If you love sexy, heartwarming, emotional holiday romances, I highly recommend Merrily Ever After by Jenny Holiday. I love how this book talks about a very real issue that can arise after a couple seems to have found their happily ever after. I love how Elise and Jay address this issue together, in a way that’s honest and emotionally raw while still being really fun and sexy.

When Elise and Jay got married, they both agreed that they will never have kids. Jay is afraid of turning into his father, and Elise thinks she is biologically incapable of becoming pregnant, so it seems like a simple enough promise. But, as this novella begins, Elise learns that she’s pregnant, and now has to figure out how to break the news to Jay.

I love how real these characters feel. Elise wasn’t as open as she should’ve been, and when Jay does learn the news, he doesn’t respond as well as he could’ve either. But even when they’re at odds with each other, the love between these characters just overflows from the page. The entire time I was reading this, I fell more and more in love with these characters, and became more and more eager to see them find their way back to each other again.

I also love the way that their sex life plays a huge role in how they communicate. There’s such sexual chemistry between them that they almost feel like a new couple, but there’s also so much wordless communication that I can also believe they’ve been married for decades. I especially love the scene where Jay draws Elise into one of their favourite sexual scenarios to get her to open up — it’s a really steamy scene, first of all, but also it shows how their physical connection as a couple fuels their emotional one. More importantly, Jay also notices when Elise wants to straight-up talk, and not have sex mixed up in it, and he pulls away immediately and starts the conversation. This kind of deep, intuitive understanding shows just how perfect they are together, and this scene is just so wonderfully indicative of that.

Finally, the holiday connection is so beautifully cheesy and heartwarming. The ending made me squee, and feel all warm and gooey inside. Merrily Ever After made me fall in love with Elise and Jay and their love story, and I absolutely recommend this as a bookish holiday treat.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.