Hot Cocoa and Mistletoe

Only One Cozy Bed Novellas #3

by Elise Kennedy

Peri Bell planned to host the perfect Christmas at her upstate cabin until her argumentative, hulking, stupidly-handsome co-owner appears unexpectedly. A freak overnight snowstorm has them trapped in the cabin until Christmas.

Will the snow melt in time or will Peri have to spend Christmas trapped with her number-one enemy / very secret crush?

Featuring:
Enemies-to-lovers
Forced proximity
Grumpy / Sunshine
Snowed in
Stern Brunch Daddy vibes
Log cabin in the woods
Dog BFF
Christmas hijinks
Spicy scenes
"Good girl"

Genres: Christmas, Romance, Holiday, Novella, Forced Proximity, Enemies To Lovers, Contemporary

94 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2022

About the author

I write cozy, steamy, contemporary romances.
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Reviews

[Christina (stinarinareads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25✨
1.5🌶️

#️⃣ ~90 page novella
🌨️ Snowed in together + forced proximity
🔥 Sharing a bed for body heat
💋 One spice scene

FMC and MMC share co-ownership of a cabin home, and end up arriving there at the same time over the Christmas holidays. Before either could leave, they’re snowed in, forced to address their unresolved sexual tension.

I’ve read one other of Elise Kennedy’s holiday novellas, and I definitely preferred it over this one. The FMC here was pretty unlikeable for me, and maybe this is a petty reason, but she just felt selfish and immature. She’s expecting friends over for Christmas, but due to an extremely bad, trees down, power out, roads blocked snow situation, they can’t get there. And the FMC frames it as “they cancelled on me” and throws a fit with spittle described as flying from her mouth. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

Some bonus points for the spice scene the catered solely to the FMC’s fantasy, but still wasn’t enough to salvage my dislike of the FMC. There’s better holiday novellas out there!

[rae ✿ · Rating 2 out of 5]

not as good as the first two

[Virginia Cúneo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice Christmas short story. I loved the plot, but I found Peri quite annoying, selfish and childish.. and by childish I don’t mean the Christmas-related stuff, which I loved, but her overall responses and behaviour.

[Alejandra Guerrero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. this woman is insufferable. selfish, childish, and TSTL. No way I can stand her for one more page. DNF 20%

[Serena Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Todas las mejores partes de Bennett eran sus cosas favoritas: un hombre obsesionado con su perro, músculos que ella necesitaba lamer, severo y gruñón pero obsesionado con hacer lo correcto y siempre cuidar de las personas en su vida.'





•Mi opinión puede contener Spoilers.
•Esta destinada a ser un descargo personal no para que alguien más lea pero si lo haces y te ofende, me disculpo porque sé lo que es que te guste un libro y otros lo critiquen.




Hot Cocoa & Mistletoe de Elise Kennedy serie Only One Cozy Bed Novellas libro 3

Argumento:

Peri Bell planeaba organizar la Navidad perfecta en su cabaña en el norte del estado hasta que su copropietario discutidor, severo, corpulento y estúpidamente guapo aparece inesperadamente. Una extraña tormenta de nieve durante la noche los tiene atrapados juntos en la cabaña hasta Navidad.

¿Se derretirá la nieve con el tiempo o Peri tendrá que pasar la Navidad atrapada con su enemigo número uno/su enamoramiento secreto?



Mi humilde opinión:

Una historia corta de navidad cálida, divertida y picante!

Peri y Bennett son copropietarios de una cabaña y días antes de navidad la nieve los obliga a compartirla, además de la cama... Él parece malhumorado y ella es todo alegría, quizás es justo lo que necesita para poner color a su monótona vida. Entre guirnaldas, la decoración de la casa de pan de jengibre, seguido de apasionados besos con chocolate caliente, juegos con más besos, un muñeco de nieve y karaoke navideño, se darán cuenta que la navidad en la compañía del otro no es tan mala y que no son tan enemigos jurados como parecían ser.

Las bromas a través de correos electrónicos al principio y los apodos me hicieron reír. Me gustaron los momentos de tensión y pasión, y por supuesto los dulces en la cabaña. Me encantaron juntos, gran pareja!

Bennett resultó ser un rollo de canela al final. Me derretí con este gigante consolando a un asustado Jax y llamarlo su mejor amigo! Me gustó que a pesar de sus miedos Peri se permitiera confiar y amarlo.

Está fue una lectura rápida que me dio todas las vibras navideñas y un divertido romance de enemigos a amantes.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peri and Bennett’s story was short and sweet (not very spicy but there’s a tiny amount of it too). I liked the banter and their dynamic. The snowed in trope is not one I often read but in this case the forced proximity wasn’t over the top and it was actually enjoyable and felt natural.

[Brittany (hauntedbycandlelight) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute! A very enjoyable Christmas Eve read.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now THIS was a good holiday novella. Banter, heat, low stakes adorableness. I would have taken this as a full length novel if it was given that way but it works very well as a novella.

[Maryam Nass · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 !

This was cute AF and a great, short Christmas novella!

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️💚An adorably steamy Christmas novella!💚❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I can’t find anything hugely wrong with this book, I ate it up like a platter of Christmas cookies. Cute with just the right depth and the perfect length for a novella. So glad I was able to kick off my Christmas reading with a good one! 🎁

🌶️🌶️/5
This Ho ho hoe meter shouldn’t be anything too crazy but I’m gonna put a quote ⬇️ that’s just gotta be one of the hottest things I’ve ever read so WHEWWW


⚠️naughty list spoilers below⚠️


✒️Favorite Quote🖋️
“I want you to describe, in detail, what exactly you’d like me to do to you tonight. In perfect, ridiculous honesty. Because Peri,” he took a breath and, lord have mercy, his lip brushed her ear lobe with a hot puff, “Whatever it is, I bet I’ve thought about doing it to you.”


What I liked👍:
- the rivals up front but crushes secretly was so cute. He would purposely be a grump because he wanted to email her 😭 and he broke up with his girlfriend because he got more excited for Peri’s emails than seeing her!!! Come on, the whole thing was just so cute!
- Peri immediately claiming the dog Jax as her new bff 💚
- Him doing all of her party planning activities because he knows how hard she worked and he wanted to cheer her up🥹 not only that but then making it a competition was an extra fun layer!!!
- he used his Christmas wish to wish her friends to make it for the party 😭😭😭
- not putting this in the quotes but it’s still ringing in my head… she goes “don’t tell me you don’t like whipped cream or you’ll break my heart” and he goes “I could never break your heart, Peri” SCREAMING

What I didn’t like👎:
- the one itty thing I found that bugged me was, they end up sleeping in the same bed because he can’t get up the stairs with his busted foot. BUT. The next day. He goes up the stairs just fine to get Jax’s dog bed. She makes a point of saying he’s still limping around, but why was he suddenly able to do the stairs fine when he’s still hurt?

[January · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hot Cocoa and Mistletoe by Elise Kennedy
Small-Town Romance Shorts #3 aka Only One Cozy Bed
100-page Kindle Ebook story pages 5-98

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novella, Holiday > Christmas

Featuring: Content Warning Link 🌐 Mostly Sexually Explicit Scenes - Exact Wording At the End of Review; Author's Bibliography, Emails, Timeshare, Chicago, Illinois, Cabin, Lawyer, Mix-up Trope, Dog, Wisconsin, Party Planner, Inclement Weather Trope, Close Proximity Trope Enemies-to-Lovers Trope, Author's Links, Author's Bibliography

Rating as a movie: XX for strong sexual content and language

Songs for the soundtrack: "White Christmas" by Ella Fitzgerald, "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley

Books and Authors mentioned: Only One Cozy Bed, an omnibus collection of 4 cozy, seasonal novellas that includes exclusive, brand-new bonus epilogues for all novellas (including Hot Cocoa & Mistletoe)!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️🫕☕️❄️🎄

My thoughts: This was good but I was expecting more than was delivered.

Recommend to others: Yes. This was a quick series, it didn't end on a high note but it was fun overall. You could get a drink or box of chocolate and have a taste every time Chicago, Wisconsin, or the city is mentioned.

Small-Town Romance Shorts
1. Pumpkin Spice and Pour-Overs (2022)
2. Apple Cider and Subterfuge (2022)
3. Hot Cocoa and Mistletoe (2022)
4. Snowed In & Snuggle Weather (2023)
Only One Cozy Bed - Novella collection with bonus epilogues

🌐 Minor injuries, a runaway pet, an animal experiencing freezing temperatures, grieving the death of a parent (due to cancer off the page), consensual explicit sexual content, including spanking.

[adeela_books ❁ཻུ۪۪ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

TROPES:
• enemies to lovers
• forced proximity
• snowed in
• Holiday cabin they both co-own
• Christmas and winter
• spice

❄️❄️❄️

I've read all of the novellas in this series and this one is currently the last one.

I liked the enemies to lovers trope and ofc the snowed in aspect. It was a cute read. The spice was spicy, too spicy for me personally, so I ended up skipping it 😂

Overall, a quick read to pass time this holiday szn

[Kerry Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oh my god. You are the weirdest weirdo to ever weird. ‘Tiger’? You called a hot dude hot to his face and then cataloged his hotness to him, and then acted like his little league coach.”⁣
⁣
Enemies to lovers, snowed in, only one bed, snappy banter, spanking, and a praise kink? Sign me all the way up! Add in a rustic A-frame cabin, jazzy Christmas music, twinkling lights, festive garland, a hot cocoa bar, cinnamon rolls, a snowball fight, and an adorable dog? ⁣
⁣
This was a perfect, Christmassy, spicy novella.

[cakecoffeeandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super festive! 🎄

[sophandherbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bennett and his words...

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ A cute and spicy Christmas novella. Nothing spectacular, but it was cozy.

[Joslyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good snowed in enemies to lovers story 🤭 The plot was pretty unique and was very cute and spicy. I'm a sucker for anything written by Elise Kennedy and this did not disappoint.

[Ashley Schounard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun quick read. Super cute.

[Janae · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5⭐

Liked the mmc. Fmc is childish and annoying.

The mmc (Bennett) and fmc (Peri) share ownership of a cabin and both show up to said cabin. The fmc wants to host a Christmas party for her friends and the mmc has been spending Christmas at the cabin for the past three years. They both end up getting snowed in due to a snowstorm. Trees have fallen over on the road so no one can leave or arrive. The mmc mentions they have people who can clear the fallen trees and snow, but there's basically a waitlist since other people are snowed-in in their homes as well, some of them being first responders. Bennett tells Peri that he made a decision to tell the workers that they could wait, while the workers focus on getting the first responders out of their houses so they can get to work, and she throws a temper tantrum. As if her little party is more important than first responders who need to get to their jobs, the very jobs where they save people's lives. And then she calls him "soulless"!? She's so selfish.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm in my Christmas novella era as I've read a few simple, quaint novellas that were very low stakes....and I've loved them. As one who normally reads fantasies with multiple books of 600+ pages, I have really enjoyed the quick novellas set in snowy cabins with lots of festive cheer.

The premise of this one is simple. Two people own a cabin in the woods. Their agreement is that they split the year in half, each person taking the cabin in their allotted half of the year. But because of a scheduling oversight, they both end up at the cabin for Christmas.....and then they get snowed in. Of course, this enemies-to-lovers novella seems a bit rushed and it could have been twice as long and I would have been happy, but for a quick read that hits the important parts and all the appropriate tension, I'm a happy camper.

[McKenna R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, quick read. It was probably too spicy for me. I enjoyed the story, though. If you are interested in it but wary for that reason, the spiciness was mostly found in two scenes toward the end of the book.

I do love a classic enemies-to-lovers Christmas rom-com, though, and this delivered on that. It’s a quick novella that you could probably read in one sitting, but it took me longer than that since I didn’t have 90 minutes of uninterrupted time.

Also why is Bennett such a popular name for romances? I swear this is the third Bennett I’ve seen from a romance fiction setting in the last few days.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars. Hot Cocoa and Mistletoe centers around Peri and Bennett, co-owners of an upstate cabin, getting trapped together for Christmas due to a freak snowstorm. Peri had planned to host the perfect Christmas for her friends before the storm hit - but due to the snow she is stuck with only Bennett for company. And as you can imagine she is less than thrilled about this. Throw in some banter, sexual tension, emotions from Christmas' past, and holiday vibes and you have this novella. It was cute and had spice but I wasn't invested in either character. This was not my favorite Elise Kennedy holiday short story and in my opinion the first 2 in the series were more enjoyable.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow what a great festive read.
Enemies to lovers snowed-in together over Christmas. Bennett helps cheer Peri up when her Christmas is ruined when her friends can't get to the cabin for Christmas and ending up alone with just him and Jax (the dog). She saves his life and he does all her activities in return only things heat up when the power goes out and it's not just from the fire ikyk.
What started as a Christmas for Peri to host for her and her friends with no one else to share it with ended up a Christmas miracle with her secret crush who she never ever thought she would get.

[Rora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waste of my time is what I’m rating this book.

There weren’t even enemies to lovers at all in this book, which is a given because it’s a romance book. This trope doesn’t belong in romance because they have no real reason why they hate their love interest rather than because of their job🙄.

The girl literally claimed that he was her “worst enemy” but admits that she had a secret crush on him.

I wouldn’t called this enemies to lovers more like strangers to lovers is what more appealing than one that needs to have two people actual hate each other that they want to kill each other.

[Mikaila · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first ever DNF. I got to page 18 and can't make it any further. Peri is so unbelievably intolerable, immature and selfish.

SPOILERS
✨ ✨ ✨
She agrees months before that Ben can use the cabin for Christmas like he has done for the last 3 years and because she decided randomly to have her friends over for Christmas he is apparently the one who needs to leave. She also claims that he is her worst enemy but has a secret crush on him and has stalked him on socials? Idk if she knows what an enemy even is.

[Swiftiequeen420 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick little holiday read. It was cute and decently spicy. our FMC Peri is a party planner and shares part ownership of her family cabin with a grumpy lawyer named Bennett. After a miscommunication they both end up at the cabin for Christmas. Peri planned a party there with her friends to have a Friendmas but when a huge snow storm happens and the two rivals are stuck together the heat between them starts to flare into an inferno. Can Peri and Bennett put their differences aside and enjoy Christmas together? The banter was really good in this book. I enjoyed it!

[Jennifer Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a quick moving novella like this one. Peri and Bennett are co-owners of a cabin and end up there together in Christmas. Snowed in. Peri thinks Bennett is uptight, although hot. They get to know each other while snowed in and realize they are both crushing on each other. It's a novella so it moves quickly, but it works. I'm grateful for the bonus epilogue too. I'd love to read more of their future. I wouldn't have minded his POV more than just that bonus.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

eBook
Fiction / Romance / Winter / Forced Proximity / Christmas / Novella / Enemies to Lovers / Grumpy Sunshine / Praise
⭐⭐⭐ / 5 🌶🌶/5

Cute, short, festive vibes and a DOG!!! I loved books 1 & 2, but this one not as much. Sadly, I didn't feel a connection between these characters at all. I started to enjoy the banter about halfway through, and, of course, the dog! I can not understand why people dislike the FMC I found her more likable than the MMC.

[Liz | lizzuplans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cute novella!
Peri and Bennett worked well together and it was nice to see them get together. The banter was fun, I would have loved more of that.
I “felt” the couples in the other two novellas more, but still a lovely seasonal romance read.

Also, I wish I could get Peri’s hot chocolate right now, yum!!! Without peppermint for me, but still yes please.

[Crazy4bookscruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

most adorable snowed in novella

It was so gosha dang cute and so loveable!! I wanted to curl up next to a fire with this book.
The characters were grumpy and sunshine with hearts of gold. They cared so much and were the absolute best enemies to lovers story. What a flawless transition.