The Bright Side of Christmas

Holly Ridge, Book 1

De: Morgan Elizabeth

Narrado por: Erin Mallon, Ryan West

From #1 Amazon best-selling author of Tis the Season for Revenge comes a new steamy, small-town grumpy sunshine romance!

What to expect:

• Grumpy sunshine dynamic and banter
• Feuding neighbors
• She's the outgoing town sweetheart who helps everyone
• He's the grumpy songwriter who moved to the small town to disappear
• He hates Christmas, she's the head of the decorating committee

Wren King is the one person in town everyone can rely on: need someone to watch your kids? She’s got it, you deserve a night off! Want five dozen cookies for a bake sale? Call up Wren; she loves to bake. Holly Ridge’s sweetheart is always available to help, even if it leaves little time for herself along the way.

But this holiday season, it’s ramped up to the next level. As her first year as the head of the decorating committee, a title she inherited after her grandmother passed away, she’s determined to make it the best and brightest year Holly Ridge has ever seen. A bigger festival, decorations on every possible inch of town, and, of course, more lights. Who cares if she’s tired and worn down? She can sleep in January. Christmas only comes but once a year, after all.

Adam Porter moved to Holly Ridge in search of peace and quiet. As a well-known songwriter with writer’s block, he’s hoping a sleepy small town will be the perfect place to find his inspiration and write again. The problem? He hates Christmas. This year, he’s hoping to hide away in the small town, avoid Christmas completely, and write the next big hit by the New Year.

Unfortunately, when he tells his new next-door neighbor, Wren, that he has no plans to decorate his home and thus threatens to break a sixty-year tradition in the town, a battle of decor ensues. As the season progresses and Wren becomes increasingly determined, Adam remains steadfast in his conviction that nothing will make him enjoy the holidays.

Definitely not his sunshiny neighbor, who is convinced she has enough holiday cheer for the two of them.

©2025 Morgan Elizabeth (P)2025 Morgan Elizabeth

Perfect Christmas TBR Addition!

Erin Mallon and Ryan West are fantastic as Wren & Adam! Duet narration (my favorite!), and they delivered! I was reading along (for the second time), & this audio just enhances the story to a new level! It's a perfect addition to a Christmas/Holiday TBR!

I LOVED this story! Classic grumpy x sunshine, with Wren literally embodying LIGHT! I absolutely loved her, and felt soooooo much of that people pleaser aspect of her personality, and let me tell ya, it's a STRUGGLE to overcome! Her being torn all the time between needing to help everyone & needing help herself is absolutely relatable, especially as an eldest daughter.

This one really was so fun! The banter between Wren & Adam had me giggling & kicking my feet, their chemistry is incredible, & their little Christmas decor feud was hilarious! Poor hostage Nutcracker haha!

Adam is pretty much a scrooge, but you learn he has a fairly good reason to run away from Christmas, but man did he pick the wrong town haha! I love how he SEES Wren, & begins wanting to take care of her almost right away. He really works at trying to get her to take care of herself & put herself first, but it's a task!

I love that they are both good for each other, bring out the best in one another, & are just a fun couple navigating the absolute chaos that Christmas is! Doesn't hurt that Adam is filthyyyy & helps Wren get better at getting what she needs hehe! Seriously, this man's mouth should be illegal but bless him!!

Cute story but weird epilogue

The story was cute but the epilogue included a very crass sex scene that was as sort of out of nowhere. Just didn't add anything to the story and felt thrown in for the sake of it.