Review: Season of Love

‘Tis the season for holiday romances and I’ve been having so much fun reading all the rom coms that have come my way. This year, in particular, there have been a plethora of queer romances which has been great to see. Season of Love was so very enjoyable and a fairly impressive offering from first-time novelist Helena Greer.

Here’s the book’s description:

Miriam Blum has no choice but to face the past she thought she’d left behind when she inherits her great-aunt’s Christmas tree farm in this witty, glittering, heart-filled romcom.
Thanks to her thriving art career, Miriam Blum finally has her decoupaged glitter ducks in a row—until devastating news forces her to a very unwanted family reunion. Her beloved great-aunt Cass has passed and left Miriam part-owner of Carrigan’s, her (ironically) Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.
But Miriam’s plans to sit shiva, avoid her parents, then put Carrigan’s in her rearview mirror are spoiled when she learns the business is at risk of going under. To have any chance at turning things around, she’ll need to work with the farm’s grumpy manager—as long as the attraction sparking between them doesn’t set all their trees on fire first.
Noelle Northwood wants Miriam Blum gone—even if her ingenious ideas and sensitive soul keep showing Noelle there’s more to Cass’s niece than meets the eye. But saving Carrigan’s requires trust, love, and risking it all—for the chance to make their wildest dreams come true.

While this is a festive, holiday romance, there is a major content warning that readers should pay attention to. Miriam’s father was emotionally abusive, and Miriam was still dealing with (aka running away from) those issues when the book starts. I cannot speak about what it would be like to deal with such a traumatic upbringing, but I will speak about how it was written as a part of Miriam’s story and Season of Love overall. I think Greer should have revealed the abuse, and the one particular event that had Miriam cut off her family, much earlier than she did. I don’t think keeping it from any of the characters (or the reader) helped the story in any way. By the time it was all out in the open, I was no longer fully invested in the details. I just knew something major had happened to Miriam and wanted to move on to the rest of the story. That probably sounds callous, and I struggled with how to bring this up without seeming like a total asshole. Again, it’s not that I wish the trauma wasn’t included or that I didn’t believe Miriam had suffered or anything like that. It was just the choice of how the trauma was revealed in the story structure that I wish had been different. 

Now! Onto the festive cheer! Of which there was…a good amount but not really what I expected. I loved the Jewish rep in this novel (yes, Miriam’s aunt was Jewish and owned a Christmas tree farm – go figure) and the importance of holidays and other facets of the Jewish faith were included and explained in a way that felt natural. The fact that there has to be an explanation of these things and not, say, why Christmas trees are apparently important, is a whole other conversation. But I’m just here for the big guy in the red suit and all the gifts and treats. I don’t pay attention to any religious part of any holiday. Anywho. While this novel takes place at a Christmas tree farm and does occur over the holiday season, it lasts beyond Christmas and Hanukkah so know that going in if you’re looking for All Festive, All the Time.

Noelle and Miriam as a couple took me a little while to warm up to but I loved them both individually, somehow (they’re both super flawed but that’s part of their charm), so I was totally in for reading along as they moved past their prejudices (the first impressions in this one are not good. Think Darcy and Elizabeth levels of not good) and realized they definitely belonged together. I got frustrated with each of them but trusted they’d work out their issues enough to hook up and stay together forever.

Looking at Seasons of Love in separate parts, as one does when writing a review, isn’t quite fair to this romance. As a whole, though, Helena Greer’s debut novel was an absolute delight. Not perfect but engaging and entertaining enough that I was completely riveted and cannot wait to revisit the characters Greer has created.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*