Holidating by Sarina Bowen [Review]

Holidating by Sarina Bowen
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: July 31, 2025

Purchase Links: Paperback | Kindle

Related Series:
(find all the books in the series on the 1st book review)
True North
1. Bittersweet

Sarina Bowen
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Boyfriend: a complete holiday novel with a hilarious premise.
Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will show up in a nice shirt, talk hockey with your dad and bring your mother flowers…
Everyone knows it’s a bad idea to introduce your hockey crush to your messed-up family. But Abbi really needs a date for Thanksgiving, even if she can’t say why. But when she tears Weston’s number off of a flyer, she accidentally entangles Moo U’s star defenseman in a ruse that neither of them can easily unwind.

Crossroads: a novella of missed connections, broken dreams and two hearts that just won’t quit. Damien Rossi drives a taxi but dreams of more. Specifically, he dreams about Nicolette Overland, his favorite client, a lonely beauty who lives in an actual mansion on a hill.

Nicolette can’t stop thinking about the hunky guy with the soulful brown eyes, either. She looks forward to every Christmas holiday when she knows he’ll be waiting for her at the airport. But when she screws up her courage to finally tell him how she feels, it might be too late…

Blonde Date: a novella of hot nerds, basketball and revenge. Katie is done with bad boys after some very poor treatment by a fraternity guy. Now, facing a holiday Greek event, she needs a date. A nice guy this time. Good thing a certain nerdy basketball player wants to audition for the role…

Thoughts on Holidating: (This review is for Crossroads only since Boyfriend and Blonde Date were reviewed previously. All three are FANTASTIC, so dive in, my friends and experience all the Vermont holiday fun.)

Damien first meets Nicolette when she's 18 and just heading off to college. He's her driver to the airport and this starts a string of pick-ups (of the driving variety) that stretches over the course of years. Through it, she does the college thing. He does the military thing. He has to find his balance after getting out. She has to figure out what she wants out of life. She gets married to a not-so-great guy. He just wants her to be happy. They have the two ships thing going on, but they make an impact on one another every time they meet.

Then life hands them an opportunity where they're both single, they're both in decent places in their life (Damien had a lot to work through after getting out of the military), and they both just might have the chance to kindle that spark that flares up every time they cross paths. *thumbs up* SO HARD!