Publishers Weekly
11/13/2023
Holiday’s moving latest (after So This Is Christmas) sets itself apart through its sensitive focus on mental health. Aurora “Rory” Evans’s teenage years revolved around ballet and the intense pressure to meet her abusive mother’s expectations. To cope, she spent a fair amount of time fantasizing about “Mall Mike,” the hunky Canadian boy she met once in passing. She starts claiming him as her “Canadian boyfriend” and using him to get out of unwanted social obligations. As an adult, she’s settled into her job as a dance teacher, but she still struggles with anxiety. Then a new girl joins her class, and when her father arrives to pick her up, it’s none other than Mall Mike himself. This collision of real life and teenage fantasy could add to Rory’s worries, but instead Mike’s presence in her life slowly makes everything better. For his part, professional hockey player Mike is recently widowed, emotionally distraught, and trying to help his daughter through her grief. Rory’s dance classes give the little girl an outlet, and soon Mike realizes that Rory might be the perfect addition to their life. This love story has serious themes, but there’s also a serious reward in store. Readers looking for emotionally intelligent romance will want to snap this up. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
A heartwarming, healing, romcom worth staying up late to finish.”—Abby Jimenez, New York Times bestselling author
"Jenny Holiday has long been a go-to for funny, feel-good romance."—Entertainment Weekly
"Heartwarming, engaging... the witty banter and outrageous situations keep the tone upbeat even as characters face challenging situations."—Library Journal
"Readers looking for emotionally intelligent romance will want to snap this up."—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
11/01/2023
As a teen, Aurora's life was dictated by ballet classes and performances (and her overbearing mother). Her only escape was as a mall barista, and that's where she met the template for the perfect fake boyfriend. Based on a slightly older Canadian teen in town for a hockey match, Aurora's fake boyfriend was her way to avoid awkward social situations. Years later, Aurora has left ballet and now teaches children's dance classes. It's at the dance studio that her fake Canadian boyfriend resurfaces—as the father of a student. As it happens, the real Mike, a widower nearing the end of his professional hockey career, is even better than the one she made up. Aurora's years of ballet left her with panic attacks and an eating disorder, which she mostly manages with the help of a therapist. Mike and his daughter, also in therapy, are in different stages of grief. These situations are depicted realistically and sensitively. VERDICT Holiday's (So This Is Christmas) heartwarming, engaging, slow-burn romance is character-driven, and the witty banter and outrageous situations keep the tone upbeat even as characters face challenging situations.—Heather Miller Cover
MARCH 2024 - AudioFile
Narrators Emily Ellet and Joshua Jackson delight listeners with this endearing contemporary romance. Aurora Evans thought she would never again come face-to-face with Mike Martin, her fake Canadian boyfriend from the past. Now Mike is a pro hockey player and single dad in need of a nanny. Aurora and Mike discover they each have past traumas that they can overcome together. In a duet-style narration, Ellet and Jackson deliver passionate performances. Ellet's lively tone captures Aurora's past and hope for the future, while Jackson's warm tone and rich timbre convey Mike's charm and dedication to his daughter and Aurora. Listeners will love this slow-burn romance and long for Aurora and Mike to find true happiness together. J.J.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-12-06
A dance teacher falls for a professional hockey player who happens to have been her pretend boyfriend in high school.
When she was 16 and working as a barista at the Mall of America, Aurora Evans met a Canadian guy in town for a hockey tournament. They hit it off, and for years afterward, she used the excuse of her “Canadian boyfriend” to get out of social obligations. Now, 13 years later, Rory has left behind a career as a ballerina and runs a dance studio for kids. When Olivia, one of her students, returns to class following the death of her mother, Rory meets the girl’s father, Mike Martin, a pro hockey player, and she senses something familiar about him. She strongly suspects that Mike may just be the original inspiration for the fake Canadian boyfriend she conjured in high school, and she covertly attempts to connect the dots. Holiday provides a brief content warning about potentially triggering material, but it doesn’t fully describe the depth of Mike’s grief and Rory’s experiences with a toxic upbringing and disordered eating as they’re explored in the book. Mike and Rory become friends, but Rory is increasingly worried that her longtime lie about her imaginary boyfriend will come to light. While the book focuses on healing from trauma, complete with some wonderful mentions of therapy, the romance feels secondary to Rory’s reckoning with her harmful childhood and her experience as a professional dancer. Mike is sweet and kind, but he serves primarily as the impetus for Rory to make some changes. Considering that Rory and Mike are now adults, the focus on a somewhat inconsequential lie from Rory’s teen years feels silly, undermining the emotional and nuanced portrayal of love amid loss and recovery.
Emotionally intense in a way that overwhelms the slow-burn romance.
