Review: "The Billionaire Scrooge Next Door" by Olivia Hayle

The Billionaire Scrooge Next Door by Olivia Hayle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A decade ago, Adam Dunbar's father was accused of embezzling funds from his company, the largest Christmas store in Michigan, and fled the country to avoid prosecution. Adam and his mother moved away from the small town of Fairhill shortly thereafter. Now a self-made tech billionaire, Adam recently decided to buy back his family's former home and is living there alone, across the street from his childhood best friend Evan's parents. Evan's younger sister, Holly Michaelson, now lives in Chicago but is also back in Fairhill for the holidays. She looks forward to spending Christmas in her hometown each year because of Fairhill's famous Christmas Fest, which draws visitors from all over the state. Unlike Holly, Adam isn't a fan of Christmas after everything that happened with his father, and his refusal to decorate leads to a conflict with his new neighbors. Since Holly and Adam grew up together, Holly's mother and her book club friends ask her to pay Adam a visit and convince him to decorate. He agrees, but only if Holly helps him. They rekindle their friendship while hanging lights, and Holly decides to show her teenage crush just how magical the Christmas season can be.

This was such a cute, fun story! Adam was actually pretty nice for a Scrooge, not to mention down to Earth considering the level of success he'd achieved. He could have thrown his money around to try and impress Holly, but instead, he acted like a normal guy, which I appreciated. It seemed as if he hadn't had much in his life besides his company for the past few years, which accounted for his workaholic tendencies. That's probably also why he seemed kind of lonely. The way he reconnected with Holly and the entire Michaelson family was quite lovely. As for Holly, she was sweet and I liked how passionate she was about her hometown and its Christmas traditions, but she seemed kind of young for her age (29) to me. I couldn't exactly put my finger on why, but it might have been because she still hadn't managed to figure out her career path. She was a good match for Adam, however, and I loved their banter. I laughed so hard when they started joking about Adam's "old job" as a serial killer and all of the skills it taught him! (I might have a twisted sense of humor...)

I recommend "The Billionaire Scrooge Next Door" for all fans of contemporary romance and romantic comedy and look forward to whatever Olivia Hayle writes next.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

View all my reviews