Wrapped in Tinsel by Sarah Stein

Wrapped in Tinsel by Sarah Stein
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

IVY CANE TINSEL
He’s bad news.
But I can’t help staring.
His eyes pick me apart every time we’re in the same room together.
He’s drop-dead gorgeous, and my body reacts in a way that surprises me.
I thought his job was complete, but it was just the beginning.
He’s taken residence in my mind and refuses to leave.

ASHER BOYD
I was hired to do one job, and that was it.
Unfortunately, things never happen as expected.
It takes longer than expected, only because of her.
Just as I finish, another request pops up.
I’ve never played Santa before.
My only thought is whether Ivy will take the opportunity to sit on my lap and reveal her Christmas wishes.

The holidays are the perfect time for a little romance, whether for a few nights or maybe for much longer than that.

Ivy and Asher were a good match for each other. Not only did they have similar personalities and interests, they had nice chemistry as well. All of these things were important to establish early on in order to help explain why their relationship heated up rapidly, so I was glad to see so much proof that these two were compatible right away.

I did find myself wishing that a few plot holes involving the protagonists’ places of employment had been filled in better. Given how busy both of their jobs seemed to be, especially in a store during the holiday season, I would have loved to have a more thorough explanation as to why they seemed to have so much free time to do things other than work. There were hints that Ivy had some truly caring and fantastic bosses and Asher was the boss at his workplace, so this could have been easily explained with a few more details added to show why there were so many lulls in activity.

There was a fun Christmas-themed plot twist involving Bells & Whistles, the store Ivy worked at, that made me smile. Obviously, I can’t go into detail about what it was without sharing spoilers, but I appreciated the humor it injected into the storyline and thought it fit the mood of this piece nicely.

Wrapped in Tinsel was playful and festive.