Merry Little Hate Notes

by Jennifer Peel

Sometimes all love needs is a merry little hate note.



A woman does her very best to avoid at least one of the following people in her an annoying coworker, her brother’s best friend, and her first kiss. Unfortunately, for me, all three happen to be the same person—Brandon Cassidy. I’ve done my best to avoid the man, even if it means working in the ladies’ room whenever he visits the main office. Sadly, my days of hiding are coming to an end because I’ve been assigned to assist Brandon through the end of the year. The holiday season is already hard for me, but this . . . this is just the icing on the fruitcake that is my life. To add insult to injury, Brandon resurrects our old childhood game—the hate note game. I’m trying to resist the urge to engage, because do I ever have some hateful things to say to him. But that’s only because I really used to love him. Ugh. Please don’t repeat that. Like ever.



Sometimes you want something so badly, you do things you regret. Like kissing your best friend’s little sister on her sweet sixteen and then letting her believe it was all a dare. I’ve tried my best to move on from Holly St. James over the years, but how do you forget the girl you fell in love with before you even liked girls? When the opportunity arises to work closely with Holly, I jump at it. Unfortunately, the woman does her best to ignore me. So, I devise the only plan I can think of to get her attention—the hate note game. Anything to get her to talk to me. Because there are things she needs to know. First, how sorry I am. Second, I’ve never stopped loving her.

USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Peel presents a swoony holiday romance that proves when it comes to falling in love, sometimes all it takes is a little hate.

Genres: Christmas, Romance, Holiday, Contemporary, Enemies To Lovers, Fiction, Second Chance

238 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2024

About the author

Jennifer Peel is the mother of three amazing kiddos. Wife to her one and only for the past twenty-two years. Lover of late night talks, beach vacations, the mountains, pink bubble gum ice cream, tours of model homes, and southern living. She can frequently be found with her laptop on, fingers typing away, indulging in chocolate milk, and writing out the stories that are constantly swirling through her head.

Reviews

[Izzie (semi-hiatus) McFussy · Rating 2 out of 5]

AHOY! VAGUE SPOILER AHEAD!

Another Christmas story where the MMC has loved the FMC forever but they’re on the outs. Why did I read it? Well, the blurb was cute and lively. It hinted at an enemies to lovers, workplace romance. The actual book—boring, repetitive, with a touch of melancholy. I began skimming at 22%, then DNF’d at 30% Jumped to the end to get a little closure. Couldn’t make it past three paragraphs before I skimmed to a Hatemark ending.


🧝‍♀️ Holiday Book Warning Signs 🧝‍♀️

🧌Secondary character’s abuelas are never seen but referred to 7x.
🧌Costco is mentioned 25x.

[Julie Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Christmas rom-com story you need in your life! The perfect balance of laughter, emotions, hatred (think enemies-to-lovers), healing, swooniness and love!!! Seriously it is the BEST!!!

I was dying to read this one with all of the teasers that Jennifer Peel was sharing for it. And let me just tell you that I squealed and did a happy dance with lots of giggles when I received an early copy of it!!! Oh! My! Heart!!!! It's adorable! That prologue will have you all kinds of cheering for Holly and Brandon! But be warned...you might want to give Brandon a talking to, cause hello!!! How could he ever walk away from Holly?! There are some circumstances that cause them to go their separate way but oh la la to when they finally meet up again. Holly is a tough nut to crack but Brandon is not walking away from her again. Be still my heart!!!

The Merry Little Hate Notes are the icing on the cake! I was cracking up reading them. So clever! I loved Holly's spin on the sticky note messages. It was the best watching her come out of her shell.

Things I absolutely loved:
The TED talk *swoon*
Working in the bathroom *giggling*
Christmas Tree Hunting
Her Dad
His Parents
Blue sticky notes
Work Forced-Proximity (no hiding this time Holly)
Workplace Holiday Cheer Activities *Good job sidekick*
Best sidekick EVER!!!! *You're going to love all of the conversations/thoughts about this*
That kiss *the first one and each one after*
Allllll of the Christmas vibes
Everything!!! *Seriously, I loved it all*

The cover is absolutely adorable and is a great portrayal of the cuteness you'll find within the pages. I will definitely be rereading this one again here soon and getting a copy for my bookshelves!

I'm going to recommend reading this one with a cup of hot cocoa, a comfy blanket, some twinkle lights and some soft holiday music in the background. Just make sure you pause in your reading to drink your hot cocoa because you don't want to be spitting it out when you laugh. Fair warning! ;-) Maybe you'll even start your own little sticky notes messages with someone special out there! <3

Content: Some kisses and nothing more. The characters share a hotel room but nothing happens between them. There are a few mild swear words. ****Trigger warnings: Death of a relative and talk of a secondary character who is an alcoholic****

I received a copy from the author. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading and Note Writing and Giggling and Swooning!!!

[zoeereads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was super cute until it wasn‘t! 30/40% in, I was ready to give this book 5 stars but then the story just kind of went on and on and lead nowhere. The conflict between our couple (mind you, it was a shitty thing to do from the mmc but they were both kids and in comparison to what actual shitty things people do, this was kind of not worth being pissed about 10+ years later), draaaaaags through this book and at one point i got so annoyed that i just didn‘t love reading this book anymore. So much miscommunication about one stupid mistake and so much dancing around the topic instead of having a conversation that would solve the issues in like 2 minutes. 🥲

[Danielle Overly Backlogged · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50%.

I guess two stars for keeping me interested enough to make it halfway 🤷‍♀️ but that’s all you’re getting.

The humor was very middle school and corny, the “hate notes” which were all Christmas themed, were cringe level corny. The big falling out “secret” was ridiculous and I just couldn’t tolerate the lack of communication anymore. These are grown ass people who CANNOT TALK TO EACH OTHER. Help me Jesus. Plus I was bored silly. Literally nothing happened except some silly team building exercises at work and a one night business trip during which… you guessed it, nothing happens.

It reads very much like unedited self-pubbed Wattpad crap.

[Kathy Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

When life gives you lemons, throw them back, and curl up with a good book. After the last couple of weeks I've had, I could not wait to do just that. I woke up early this morning, did all the things I needed to do, put my pajamas back on, and just read the day away. Best. Day. Ever. 😍

What can I say about Holly and Brandon. *dreamy sigh* Oh holy swooniness with a side of all the feels Batman. These two were made for each other. Between their banter, merry little hate notes, smokin' hot kisses, sweet moments, and seeing each other in a way no one else has before, had me rooting for them throughout their entire journey. And oh what a journey it was! There's a lot of hurt and guilt they had to wade through to get it, but if ever anyone needed a HEA, it would be Holly and Brandon.

Now, don't let the mention of hurt and guilt fool you. While this book has some heartachingly beautiful moments, it had even more hilarious ones. Y'all. I just can't with everyone in this book! Between Holly and Brandon, and the rest of the crew I may or may not have snort laughed a time or two... or five. Gah! I loved this book and did not want it to end! It's absolute perfection!

It always feels like Christmas morning whenever I get my hands on one of Ms. Peel's book babies for the first time. I swear they just keep getting better and better! I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Y'all. I absolutely love, love, LOVE this casting! They definitely give me heart eyes! What do you think?!

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ cute & clean for the girlies who prefer less smut

[Shauni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cute! It gave all the warm holiday vibes I was looking for. This author never disappoints.

[Dev G · Rating 5 out of 5]

O. Holy. Night. I am sMITTEN with Brandon and Holly.

Did this book pack a punch! Whew!!!

You know a book is going to be good when you’re already swooning and getting teary-eyed in the first two chapters.

Once upon a time they were childhood friends and neighbors. Now they’re strangers with nothing but memories and regret.

Brandon and Holly both struggle with Christmas after experiencing a horrible loss.

After years of avoiding his hometown, Brandon is back and he’s determined to make amends with Holly. The problem is she can’t stand him. Now they’re coworkers working side by side and she’d rather he get run over by a reindeer.

How can Brandon and Holly move on from their past and hopefully find joy and healing?

I loved how determined Brandon was in trying to get back in to Holly’s life. She did not make it easy on him. Every bump and set back just made Brandon work harder.

The journey back to each other was filled with hilarious moments like wearing ugly sweaters to emotional situations like picking out a Christmas tree for the first time in years.

I was giddy, I was sighing, I was laughing, I was crying. Swoonworthy, humorous, and emotionally touching. It was everything I’ve come to love from a Jennifer Peel book.

[Kati *☆･ﾟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5**** stars


Great audio, charming holiday romance.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute, but it took me way to long to finally finish the book.

[Annie Yensz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely confused by how high the ratings are for this book.

I kept finding myself wondering if it was written by AI. The repetition of weird phrasings and just all over-ness of the story was off putting.

[Noelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 🎧 Audiobook

I had such high hopes for this but was completely disappointed in the book and in myself for not DNFing it. I must learn to follow my own advice and call it on stories that end up being a waste of time - especially when I realize how things are gonna go as early as 10%. There's a reason certain audios are free.

This had potential - Christmas and secret notes. Hate Notes, nonetheless! A recipe for such joy! And my man JF Harding was one of the narrators, but good grief was this painful. Juvenile, cheesy in the worst way, and the hate notes were abysmal. It was so poorly done.

I'm just sad about it. Hoping to find a holiday audio to help me recover from this.

[Asset · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is NOT enemies to lovers. This is a **miscommunication* trope. Has cute moments but I was completely pissed when a love interest confesses THE ENTIRE BOOKS PLOT while “sleeping”. I don’t care about the characters enough & now I don’t care about the story—why should I waste time continuing on. I paid $8ish dollars for this and would rather have a Starbucks.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cheesy, festive, emotional, and fun! I found myself tearing up quite a bit while reading and liked this more than I originally thought I would! A wonderful Thanksgiving break read :)

[Heather.loves.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merry Little Hate Notes by: Jennifer Peel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
RELEASES 10.22 🎉
Audio available now 💕

📖She is the one that got away. He never had a chance with her before. Brandon is going to do whatever it takes to show Holly he is worthy of her love. Even if that means, having his mom as a wingman

🎧Dual narrators were both excellent

-Enemies to more
-Workplace
-Witty Banter
-Forced Proximity
-Trip to Aspen

Each character needed to face their past in order to find healing.

There is a beautiful message of restoration in this story.

The epilogue felt like a giant hug to the heart. I loved it.

CW: kisses
TW: grief, parental abandonment, alcohol abuse, death of a sibling

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I hated to admit the conversation starters weren’t terrible. Because the only thinking I could think of saying was, Holly, I’ve loved you since I was ten years old. Somehow, I didn’t think that was going to go over too well, considering she thought I was Satan.”

Every chapter began with a hate note exchange between Brandon and Holly and I loved it. A past incident involving her brother’s best friend and a regretful kiss leaves this couple in the hate zone. There’s nothing that amps up the zings and electricity better than the friction of an enemies vibe, and the undercurrents of attraction give this one all the feels.

There are a lot of individual issues to wade through with this duo and I loved the way Jennifer Peel conveyed every emotion while the growth and development began to thrive. Brandon is all grown up and ready to face the entirety of his heart. Holly is done running and is prepared to overcome her challenges. These two go together like mistletoe and kisses, reindeer and a sleigh, Santa and cookies.

This story tattooed itself onto my heart and I loved every little note and page. Many thanks to the author for the review copy. But wait! Did I buy myself an audio copy? Why, yes, I did. I was fascinated by these narrators–loved their voices and loved the alternating points-of-view with each chapter.

Content: kisses; mild language

*I received a complimentary copy, but also borrowed on KU and bought on audio. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given*

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

🎄The vibes:
- coworker
- Brothers best friend
- Childhood friends
- grief
- Closed door

🎄 My thoughts :
I liked a lot of things here. The vibes were there for me. I love brother’s best friend and Christmas elements in books - and it’s hard to go wrong with those for me. This book had both and did both of those elements really well.

🎄 I wanted more backstory of Holly’s dad and also with Holly’s brother, Christian, concerning their drinking issues. I also sometimes felt like Holly was making a bigger deal out of the teenage grievance than it seemed. HOWEVER, I think the author convinced me that Holly had a LOT going on that culminated in those feelings Were there questions with the plot for me? Yes. But I enjoyed the book overall, and I had that happy, smiley feeling with Holly and Brandon that I love to feel when I’m reading a romance.

🗒️ Something to note- the post it note graphics at the begining of each chapter were confusing to me. My early assumption was they were notes they wrote to each other but then at some point it was clear that only Brandon’s notes were given to her at some of the chapters and the note from Holly was sometimes a note she wanted to leave for him but didn’t. So I was confused with them being there because sometimes they were not even notes that she had left for him. I proceeded to ignore them and that was no big deal.

Note- closed door

[Kim Golding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merry Little Hate Notes is a fun Christmas book full of laugh out loud moments, hate note passing, a wingman, a brother’s best friend, a second chance at love, a found Christmas, some holiday competitions, and some healed hearts. It’s simply perfection!

Brandon and Holly have known each other since Holly was 8 and while Brandon was her brother‘s best friend, he was also Holly’s friend. However, a birthday kiss, and a lie quickly changes everything between these two and so begins the “hate note“ passing.

Now, years later, they are working together, but Brandon is ready to make amends and let Holly know how he’s always felt. When he starts passing sticky notes again, Holly is not amused. But with some forced proximity and help from Brandon’s wingman (aka his mom), Holly’s heart starts to melt.

Such a fun, Christmas book! Add it to your TBR

[Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was this a quick read? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Not really…

Filled with every trope in the book (including all the bad ones), this book was so repetitive with the absolute strangest unnecessary details. And glazed over some of the most important and pivotal plot points.

Since this was a book club read, I did take some notes (that I didn’t end up needing to share because it seemed like we were all on the same page…)

- Take a shot every time she says “untoward” “foot pop” “Monica and Chandler”

- What is all the hate on Costco?!

[Kristina Becouvarakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this on my Kindle and needed a palette cleanser after my last book. Could not be more predictable and I thought reading a holiday book in February wouldn’t bother me but it did. I was expecting more substance to the “hate notes” because I love the trope of pen pals/characters writing love letters to one another. The hate notes were literal post-it notes that I didn’t feel fit their adult characters. Overall cute book but not my favorite holiday rom com! 2.5⭐️ but I always round up on Goodreads!

[Callie Kakascik · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun to find a 2nd chance romance that doesn't have a 3rd act breakup! This one hit that, but beware, there are some heartbreaking parts.

The title says it all: she and her brother's best friend have been giving each other funny little hate notes since they met, until one night on her 16th birthday, and that's when the story picks up.

The characters are likable, the story has a lot of heartfelt parts, and it all surrounds Christmas.

4.25 stars

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

so amazing!

This rom com was just so amazing! I listened to it on audible and the narrators were fabulous! The story was sweet, there were some tough topics of death, grief, and divorce…..but there was also tenderness and reconciliation. Brandon was a worthy hero who had pined after Holly since he was 10 years old. Holly was completely adorable, and had her fair share of hard knocks. Their HEA journey was poignant and heartwarming. Very good book that I highly recommend!

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found out about this book totally at random but I was in the mood to read some Christmas novellas so I decided to pick this up.

This story had everything. . . drama, cute moments and fun ones. Overall this was a good read.

▬ 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: childhood friends, friend's sister, pen pals, work/office romance (colleagues), forced proximity, holiday (Christmas)
▬ 𝐭𝐰: death, substance abuse

[Laura Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Peels books are always so much fun! I thought this best friends brother, second chance romance was so cute! Loved the holiday challenges and the notes. Brandon and Holly had bern sending them to each other since they were kids. I enjoyed how they carried them over into adulthood in in new way. Lots of tension and this is a slow burn but it’s oh so good!

[Karen Hersh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light-hearted and fun romance. Enjoyable Christmas backdrop. Some things get repeated a little too often... Like the fact that the male protagonist's mother is his wingman.

I highly recommend the audiobook version with dual narrators. They do a great job bringing the back-and-forth to life.

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, fluffy Hallmark Christmas book.

[Ashleigh Benz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a cute read, especially when they finally kissed

[Kristen Pennell · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Christmas feels 🎄🫶🏼. The perfect Christmas romance

[Callie Burkholder · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️