Merry Ever After

Under the Mistletoe Collection

By: Tessa Bailey

Narrated by: Summer Morton, Connor Crais

A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one in this smoking-hot short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

Evie Crowe is starting over in a strange town with her newborn, and men are the furthest thing from her mind. If only the quiet, hulking farmer, Luke Ward, would stop coming into the thrift shop and piquing her reluctant interest. Evie wants to stay single all the way—she can’t trust anything more than friends-with-holiday-benefits. But Luke is in it for the long haul. He’s fixed on making this a Christmas Evie will remember forever. If she gives him a chance.

Tessa Bailey’s Merry Ever After is part of Under the Mistletoe, a collection of sexy December romances to warm the cold winter nights. They can be read or listened to in one swoony sitting.

©2024 by Tessa Bailey. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Cringy lines ruined it

2.5/5⭐️
This was a lot omg… never read a Tessa Bailey book before but I had heard good things about them so I was excited to get to this one in the collection and lordy was it something

Truthfully this is just a smut holiday novella, and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just a lot of cringy lines within the smut that had me put off by it.

The premise of the story was really interesting but Luke going right into describing his sexual fantasies within about a min of his chapter had me reeling.

Even though it’s a very short novella, I wish we had gotten more plot and less cringy sex lines

A single mom in possession of no common sense must surely be in want of a hulking farmer who demands to see her tits

It’s fine, it’s fast, the sex is hot enough I guess, but I really feel like the Chicago girl should have asked the white rural Texas chicken farmer about his opinions on Jan. 6 before making a lifetime commitment to him.

Merry Ever After

This is such a cute holiday short story with some spice. The blend of small-town charm with steamy romance in a short story is great. The characters, Evie and Luke’s chemistry is electric, and watching them slowly come together is nothing short of great. The vulnerability, and passion into every page, creating a story that’s as touching as it is hot. A great holiday read.

This is the second book in a multi author collection, Under the Mistletoe.

Cute holiday rom-com

This was a super cute holiday rom-com and I have been super pleased with these Amazon Original novellas. Fun, entertaining, and a quick listen. Definitely recommend!

First time reading Tessa Bailey

It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I can see how it appeals to some.

Spicy but a little cringy

I thought this was a decent premise for a quick novella. Single mom, gentle giant farmer... I liked the chemistry between them, but there was too much cringy dialogue for me to really get into it and enjoy it. It was okay, but not Tessa's best.

Great

This was quick and sexy. I wouldn't have minded a but more of the story.

Not Christmasy Enough

Though the cover is absolutely adorable, this was just an OK read for me, it was too explicit and not funny enough. I liked Evie and Luke and their introductory scenes about him not being able to find a pair of jeans that fit his hulking frame were amusing but the story just never maintained any of the humor I am looking for in this series. This author is new to me, but I have a couple of her other titles waiting on my shelf to be read. Due to the explicit content, go with the e-book or make sure you have earbuds on if you choose to listen to this.

My Final Verdict: Overall, this book had some amusing and sweet moments, but not enough for me to fully recommend this book.

Not Christmasy enough.. but overall okay

While it’s a Texas Christmas it wasn’t that Christmasy feel I was hoping for with this series it wasn’t the worst one but it wasn’t the best either. I will say this the sexy scenes and that macho rough lumberjack vibe of a man was very sexy and a turn on and the ending was really sweet so not bad

Gotta love tessa bailey’s guys

I love how Tessa Bailey writes her men they are the epitome of gentleman in the streets and freak in the sheets lol always a good time