The Holiday Experiment by Rhys Everly


It's that time of year when authors start to spread their holiday cheer and The Holiday Experiment is a great story to put you in the holiday mood! 

From the blurb:

Wanted: Single, hot, young man to sweep…my best friend’s brother off his feet.

Enzo
After failing big in Boston, I’m back home with my tail between my legs.
And then somehow I rope myself into getting Carson’s dating life in order.
We make a bet. Get him a boyfriend before Christmas or I lose and I have to do what he says.
Only considering the feelings I still harbor for him, losing may not be such a bad idea.

Carson
Everyone tells me I’m a workaholic.
What I really am is a man with a broken heart.
Until I get the wind knocked off my feet by my brother’s best friend. Under the mistletoe. Because apparently my life is anything but subtle.
He’s hell bent on getting me a boyfriend that is not him, but he’s all I can think about.
This little holiday experiment between us is going to end up in disaster. I know it.
I just hope it doesn’t leave me with more pieces to pick up.

The Holiday Experiment is a Christmas standalone and contains a young musician trying to find his place in the world, an almost forty-year-old workaholic that can’t catch a break, an adorable goddaughter that seems to repeat all the bad words and a witchy mom that loves to bake magical cakes and solve problems.


Heather's Review:

This was a sweet brother's best friend, age gap holiday story with a little magic, quirky mother, small town vibe... there was a bit of relationship coaching, a bit of crushing and a communication gap that needed to be bridged.

As with most holiday stories, The Holiday Experiment was an easy read and put me in a seasonal mood.  It had some fun side characters, a good story arc and a fair amount of steam.  There were a few places where I wanted to shake the characters, but they got their holiday HEA in the end...

Rating: 4 Stars


Angel's Review:

This holiday experiment was a successful one! "This book was just what I needed to get into the holiday spirit.

Carson is lonely and alone, he has his job, and his brother along with his adorable niece and his friends but he's missing a partner. Someone who's attracted to him and will love him the way he is, not someone who trades him in for a younger model.

Enzo just moved back to his home island after his life blew up back in Boston. Now that he's back home living with his mom he needs a fresh start, a do over. He needs to find a job and get his friendship with his best friend Cole back on track. After all he's been gone so long he has to catch up with him and his goddaughter. He wasn't expecting to run back into Carson, he wasn't expecting to help him get dates, and he definitely wasn't expecting to fall in love with Carson all over again.

I really enjoyed all of the light humor and the sarcastic and witty comments in this story. The setting along with the characters are really well written, everyone has background detail so they all belong and add to the story. The storyline was so great, it took these two a while to eventually come together but once they did it was magical! I absolutely adored Carson's friends/employees trying to get him to take a break, to stop working so hard and to adopt a dog. I mean, who can say no when a dog chooses you. I really appreciated the great representation of pitbulls in this story, I adored the fact that the author said that they really are living dogs. (Which is true!)

I really enjoyed this story and I know you will too! Do yourself a favor and grab a copy, please! I'm also hoping Cole will get his own story at some point.

Rating: 5 Stars



Janet's Review:

The Holiday Experiment is in the Mayberry Holm universe. Enzo has always crushed on his best friends older brother, Carson. Carson is a workaholic! He is usually working at the family business or babysitting for his niece. 

Carson had a bad break up and has kind of closed himself off. Enzo has moved back home to lick his wounds after a bad career decision. Carson and Enzo make a bet that Enzo can find Carson a boyfriend. 

This was a really good holiday romance, age-gap in a small town with a crazy, quirky mother. I loved Lillian, she needs to be in all these stories!! Overall, a great story, well written with nice pacing! 

Rating: 4.5 Stars


The Holiday Experiment is currently available as a paperback and an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription

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