12.5.2025 | Friday

Single and Ready to Jingle

Item: Single and Ready to Jingle
Rating: 3.5
Author: Kim

category: Book Reviews

tag(s): adult

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book notes

title: Single and Ready to Jingle
author: Piper Rayne
series: Holiday Romances #1
published: 11.14.2022
publisher: self-published
Source: Kindle Unlimited
genre(s): holiday/seasonal, romance
pages: 235
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | BookBub | BookHype | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:

| series rating:

the blurb

The girl who loves Christmas falls for the Grinch—it’s a Christmas miracle.
What started as a dumpster fire of a blind date turns into a deal.
In truth, it probably didn’t help that I showed up dressed like an elf but that’s a story for another time. Our start was rocky at best which is why it’s so frustrating that I can’t stop thinking about his sexy British accent. Or the way his chest and arms fill out his suit. Or his perfect hair with that single streak of grey at the front.
Santa likes lists and so do I, so here’s all the reasons why Andrew and I aren’t right for each other:
He’s my brother’s best friendHe’s the biggest grump I’ve ever met.He hates Christmas.
That last one is big for a girl like me who thinks that the entire month of December should be a national holiday. So, when he calls for my help in planning his firm’s holiday party, I can’t pass up the opportunity to grow my small business. Bonus, we make a deal, and he agrees to attend three holiday events with me so I can make him fall in love with Christmas. As if I’d pass up an opportunity to make a Grinch’s heart grow three times its size.
It isn’t long until I discover Andrew has a very real reason to hate Christmas and I start to see him in a different light. That’s when the Christmas miracle begins.

a few notes

POV: 1st person; dual
setting: New York City, NY
keywords/phrases: blind dates, holidays, family
tropes: enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend, gumpy/sunshine
spice: 5/5
language: 0/5

mood reading: in the mood for good holiday romance with a little spice
bonus points: Kenzie’s love of Christmas

my review

Single and Ready to Jingle can be read as a standalone, but the characters introduced here appear in the subsequent novels.

A blind date serves as the meet-cute in this book, a date that was awful from the moment Kenzie walked in. Why? Because Kenzie was running late from an event, so in an effort to not keep him waiting, she showed up in costume. And Andrew didn’t even try to hide his disdain. In other words, he was a jerk in every possible way. But then, as things go, he discovers he needs her. So she agrees, on one condition. That he go with her to do three Christmasy activities, and he has to do them with an open mind. And thus the story unfolds.

The things that kept me from rating this higher was the way the two were characterized. Kenzie was a bit of a pushover, in ways that felt a little cringe. And Andrew… he was so obnoxious and rude to her at the beginning, and it never really felt like he took enough ownership of that. Instead, he went from a judgmental jerk to into her in what seemed like five minutes, and she went right along with it.

But despite that, the story hit the holiday vibes I was looking for.

About Piper Rayne

Piper Rayne is a USA Today Bestselling author duo. Our goal is to bring you romance stories that have “Heartwarming Humor With a Side of Sizzle” (okay…you caught us, that’s our tagline). A little about us… We both have kindle’s full of one-clickable books. We’re both married to husbands who drive us to drink. We’re both chauffeurs to our kids. Most of all, we love hot heroes and quirky heroines that make us laugh, and we hope you do, too.