this expertly crafted story from Carter (The Blonde Identity) is a heart-melting rivals-to-lovers romance combined with a delightful locked-room mystery." — Library Journal (starred review)

Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room two days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:

She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.

He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

The laugh out loud holiday "romystery" that you've been waiting for!

Story

I’ve been an Ally Carter stan since I was a preteen so you know I’m going to be here for anything she puts out. I didn’t love her previous adult mystery/romance and was really hoping this one would be better for me. I’m thrilled to report that it was!

Maggie and Ethan are rival mystery book authors (according to Maggie at least). They’re both heading out on a mysterious Christmas trip, no clue that they were invited by the Agatha Christie of their time (Eleanor Ashley). They, along with members of Eleanor’s family, were brought to her huge mansion/castle in the English countryside for some reason. When Eleanor goes missing a few days before Christmas, Maggie and Ethan use their crime, poison, and general mystery trope knowledge to try to figure out what happened and where she is.

I really enjoyed the romance between these two and the setting was incredible. Only one bed, enemies-to-lovers, he-fell-first… all the good tropes! The fact that there was also a mystery in the backdrop made this book even better. Carter did a great job balancing both genres IMO but I do wish there was a liiiittle more of the mystery. I think the Knives Out plus holiday rom-com comparison was perfect for this book, which also means additional puzzles, riddles, and time with other characters would have been welcome.

Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels

The book is set at a snowy castle on 20,000 acres in England with no phone signal, plus there’s a snow storm that takes out their power… what more could you ask for in a holiday mystery? The book takes place right before Christmas and ends on Christmas Day so it’s RIGHT in the thick of things, but it’s not necessarily a Christmassy book. They don’t do anything festive really.

Overall

I’d love to give this book five stars because the banter and romance were good and the mystery was really fun, but there are a lot of random holes – if you think about this too much (or analyze it like we did at my mystery/thriller book club this month…), you’ll ruin the experience.

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Holiday Reviews: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year and A Winter WishA Winter Wish by Emily Stone
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday
Published by Random House Publishing Group on October 15, 2024
Also by this author: One Last Gift
Format: Audiobook, eBook, Paperback (368 pages) • Source: Libby, Purchased, Spotify Audiobooks
three-half-stars

When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday novel from the author of Always, in December and One Last Gift

When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.

Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.

Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.

There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.

Story

This book started out pretty strong for me and has a good premise – the main character Lexie, estranged from her father, inherits half of his holiday travel company. She’s splitting it with a longtime employee, Theo, and the two of them have to manage it together for a year, see if they turn a profit, and then decide the fate of the business.

I didn’t really like Lexie – she was definitely stubborn (especially at the end) but did enjoy Theo for the most part. I wasn’t sure how I would turn around my initial feelings about him but we managed it.

I’ll get into this more in the Holiday Feels section but because the book took place over a year, it jumps forward in time a lot – sometimes in a confusing way. They’ll be on a vacation and then suddenly the next chapter is “we’re home from the trip and here’s what’s happening,” kind of leaving things off in the middle. Even a sex scene got cut off right before they actually did anything and resumed with “afterward…” lol. Because of this, the book in general felt jumpy and not fun to follow.

The travel/trips were enjoyable to read and again, the overall premise was fun. There was a lot of discussion about complex feelings of grief and good family vibes as a result. It makes for a sort of heavier holiday book but I didn’t think it was AS sad as some other reviews made it seem?

Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels

The story starts around Christmas and follows the characters during their first year of owning the business, so the book is kind of bookmarked with Christmas celebrations (plus they have a Christmas in July party in the middle). I wouldn’t say this really FEELS super Christmassy but the “holiday travel” aspect of the business creates a few different holiday-related experiences for the reader. Not what I personally wanted for one of my coveted Christmas books this year though.

Overall

I definitely liked the first half more than the second but the ending was nice (after some frustrating moments). I’ve been finishing this year with some mid books and unfortunately this one ended up that way for me as well. I had checked this out from Libby and then accidentally turned my Kindle off airplane mode so it returned halfway through… I kind of wish I had just finished the book via audio but I ended up buying the book. Womp.

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