Holiday Romance – LairOfBooks

Title: Wreck The Halls

Author: Tessa Bailey

Pub. Date: October 3rd 2023

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: DRC

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 351

GOODREADS | BARNES & NOBLE | AMAZON | LIBROFM

☆☆ARC PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW☆☆

Melody Ballard and Beat Dawkins are the adult children of former world famous diva rock stars. They’ve come together to try and get their iconic duo moms to reunite for one more show, the odds of that happening though are slim to none. Melody and Beat met as teens while traveling in the same circles and had the potential to be really great friends but the rupture of their mother’s band made it so their lives took different paths. With Christmas Eve fast approaching, Beat and Melody are made an offer by a television network to livestream their efforts to reunite the Steel Birds one last time. This means 24 hour live coverage of Melody and Beat’s daily lives. For Mel, this means stepping back into the limelight where she’s experienced nothing but harsh criticism from a very young age. Melody prefers the quiet life of restoring old books but the promise of a large sum of money if she can successfully reunite the Steel Birds is too good to pass up. It means financial independence from a mother who she’s quite disconnected from. Mel’s mother is described as possibly being a cult leader in the sense that her home is open to all that love her and detest Beat’s mom. What I loved about Melody: She’s truly a funny character, her quips always had me giggling. Tessa bailey gave us a female who comes across as unaware of her charm and I absolutely loved falling in love with her at the same time as everyone else watching the livestream.

Beat on the other hand is quite charming, comfortable in his attractiveness, and in the limelight. He also has a need for the money the network is offering if he can get his iconic and elegant mother to participate in her former rock bands reunion. No one knows why the band broke up but strong rumors have always circulated that it was caused by a man their mothers were both involved with. They have their secrets and so does Beat, his attraction to Melody is just one of them. What I loved about Beat: How humble and down to earth he is, the wealth his family has accrued keeps him grounded in giving back. We see him run an organization focused on giving youth grants to further their education in music. Beat is also super protective of Melody so if you dig the type, he def checks off the bodyguard box.

This was admittedly my first Tessa Bailey read and it won’t be my last, holiday romance is always hit or miss no matter the author. This story picks up and takes a turn for a hilarious good time at the 50% mark, I’m talking Santa’s brawling on the lawn type funny 😂 which had me not wanting to put it down. I just wish I hadn’t struggled getting invested in this story for the first half, otherwise this could’ve been a five star read. The livestream was a nice addition with fans of Melody creating fun silly hashtags shipping her with Beat! There were a couple of scenes towards the end that were movie ready making it a certifiable rom-com in every sense of the word. On another note, I’ve long heard about the spice Tessa Bailey brings to her books can now say…not one lie was told! I’m intrigued to see what the Tessa Bailey back-list is packing so I guess it’s a good thing I have a couple on my shelves 😉

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