Make the Season Bright is the sapphic holiday romance you need in your life

It may be spooky season, but in the book world, all the holiday books are coming out. Although, with Make the Season Bright, if you're afraid of emotions, this book will be terrifying to you. The newest Ashley Herring Blake is about love, music, and regrets from the past. As with most of her books, it's fantastic!

Make the Season Bright is a dual-POV book. We get the perspectives of our two love interests: Charlotte Donovan and Brighton Fairbrook. Five years ago, Brighton left Charlotte at the altar. Yes, this is a second chance romance!

Cut to the present day, Charlotte is a successful violinist in New York, and Brighton got kicked out of the band she started, and now her former bandmates are insanely famous. Brighton is now working in a bar in Nashville and is too scared to perform.

How do these two meet up? That's where Christmas comes in. Brighton's family is Christmas-obsessed but since her parents are going to be out of the country, she has nowhere to go. Charlotte hates Christmas. it reminds her of her absent mother and her almost-wedding. She has never had good luck in December. What they don't know is that they each know one of two sisters from the same family and those sisters both invite them to Christmas at their family's home.

Make the Season Bright is the perfect holiday second-chance romance

The two meeting for the first time after five years...it is one of the best scenes in the book. We get both POVs in different chapters, and it's internal freaking out, abject terror, and sweating. I loved every minute of it. Charlotte decides she is not going to acknowledge that she knows Brighton, and Brighton has to kind of just go with it. But that doesn't stop her from confronting Charlotte and saying passive-aggressive things at every turn. It's delightful!

I know you're probably thinking, how can Brighton be mad?? She left Charlotte at the altar! True, but not acknowledging someone you've known since you were like twelve...ouch! So, they participate in all the Christmas activities, including a town-wide singles event. They flirt with other people to make each other jealous, and they "accidentally" kiss and then avoid each other. It's everything you want in a second-chance romance.

The biggest struggle these two have is putting their pasts behind them and advocating for what they need in a relationship. Even when they ultimately let their feeling flags fly free (it's not a spoiler! This is a romance), there are still things they need to dissect from their past relationship. And because we get chapters of them in the past, we get to see what went wrong from their perspectives. It is so, so good.

Over the course of the holiday, they come to understand why they are perfect for one another. But when one of them leaves all of a sudden...is that it? Of course not, this is a romance! And trust me, the scene where they reunite for good...worth every moment of angst. These two are connected by many things, but music is the biggest one. And music plays a huge part in how they end up together. I cried and swooned in equal measure.

I really love how Herring Blake played with expectations. I went into this thinking I knew how the story was going to play out. With Brighton being the one who left Charlotte at the altar, you may have some expectations about who ends up being the one to perform the grand gesture at the end. Throw those expectations in the trash. It's what I love most about Herring Blake's books. The well-developed characters, the very real and complex emotions, and a few surprises to keep everything interesting.

If you are in need of a sapphic Christmas romance (who isn't?), you need to get your hands on a copy of Make the Season Bright. It's currently available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats.