This was a light, easy read. I only heard of this book because it was the romance book club pick at my local bookstore. I didn't read the blurb or anything, and it was fun to go into it blind since the main plot came out of nowhere. While it was easy to get through, there were aspects of the book I didn't love. I was often frustrated with Patrick and found the writing a little overly simplistic and unsubtle in spots. If I was told this was a debut I would have believed it. My favorite moments came towards the end (

the brothers phone call and the shelter dog

) and were just effective enough to give my heartstrings a little tug, but would have hit harder if there had been more build up and they weren't swept up in what was almost a character development montage. I did appreciate that this felt like a fresh take on a holiday romance by following a married couple growing apart and reconnecting rather than a new relationship, and avoiding or lamp-shading a lot of common holiday romance tropes. Spice is fade to black for anyone curious.