This book is part of the Christmas Shenanigans series and is a light hearted short story of two unlucky neighbours falling in love. Evan Gabbert lives in his parent’s home, helping them make ends meet, whilst Jade O’lette has moved into a studio apartment in the building next door, in an effort to reduce her expenses and save a bit of money, whilst still working hard at such a low paying job. Jade had unexpectedly lost her teaching job and had to use all her savings and her credits cards to live on until her rental agreement was over. The cheap apartment was all she could manage and finally getting a job as a barista, finding she got more tips if she dressed up for the Christmas period, in fancy dress. Her first night in her new abode, she thought she had a ghost making a weird noise, only to find it was an overgrown tree branch from next door, thoroughly embarrassing herself looking out the window and spotting a hot man next door, whilst she had put on some weird stuff to protect herself from the ghost or an intruder! Evan had given up on corporate America right when he also found out his engagement exploded as he found out she had been cheating on him. His rent money helped his father work less hours and begin to save for retirement whilst allowing him to work on his own nerdy projects and help others with their computer issues as his main job.
When Jade is running late one morning for her shift at the coffee shop, she finds her old car stuck in ice, and as she tries to pull out the alleyway between the houses, her tyres spin and she ends up reversing right into someone else’s car! She has done more damage to her old car, than the one she crashed into, and finds the hot neighbour is the owner and isn’t as worried as her. Evan offers to drive her to work, so she won’t be any later for her shift, and even offers to call a friend of his for the parts to fix her car, all without calling the police after she admits she has no insurance! Since Evan’s mother had just been mentioning that his hated cousin Rob was coming over for a Christmas dinner that weekend, he suddenly blurts out he has a girlfriend and will bring her over, not wanting his cousin to one up him yet again. Having Jade owing him, he asks if she would pretend to be his girlfriend and she soon becomes part of his plan to beat his spoilt cousin for once. It should have been easy, but they find they have lots of easy conversations and she takes to her role like an expert, with an easy manner, that makes it all seem so real and suddenly, he wishes it was. Rob however, has his doubts and so they end up on a joint date, which Rob manages to twist around completely, leaving them apart and Evan not knowing why! Lots of chemistry and a clean read with lots of Christmas family fun. Shocking to see how Rob acts and how he treats Evan and even the woman he is supposed to be marrying. A fun situation with one of his mother’s cheesecakes and a new opportunity for a job and a future together. I look forward to reading more of these light reads with a great touch of romance, which makes them fun to read.
I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.