Ghosted Christmas Past

Tis the Season Holiday Collection #1

by Bryce Oakley

Last Christmas, I gave her my heart, but the very next day…

Well, you know how it goes.

Merritt Perkins has spent an entire year thinking maybe it was too cliche to be real. Dylan Camber: the cute private chef, and her: the nanny — connecting over being tucked away in the Rockies while working through the holidays. She thought they had something special, but immediately after parting, Dylan seemed to fall off the face of the earth. Not a single call, text, or even a DM for a year. Ghosted at Christmas, a fate worse than even Dickens could have imagined.

So maybe Merritt is a little extra icy this year when Dylan shows up to the holiday house again. And maybe she throws an outright tantrum when they have to share a bedroom. And maybe her entire head explodes when Dylan thinks they deserve a second chance at all the fun that they had last year.

It’s going to be a long two weeks of resisting a truly irresistible woman.

Genres: Christmas, Holiday, Lesbian, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian Romance

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2022

About the author

Bryce grew up in the mountains of Colorado with a taste for adventure and a head full of clouds. She never grew out of either. She lives in Denver with her partner, two adorable rescue dogs, and a very opinionated cat.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m usually pretty into any book by Oakley, not this one though. I had a bit of hard time getting into the story and once I fanboy sort of did I realised I didn’t really the characters.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merritt Perkins is a nanny to an eight year old boy. The family is wealthy and is spending Christmas at a house in Colorado. Like the previous year they hire private chef Dylan Camber. Last year Merritt and Dylan enjoyed their time together. But Merritt is still angry that Dylan seemingly ghosted her. (The title fits nicely.) Merritt is determined to keep things professional and distant but that is hard when they are actually sharing living quarters above the garage.

Bryce Oakley delivers one of my favorites of the Tis the Season Holiday Collection. This is cute as they battle their attraction and try to get past their communication issues. The mashed potatoes made me laugh outright. This is how a novella should be written. There is enough given about each character that I care. I understand their present lives and their wants for a future. I get to see the MC’s grow towards each other and move forward in their lives. That is a lot in accomplish in 125 pages. And I enjoyed every minute of it.

[Kexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different author series, short tales of Christmas I assume. This is the first: shrug, fine and dandy, no issues.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will a second chance work?

Merritt is the nanny for a boy whose mother used to be one of her professors and Dylan is the private chef they hire once again for their holidays. Although they "connected" last year, Merritt has never forgotten or forgiven Dylan for not reaching out to her once the job ended. Now they're thrown together again.

Bryce tells a cute story of miscommunications. She also knows how to sell "awkward." With lots of stumbling and fumbling physically, and crazy, cute banter, this story is perfect for the holidays!

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This nanny x personal chef sapphic romance novel was really cute, I had such a good time with it! I would really like to read more from this author - the funnest part of reading all of the novellas in this collection has been discovering new-to-me authors!

Honestly, I think ghosting is pretty awful, so when I hear a romance novel is based on that, I'm a little wary. But things were resolved very well here, I thought.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Planning on working my way through the series and started with this one.

I was curious to see how the story would play out with one character having been ghosted last year but it just turned out to be a whole miscommunication trope which is not my favourite.

Otherwise the characters were interesting and it was well written. If you like a lot of miscommunication angst, this will probably be a winner.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this short Christmas story! Full of miscommunication and second chances! Bryce is quickly becoming a favourite instant buy author!

Written in Third Person with 2x POV’s. Tis The Season Collection. Second Chance, Chef/Nanny, Forced Proximity, Masc/Femme. 1x Spicy Scene

[Vita L. Licari · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun novella! You will definitely love Merritt and Dylan as their chemistry is off the chart! You'll also love Huxley, the 8 yr old boy that Merritt is the nanny for. Dylan is the personal chef the family hires when they go to the house in Colorado. Dylan and Merritt had a great time together the year before, but when Merritt went back to NY Dylan ghosted her(or did she?). So, Merritt doesn't want anything to do with Dylan. But Dylan has other plans. Will she take down Merritt's ice walls? You'll thoroughly enjoy this story! 5 stars!

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 i thought it was cute but was kind of annoyed that merritt made the same choice resulting in the same conflict that they started with even though they had already talked it out otherwise it was cute

[Lorraine Rusnack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving forward

Communication is really the key to getting Merritt and Dylan back on track from last year. I like that they spend more time getting to know one another this time around. Once they share how they're feeling things start to workout for them. They have great chemistry and really care about each other.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weak Plot Point

I was really looking forward to this story of a second chance romance between chef, Dylan, and nanny, Merritt, both working for a rich family spending two weeks in Snowy Springs, Colorado. The story had so such potential but it was impacted by a very weak plot point related to texting and blocking. 3 stars

[Cat5 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hoped they wouldn't get together. Dylan was completely unlikeable, and even blamed Merritt for Dylan's ghosting of her. One sort of apology and let's start over? Merritt has zero ability to tell Dylan what she truly felt in the year after their hook-up. It would have been better if Merrit was honest and told off Dylan, and then start building a good relationship, especially since Merritt has a background in psychology. Instead, Merritt waffles back and forth and Dylan's motivations are based on all the fun sex they had the year before. No idea why they are attracted to each other, because it just seems they miss their hot hookups.

[Jen Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one

I've been reading a lot of Christmas books because why not (and it is December) and the premise of this one caught my eye because it seemed a little different from all the others. The story had a good flow to it, I liked both of the main characters a lot and the steamy stuff was awesome! Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a sweet Christmas romance with a bit of a slow burn.

[Doug Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setup for Ghosted Christmas Past is a second chance holiday romance. Merritt and Dylan make a cute couple. Unfortunately, the delayed communication and text blocking behavior that needlessly puts the main characters at odds seems more middle school than two young women who should be well beyond that. Nevertheless, there are several cute moments, and the ending is appropriately upbeat.

[auteaandtales · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a wholesome, festive novella! My only criticism was the one ableist comment and that this wasn’t longer! I especially loved Dylan, she was so snarky and lovable. I will be reading more from this author for sure, it was entertaining, funny and, even in 112 pages, I felt real connection between the characters.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Not much to say about this one but I really enjoyed it. Merritt and Dylan were both incredibly likable characters and I loved their chemistry. It was flirty and sexy. Merritt is a bit on the Icy side and Dylan is laid back and charming as hell. This was fun and light and really well written.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was generally cute but also didn't make any sense. At the front of the book, Dylan doesn't know why Merritt is mad at her, and at the end, she's known that Merritt blocked her number and has been texting it anyways for the whole year. What?

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passive-aggressively sweet

Two dummies being idiots and making not so smart decisions... and then you'll see. But it made for a sweet and nice story, I'm glad they figured things out because they are cute together.

[Tammy Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

A sweet Christmas story. Merritt thought Dylan ghosted her after returning home. Dylan was excited to have Merritt back and things would be the same as last Christmas but Merritt was angry. Dylan a chief just cooked all the right foods. A good Christmas read

[Jackie Kerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute Christmas romance.
Several points with the plot annoyed me but a decent HEA regardless.

[PJ Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Rock Bryce

This was a wonderful Holiday tale. Full of wonderful things. All my emotions were engaged. Look forward to reading more of Bryce.

[Eliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You forgave him without an apology from him?" Was she nannying a tiny monk? In what world does a rich child, named Huxley for god's sake, have a straighter moral compass than most adults she knew?

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet Christmas tale and well written romance. The MCs are great together. Loved the bonus material, too.

[Lianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short & sweet!

[Baylie Rast · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Quick and easy read that I enjoyed. I do hate when there’s miscommunication or lack of communication, so I docked it half a star.

[Kayla Brahm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very short and sweet, second chance romance. Very fun and easy read.