Savannah J. Frierson

Grounded for Christmas

Lauren Sullivan

CW: (view spoiler)[fat-shaming  (hide spoiler)]

I initially picked this up because of the gorgeous cover, and I was well rewarded. This is a sweet confection of a holiday novella, with a plethora of my favorite tropes – second chance, snowed in, and only one bed.

“It’s Christmas and Mary and Joseph have no room at an inn!”

Joseph and Mary met at the wedding of her younger stepbrother, Deon. After a one-night-stand, he’s baffled when she leaves the next morning without a word to him. Five years later, they end up seated next to each other on a flight to Deon’s home for Christmas – and when a storm grounds them in Charlotte, they’re forced to share a cabin with only one bed…

“The last time we shared a bed, it didn’t go well—”
“I thought it went very well,” he said, his voice soft, but it might as well have been a bellow the way his words affected her. “It was the morning after that wasn’t so great.”

For a novella, Mary and Joseph both have a lot of emotional depth. Mary’s a curvy Black pharmacologist, nerdy, smart and with a sharp sense of humor. Joseph is an adorable cinnamon roll pilot who’s carried a torch for Mary ever since their night together, and he’s not going to let the holiday end without getting an answer as to why she ghosted him. I loved how Mary both demanded an explanation for the event while also acknowledging that she was ashamed of her reaction – running away and ghosting Joseph.

Since this is a Christmas novella, there’s also the requisite holiday jokes – the Mary and Joseph ones were especially funny to me – as well as a dysfunctional family confrontation. But all ends well, of course, and we’re left with a happy family Christmas and a sweet epilogue.

Overall, this book is short, sweet and perfectly Christmasy.

Grounded for Christmas

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