Antonia Bernardin

Booked for the Holidays by Liz Maverick was my 95th read of the year, this was another short and easy listen that covered me for my commute working around Christmas.

A sort of summary

When a publisher’s mystery author doesn’t send in her book by the deadline, they send out their assistant, Abi, over with gifts/ to subtly check on her. When she gets there she finds her frazzled grandson instead, who, after a couple of miscommunications, reveals that she has in fact passed and that her last wish was that he finish her last book to give the fans closure. As a massive fan of her books too, Abi… persuades him to accept her help. When she discovers that he’s a massive procrastinator, whose grieving his Grandma and trying to make Hanukkah as special as she always did by cooking all of her cookie recipes, Abi tries to convince him to let her to get more involved. He’s reluctant but as he reads more of her writing and sees what a genuine fan of the books she is, he starts to let her get more involved. They spend the holidays together working non-stop on a beloved book series and getting to know each other.

What did I think?

I haven’t read many holiday romances that revolved around Hanukkah and I learnt so much about the traditions this holiday involves. Although it’s a short story, there’s really beautiful, rich details around the world of his Grandma’s book, her home, Hanukkah, the male main character’s grief and the way their relationship develops. I really enjoyed this story!