The Holiday Games

The One Where the Small Town Girl Flees to NYC, Falls for a Big City Hottie, and Has a Non-Denominational, Feel Good Holiday with Lots of Hot Cocoa and Kisses Under the Mistletoe

By: Lili Valente

Narrated by: Sebastian York, Lili Valente

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

My life could have been ripped straight from a Hallmark movie.

My name is Caroline "Candy" Cane, I own a country inn, date a man who runs a Christmas tree farm, and my mom's peppermint fudge wins first place at the Reindeer Corners' festival every year. Basically, I'm living every romance-loving girlie's small town dream.

Until a last minute trip to New York City leads to catching my boyfriend banging a Rockette (in full elf costume).

So, when I'm offered a chance to star in a hospitality-themed reality show, I jump at the chance to serve hot cocoa in roller skates on national television.

The only problem? The smoking hot, broody, perfectly bossy producer, Leo...

He's everything I've ever wanted in a man, but he's also my new boss and completely off-limits.

And that's before we realize our lives--and our pasts--are more intimately intertwined than we could have imagined.

Do I dare make holiday magic with the one man I now know I should never kiss under the mistletoe?

©2024 Lili Valente (P)2024 Lili Valente

The Holiday Games

I absolutely loved this story, it is written so well that you feel you're there with Leo and Candy. The narration is excellent. Lili not only penned a beautiful story about Caroline, aka Candy, but she performed it perfectly, and Sebastian York was perfect for the part of Leo.

I loved everything about this story, the instant attraction, the incredible chemistry as well as the setting.

The story takes place a couple of weeks before Christmas in New York where Leo is busy filming a reality TV show. Having just had to let go of one of the contestants he needs someone to take their place and spotting Candy diving into a plastic igloo he’s immediately intrigued and follows her inside.

From their first exchange you could tell there was something between these two and what follows is a fun and enjoyable story full of great chemistry, witty dialogue as well as a losing battle not to give in to what they feel for each other.

No spoilers from me except to say that this is my all-time favourite Christmas story, Candy is my all-time favourite Christmas heroine.

I don’t want to give spoilers, but I will say I loved this swoony, heartwarming story full of engaging dialogue and lovely characters. Watch out for Greg the Devil cat you’ll fall in love with him just as I did.

Even if you are the sort of person who doesn’t like Christmas-themed stories, you won’t be able to resist this one.

Holiday Rom-com

This is a fun and sexy holiday rom-com with a sassy feline and a forbidden love. When Carolina “Candy” Cane leaves her hometown of Reindeer Corner and heads to New York City for a last minute trip she never expects to end up on a hospitality-themed reality show but here she is, living out a crazy dream and finding love along the way. But things can’t be that easy as Carolina learns that the man she’s falling for has a tangled past with someone she knows.

Love, drama and forever

I loved this forbidden, quasi boss-employee, love at first site, double pining, reverse Hallmark holiday romance. It had the perfect mix of fun, humor, love, real life issues, spice, family drama, holiday goodness, and a sassy jerk of a cat. Leo and Caroline are both intense, strong and passionate characters who have flaws, but are really just trying to do their best as messy humans. I smiled, swooned and laughed the entire time I read this book. Leo is the creator and producer of Innkeeping with You: Holiday Games Edition, a tasteful reality show. He needs it to be a success so he can stop writing for the soul numbing reality show he currently works for. Caroline lives in Reindeer Corners, Vermont and runs the Reindeer Corners Inn with her best friend. She is visiting NYC to go to the Annual Hotelier’s Conference and Trade Show hoping it will inspire her to love her life again. When she catches Chris, her Christmas-tree-farming boyfriend cheating on her, she decides to have an adventure by joining Leo’s reality show. There is instant attraction and chemistry when Leo and Caroline meet, but there is the complication of him being her sort of boss as well as a strange intersection of their lives that should make dating impossible. But feelings - oh the feelings. They are big and messy and hot me right in the feels. This heartwarming story was well written and included engaging dialogue, three dimensional characters, and a swoony and heartwarming storyline.

Sebastian York and Lili Valente did a phenomenal job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly. I love listening to Lili narrate her own story.