Mistlefoe by Mari Loyal: Book Review

 ** ARC received for consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Book

He’s the bane of my existence and now we’re forced to work together to organize the company’s Christmas party, but only one of us is getting a promotion out of it…

SIERRA

Every year, SPORTY throws the biggest Christmas party organized by a member of the marketing team. The reward: a hefty bonus.

My family isn’t exactly well off, so I would love to earn that bonus and bring my Grammie over from Venezuela for the holidays. We haven’t seen her in ten years and age is really starting to take its toll on her.

But I have competition, and there is no freaking way I’m letting Conor—my fiercest rival—take this opportunity away from me. Unfortunately our boss agrees, and instead of awarding the job to me (or him—ugh), he makes Conor and I work together.

CONOR

My Gramps is set on closing the hockey rink that gave wings to my dream of a professional career. After an injury ended it, I’ve made it my mission to protect the dreams of the kids who train at our rink.

To do that I need some serious cash that I can use to pay off our overdue bills, and the bonus from organizing the company Christmas party is the ticket.

But there’s one obstacle: Sierra, the woman who absolutely hates my guts. She wants this bonus as much as I do, and things get even worse when our boss dangles a possible promotion over us like it’s some nightmare version of mistletoe.

Will a little mistletoe bring these foes closer, or will the competition ruin the Christmas magic?

Mistlefoe is a standalone, dual POV, closed door Christmas romance with mild language, and heat without spice.

Tropes:

Office rivals to lovers.

Retired hockey player hero.

Latina heroine.

Christmas party chaos.

No 3rd act breakup.

Closed door romance.

The Author

Mari Loyal was born and raised in Venezuela, a baseball country that only cared about another sport, football soccer, every four years. As such, she decided to make hockey her whole personality because she had to make a point of being different. These days she no longer suffers from Not Like Other Girls syndrome and is very happy to be in the sports romance fandom. She writes closed door romance with a Latin American flair and an abundance of cinnamon rolls heroes. She also enjoys eating cinnamon rolls (the confections), in her spare time.

Book Review

Oh, how I loved this book! A retired hockey player + the banter of office enemies + all the holiday festivities + sizzling mistletoe kisses!? Yes, please! It was the perfect combination, and I was absolutely here for it all! As the story starts out, Sierra and Conor are office rivals who don't get along at all--- though that's definitely more from her side! As they are forced to work together to plan a holiday party with large bonusses and a promotion on the line, she starts seeing that there is more to him than she first thought and sparks fly! Both of these characters absolutely drew me in. I loved that as determined as they both were to get the promotion and bonusses, they are both wanting it for selfless reasons. And oh my goodness, the chemistry between these two! It was absolutely flying off the pages! I truly just couldn't get enough of them together. Their family and coworkers added so much fun to the story too--- I especially adored Conor's Gramps with his lack of filter and frequent interruptions. This story truly was the right blend of banter, romance and Christmas cheer and definitely one to add to the TBR! 

Mistlefoe is a closed-door romance with some pretty heated kisses and some innuendo. There is quite a bit of minor language throughout as well. 


You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/4fefA5h