The Christmas Playbook

Shadow Valley U

De: S. Massery, SJ Sylvis

Narrado por: Rose Dioro, Lee Samuels

Coming soon: a forced proximity, spicy holiday romance by S. Massery and S.J. Sylvis.

©2025 S. Massery, SJ Sylvis (P)2025 S. Massery, SJ Sylvis

Fast Paced Fun Holiday Romance

This one was such a quick novella that I devoured! One double booked cabin for one week on winter break…one fake relationship with childhood neighbors and crushes - need I say more?! I loved this holiday romance with forced proximity!
Highly Recommend the Audio.
Lee Samuels and Rose Dioro really made this one so fun to listen too! They both nailed the main characters voices which made this so easy to binge! Lee’s voice was so smooth and flawless. He had the perfect rasp and humor for Rhys. I was actually giggling and smiling every dang time he used Mira’s nickname. The tension and charm were so on point. Rose was so very convincing of Mira, so young and sweet! Rose was really really good at speaking to Mira’s emotion of hurt in her voice from her families poor behavior. Again, both Lee & Rose spoke amazingly to these main characters!

Overall, this was a FAST paced fun holiday novella packed with humor and spice! I LOVED the Home Alone references too!!
Add it to your holiday reading list!

Short, Fun and Spicy Christmas Novella

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Narrating: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

This was such a fun listen. I really enjoyed this short little novella that follows along with the Shadow Valley U series. Get ready to fall in love with these 2 characters as they find their way together after years apart during a Christmas vacation mixup when they're booked into the same cabin by mistake.

Tropes:
🎄 Holiday Vacation Novella
❄️ Fake Dating
🎄 One Bed
❄️ Cabin Double Booked
🎄 Football Player/Forgotten Child
❄️ Childhood Neighbors & Crush
🎄 Forced Proximity
❄️ Family Drama

We all met Rhys and feel in love with his fun personality as Thorns best friend and roommate in 'Heart Of Thorns.' I'm so happy he getting his own little short novella. Plus, Thorn and Briar are in this book song with some other characters from the book before this one.

Rhys was talked into going on vacation over Christmas with his friends instead of going home to his family that he loves. They've booked him his own cabin since he was literally the only single person there or of like 8 couples. He is happy he has his own hot tub though and jumps in it naked as soon as he gets to his cabin.

Mira is going on a family vacation like every year. She done from a large and loud family and is often forgotten or talked about by her siblings and parents. She compares herself to Kevin from Home Alone and it's correct to say she is. He dad booked her a cabin by herself because they forgot her when they originally booked for the family. She's ready to hide away like normal only to find a naked Rhys in her cabin.

She knows who he is right away because they were neighbors growing up until her family moved. They used to be close because they were both a little awkward and misunderstood when they were young. Not a lot had changed for Mira in that area.

When they find out the place double booked them and there are no more cabins available Mira's sisters are walking in talking about her in a mean girl kind of way, she makes a plan up in her head and goes Rhys goes along with it. She tells her sisters that Rhys is her boyfriend.

Rhys decides to go asking with the fake dating plan because he used to have a crush on Mira and she's only got prettier over time. Plus, he didn't like how her sisters were taking about her.

Mira's sisters were truly awful. When they weren't picking at her or talking junk, they were challenging her to things to make get look bad in front of her boyfriend and the family. It's like they only got entertainment from putting her down and watching her fail. And if Mira stood up for herself her fight back then her parents would yell and get on to her and no one else. Rhys was not standing for all that and was going to show them all how amazing Mira was and put the whole family in their place.

The more time this couple spent together the more it didn't seem fake between them. Their spicy scenes were mainly exhibition like in the ski slopes or Santa's workshop. The spicy was yummy too. These 2 authors can write some amazing spicy scenes.

Things seem to collide when Rhys's friends and Mira's family come together. He didn't team his friends about what was going on with Mira and the fake dating because he felt protective over her.

I loved Rhys's personality and character in general. He's funny and makes s3xual innuendo and has a dirty mind. He knew what he wanted and went after it. Mira was the quiet loner girl. She stayed to herself and didn't know what she wanted to do in life. She was unsure about a lot of things but Rhys brought her out of her shell.

Lee Samuels and Rose Dioro narrated this book and they did so freaking amazing. I love duet style books and this was one done that way. I could feel the passion between these narrators as they read Rhys and Mira. It was smooth and felt like they were streaky talking to one another in the same room. It didn't feel narrated like some books. How there may be pauses between the 2 characters talking or it sounds like they aren't in the same room. This book felt real when these 2 read it. All the words and sounds (moans, groans, gasp, chuckles, squeaks and whispers) were done perfectly. This is how you narrate a book!

Love story

Mild spice love story. Christmas ski lodge. Friends family history. Highly recommend if you enjoy mild spice romance