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Holiday Spies: License to Bake
When two suburban dads turn a friendly Christmas cookie bet into a full-blown arms race, the holidays go from ho ho ho to oh no in record time.
In the Holiday Spies Christmas books, neighborhood nonsense collides with national
a sentient smart oven is quietly live-streaming cookie critiques to an NSA server; a Special Forces brother-in-law treats the cul-de-sac like a war zone; a bored CIA analyst calls in “just one little drone”; and somewhere, a Russian and a Chinese operative are trying to write serious threat reports about a guy who can’t bake.
On the surface, it’s Christmas in the suburbs—cookie exchanges, school pageants, HOA emails, and one very unfortunate inflatable Santa. Underneath, it’s surveillance ops, counter-ops, glitter incidents, salt-bomb recipes, and a black-site interrogation where the most incriminating evidence is a tray of overbaked gingerbread men.
Perfect for readers who love holiday hijinks, spy spoofs, and fast, episodic chaos, Holiday Spies
Domestic espionage: baby monitors as bugs, security cams as assets, and a judgmental AI oven that keeps its own case files.
Escalating disasters: from smoke alarms and bake-offs to drones, foreign agents, and a file codenamed OPERATION SUGAR COOKIE.
Actual heart: beneath the gadgets and glitter, it’s about two idiots learning that winning isn’t the point—showing up is.
Because nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a cookie contest that accidentally triggers DEFCON 3.
In the Holiday Spies Christmas books, neighborhood nonsense collides with national
a sentient smart oven is quietly live-streaming cookie critiques to an NSA server; a Special Forces brother-in-law treats the cul-de-sac like a war zone; a bored CIA analyst calls in “just one little drone”; and somewhere, a Russian and a Chinese operative are trying to write serious threat reports about a guy who can’t bake.
On the surface, it’s Christmas in the suburbs—cookie exchanges, school pageants, HOA emails, and one very unfortunate inflatable Santa. Underneath, it’s surveillance ops, counter-ops, glitter incidents, salt-bomb recipes, and a black-site interrogation where the most incriminating evidence is a tray of overbaked gingerbread men.
Perfect for readers who love holiday hijinks, spy spoofs, and fast, episodic chaos, Holiday Spies
Domestic espionage: baby monitors as bugs, security cams as assets, and a judgmental AI oven that keeps its own case files.
Escalating disasters: from smoke alarms and bake-offs to drones, foreign agents, and a file codenamed OPERATION SUGAR COOKIE.
Actual heart: beneath the gadgets and glitter, it’s about two idiots learning that winning isn’t the point—showing up is.
Because nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a cookie contest that accidentally triggers DEFCON 3.
913 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 7, 2025
2 people are currently reading
1214 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 8, 2026
I am so confused. I think this story had likeable characters and the potential for a good storyline, however- it was way to long yet unfinished and very repetitive. I wanted to DNF by chapter 3. I thought chapter 3 was a misprint as chapter one again. The end of chapter summaries were unnecessary and I eventually skipped them.
This book starts out with the end plot in the first couple of chapters about a man getting arrested by 19 different agencies for a chaotic mixup from two neighbors competing in a Christmas cookie competition. So you know pretty much the entire story in the 1st few chapters, which makes it difficult to want to proceed. By about page 250/300, I thought the book was done but then it started over again with Day 1. Now mind you, it seems as if you will be going over the 19 days prior to his arrest, one day at a time but the book ends at day 5. This did not need to be a book over 900 pages. I think the storyline could be condensed into about 250 pages and start at day 1, not with how it ends and it would be more engaging. It left me confused and wanting my time back I wasted reading it.
This book starts out with the end plot in the first couple of chapters about a man getting arrested by 19 different agencies for a chaotic mixup from two neighbors competing in a Christmas cookie competition. So you know pretty much the entire story in the 1st few chapters, which makes it difficult to want to proceed. By about page 250/300, I thought the book was done but then it started over again with Day 1. Now mind you, it seems as if you will be going over the 19 days prior to his arrest, one day at a time but the book ends at day 5. This did not need to be a book over 900 pages. I think the storyline could be condensed into about 250 pages and start at day 1, not with how it ends and it would be more engaging. It left me confused and wanting my time back I wasted reading it.
December 30, 2025
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. While I was so excited to read this by the synopsis- and the story line was cute- I had a really hard time with the writing style. I understand it was suppose to be a comedy but it was written so chaotically it was really hard to keep focused.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews