Fiancé Under the Mistletoe

by Jacquelin Thomas

Their fake engagement…

Could be a Christmas calamity!

Tami Adams can’t resist Christmas on beautiful Polk Island—but getting dumped shortly before the holidays wasn’t her plan. So, she forms a new plan to guarantee a truly happy festive season, free from her mother’s pushy get fake-engaged to her best friend, Aiden Worthington. Aiden’s avoiding Christmas since his dad passed, but helping Tami might help him get through the holidays. There’s only one problem—this pretend relationship’s feeling a little too real. Going from “coupled for Christmas” back to “just friends” might be harder than they thought… 

From Harlequin  Wholesome stories of love, compassion and belonging.

A Polk Island Story

Book 1: His Carolina Redemption
Book 2: Fiancé Under the Mistletoe

332 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2025

About the author

Jacquelin Thomas is an award-winning, best selling author with 94 titles published. Her books have garnered several awards, including two EMMA awards, the Romance In Color Reviewers Award, Readers Choice Award and the Atlanta Choice Award in the Religious & Spiritual category. Jacquelin was a 2005 honoree at the Houston Black Film Festival for the movie adaptation of her novel, Hidden Blessings. She was the first recipient to receive the Writers Achievement Award at the North Carolina Book Festival in Winston-Salem. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine.

Jacquelin has published in the romance, women's fiction, inspirational and young adult genres. Her second book in the YA series, Divine Confidential was nominated for a 2008 NAACP Image Award.

Jacquelin is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Jacknthebooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet and fluffy read that I enjoyed. It felt a little long-winded in some parts of the book. However, it didn't take away from the story. I love a good friends to lovers romance, and this one hit the mark. Tami and Aiden were the perfect fit for each other. Tami's mom, though she had good intentions, worked my last nerve. She just couldn't let her daughter live her life the way she wanted. Daniel helped her see the error in her ways, though. Aiden and his struggles with grief pulled at my heart. He really needed to open up to someone instead of holding everything in.

My favorite parts were the family dynamics. I loved reading their traditions for the holidays. This story will pull you in and make you feel all the Christmas feels. Perfect holiday read with hints of romance.

[Natasha P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw the blurb and thought this would be a holiday hit—fake dating and friends to lovers? Count me in. I’m a sucker for a festive romance with a little sparkle and a lot of heart. Sadly, Fiancé Under the Mistletoe didn’t deliver the cozy Christmas magic I was hoping for. The overall tone was more somber than expected, and there wasn’t much actual romance to hold on to. Tami and Aiden’s connection felt flat, and the chemistry that makes this trope work just wasn’t there. I wanted swoony moments and playful banter, but what I got instead felt more like two people going through the motions than falling in love.

#FiancéUndertheMistletoe
#netgalley

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 (there was a scene towards the end that grabbed me a bit)
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋 (the kisses are very light)
Sex Scene Length: 0
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 0, only kisses
Humor: Not much, I found it a more somber read
Perspective: third person from the hero and heroine and a bit from the heroine’s mother
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? slow
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in, end of chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after for the mains
Epilogue: Yes, 6 months later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley in e-book form
Why I chose this book: the cover grabbed by eye
Mains: Aiden Worthington and Tami Adams – This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine
(Descriptions found at end of my review)

Should I read in order?
This is fine alone.

Basic plot:
Tami finds herself cheated on and broken up with – and left without a date to the wedding she was going to attend. Luckily her friend Aiden offers to be her plus one.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- Polk Island setting
- holiday romance
- childhood friends to lovers
- fake dating / engagement
- overcoming grief
- psychologist heroine
- secondary romance with the heroine’s mother
- low to no steam – just brief kisses on page

Ages:
- heroine is 33, I’m assuming hero is the same/similar – they were in the same grade at school

First line:
The train’s rhythmic hum filled the cabin as Tami Adams stared out at the scenic landscape speeding past her window.

My thoughts:
When I saw the Heartwarming line, I was expecting no sex on page and probably reading very similar to a Hallmark Christmas movie, which I can totally like!

But I found this one a bit more….subdued than I wanted? The set up for this one was really cute – holiday time in a smaller town, best friends concocting a fake engagement...but I think I wanted a bit more holiday cheer? I liked the beginning but then the doubts and fears of their charade, and the hero’s grief, seemed to replay repeatedly in internal thoughts. It just went on too long for me and felt repetitive without new development into their relationship.

Aiden’s falling for Tami seemed tainted with grief and remorse and dread and it made me sad.

I actually enjoyed Tami’s mother’s secondary romance more. I thought she was adorable, definitely a lot of personality, and it was nice seeing her get her HEA as well.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first
Average rating from me: 3 stars
Favorite book: This one by default

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- heroine thought she would be engaged to be married but her boyfriend broke up with her and said he was marrying someone else (he was cheating)
- parental death
-
Author content warnings? Didn’t catch any (I always encourage you to check author’s websites, since Amazon penalizes authors for certain content warning words in their novels)


Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

Safe sex: No sex on page
How’s the consent? It’s good
Pregnancy/children in story? There’s side character children and a side character announces a pregnancy, nothing for the mains
only kisses on page


Extra stuff like what my review breakdown means, where to find me, and book clubs


Full break down on what my ratings above mean here:
Overall: How I felt about it everything considered!
Readability: How ‘readable’ was the book? Did I fly through it? Did I have to tell myself to pick it back up repeatedly? Were any passages confusing? (I will probably score like (1) is literally unreadable due to formatting/typing errors, etc (2) There were lots of errors that made it difficult to read OR It was extremely confusing and I had to reread passages to make sense of it OR I disliked it so much I had to bribe myself to keep reading (3) I didn’t really want to keep reading and would have preferred to abandon the read and start something else OR some minor continuity issues/confusion (4) I liked it fine, maybe a minor error or 2. I was happy to pick it up when I had time. (5) I never wanted to put this down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I hid in the bathroom from my kids to read. I threw inappropriate food at my children for dinner so I could read instead.)
Feels: Totally subjective to each person but did the book give me any tingles? Any butterflies? Did it rip my heart out (in a good way?)
Emotional depth: How well do I feel I know the characters at the end? How much did I feel their emotions throughout the story?
Sexual tension: Again, subjective, but how strong was the wanting and longing to me between the characters? A book might have strong sexual tension without a single touch.
Romance: Was there romance? Did romantic things happen? This can be actions/words/thoughts of the characters and again is subjective.
Sensuality: This is how the intimate scenes are written. Kisses and sexual scenes – how sensual were they? Were they on the mechanical side? Was there emotional pull tied in? Were the details explicit or flowery? These are subjective but generally (1) too short to get a good judgment (2) not all what I'm looking for - very vague or flowery prose (3) either not explicit enough or not enough emotional pull (too mechanical/physically descriptive without the emotions) (4) what I love in a scene (5) absolute perfection - perfect balance of emotional longing and explicit descriptions
Sex Scene Length: How long the bedroom scenes are (generally (1) is 1-3 sentences (2) is a few paragraphs to a page-ish (3) is about average, a few pages (4) more well developed scenes, quite a few pages with descriptions (5) the majority of the book takes place in the bedroom. This is always hard to tell for me on audio!
Steam Scale: Generally, each flame is a scene. If scenes are super close together I sometimes combine them. If a scene is super short or so vague I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t count it. There’s some levels of grey but generally the number of flames is how many sex scenes there are (I max out at 5 so I’ll put a + after if there’s more than that)


Find me
Instagram || The Storygraph || Bookbub ||

Book Clubs
The Ton and the Tartans (Historical Romance)
Upturned Petticoats and Undone Cravats (Historical Romance with Steam Requirements)
A Love Less Ordinary (Science Fiction, Paranormal, Monster, Fantasy)
Modern Manuscripts (Contemporary Romance)
Words for the Wicked (Contemporary Romance with Steam Requirements)
Vintage Romance (Old School Romance – published 2000 and prior)

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiancé Under the Mistletoe by Jacquelin Thomas
A Clean and Uplifting Romance
(A Polk Island Story Book 2)
by Jacquelin Thomas
Their fake engagement…

Could be a Christmas calamity!

Tami Adams can’t resist Christmas on beautiful Polk Island—but getting dumped shortly before the holidays wasn’t her plan. So, she forms a new plan to guarantee a truly happy festive season, free from her mother’s pushy matchmaking: get fake-engaged to her best friend, Aiden Worthington. Aiden’s avoiding Christmas since his dad passed, but helping Tami might help him get through the holidays. There’s only one problem—this pretend relationship’s feeling a little too real. Going from “coupled for Christmas” back to “just friends” might be harder than they thought…
My favorite quote is
And then, she spotted him.

He walked confidently through the entrance, clad in a navy-blue tailored suit that perfectly set off his deep brown skin. Standing at an imposing six foot three, Aiden naturally drew attention with his broad shoulders and athletic frame, making wearing even the most sophisticated suit appear effortless. His well-maintained dark dreadlocks framed his face, highlighting the strong lines of his jaw. His well-groomed mustache and beard lent him an air of sophistication, combining a sense of order with a welcoming presence. Aiden’s steady, knowing brown eyes immediately met hers, and just like that, the tension coiled within her chest began to relax. His warm smile—­familiar and reassuring—was genuine, meant solely for her. Tami let out a breath, feeling the pressure of tonight lighten slightly.
She gave him a playful grin. “Looking sharp, Aiden.”
I recommend this book.
Fiancé Under the Mistletoe by Jacquelin Thomas
is a 4- star book.
I am looking forward to reading more books by Jacquelin Thomas.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions shared here in this review are my own.
From Harlequin Heartwarming: Wholesome stories of love, compassion and belonging.

[AshleeInPages · Rating 2 out of 5]

A.R.C Review: Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This book had good potential but I think the love between the two main characters was a little difficult to believe. It came off a little childlike at times. While I understand Tami and Aiden were faking an engagement, their years of friendship, since childhood, should have made their interactions more natural and authentic. They seemed to hover around genuine, descriptive feelings even when they were trying to shoulder each other’s anxiety and grief. This story seemed like it needed more depth from all the characters, even Tami and her sister’s interactions were surface level. Aiden’s relationships with his brothers had some depth and seemed real but that was about it. Tami’s Mom was a complete pain and even understanding her motive did not make her character likable. Overall, this book was not it for me. I was hoping for a little more holiday cheer but the majority of the story was sad.

[YanaKeii · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sucker for Christmas movies/stories and just love, love. I thought it would be more depth the friendship between Tami and Aiden but it seem like they barely knew each other. Under the guise of being engaged to your best friend you would have thought it would be more of the engagement activities even Christmas activites as a couple. I think between Aiden grieving and Tami's grieving storyline just cancelled out everything. It was a cute fake relationship, child hood best friend turn lovers story line but I became more interested in Rachel Rose and Daniel budding relationship. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the arc read.

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

To survive the holidays with her matchmaking mother, recently single Tami proposes a pretend engagement to best friend Aiden. But as their charade deepens, the line between fake and real blurs, threatening to turn their festive plan into a Christmas calamity.

Tami and Aiden are a likable couple, and their romance is sweet. Tami’s mother is overbearing, but she has her own subplot that explains her motivations.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Shone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll Help You.

Another visit to Polk Island. Friends for years, Tami needs help, and Aiden doesn't hesitate to give it. The relationship between them was a soft, sweet, slow burn, both afraid of what was actually happening. Tamis' mother was infuriating; she worked my last nerve.

Thank you, NetGalley and Jacquelin Thomas, for the ARC of Fiance Under the Mistletoe. I look forward to my next visit to Polk Island.

[Kate Vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the Polk Island series, in which Tami needs protection from her mother's insistent matchmaking plans and enlists the help of her longtime friend, Aiden Worthington. He agrees to help Tami, even as he reluctantly has to come home after his father's death, an issue he's been avoiding for more than a year.

But what starts out as fake soon becomes too real from Aiden and Tami and, surprisingly, Tami's mom, giving the reader two possible weddings to contemplate.

[Cherie l brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m at 50% completion and this book is just OK. Much repeating and the main characters are not emotionally strong. She suffers with a social disorder and he is lost in his dad’s death. While they’ve been best friends forever and know each other very well - they do not recognize that they might be perfectly suited for each other. Thank goodness the book picked up as an enjoyable read about the last 25%. These are not my favorite types of characters -too needy. The latter part of the book even had an unexpected surprise!

[KAREN MCCRAW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Tami and Aiden's story

From best friends to a love of a lifetime . This was a great story of two loving families, a mother who didn't know how to let go and two best friends who were afraid to acknowledge what was right in front of them.

[Harlequin Books]

Holiday Romance, Small Town & Rural Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Wholesome Romance
Miniseries
A Polk Island Story (Book #2)