Title:  The New Year’s Wish
Series:
Author:  Dani-Lyn Alexander
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  November 30, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating:  3 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

Olivia Calloway isn’t cut out for the nine-to-five life. She’s a born entrepreneur. She just has to figure out her soul’s true calling—and she’s given herself until the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve to do it. With her trust fund dwindling and only two and a half months to go, she takes an assistant position at prestigious law firm Harris & Harris.

The problem is, Olivia’s a terrible employee—incessantly late, forgetful, and clumsy. Not that her gorgeous new boss Garrett Emerson seems to mind. Beautiful, charming Olivia has been on his mind ever since she ran into him, literally, sprinting to the interview. But Olivia’s first big assignment—to plan an elaborate last minute New Year’s Eve party for the entire company—could make or break her job entirely.

With Ms. Harris herself demanding perfection, a jealous office rival rooting for Olivia to lose, and even Garrett dreading the affair, can Olivia finally prove herself—or will an unforeseen complication send her back to the drawing board? All she wants for the holidays is to be her own boss—and to ignite the flirtatious sparks between her and Garrett…so she can file their relationship under love.

Read on for my thoughts on The New Year’s Wish.  No true spoilers, promise.

We all know someone like Olivia (or actually are Olivia) – that sweet, nice girl who just seems to have all the bad luck in the world.  Dumb things happen to her, she’s late because of those dumb things.  She hasn’t found that elusive perfect niche for her to enable her to open and successfully run her own company.  That’s what she wants – but she is so ill-equipped to do that.  She’s a trust fund baby, but the money is running on the dry side now, so she simply has to land this job until she figures out the rest of her grand plan.

Olivia is the kind of soul that you just want to give her a hug and tell her it’s all going to be okay, thinking in the back of your mind that you just lied to this sweet thing.

Garret is a hard working, single dad.  He’s true love is his daughter and she is the main priority in his life.  But a guy’s gotta pay the bills so his work at Harris & Harris is important to him and time consuming.  When he almost collides with the young woman he will be interviewing for the assistant position, his day just might be looking up.  He’s attracted to Olivia, even if she’s a bumbling, can’t tell time or get anywhere when she should, and has no clue how to do her job.  Still – he likes her and maybe there is a job that Olivia can do perfectly.

I liked The New Year’s Wish… I just never really connected to the characters.  It’s a novella, so there isn’t a lot of time to make me care about this couple’s love life.  And while I enjoyed the quirky, accident prone Olivia (up to a point), and perhaps lusted a bit over the handsome Garrett… I simply did not care if they got their happy ever after or not mainly because Olivia was over the top in her scatteredness (if that is even a word).  So, while I liked the basic story, it still got a 3 star rating from me (which still equates to an I Liked It) because I could not get engaged on any level with this couple.  That is on me, not the author.  And I acknowledge that not every story is going to be a perfect fit.  If you’re looking for a totally light hearted and quick holiday story then this one might be exactly what you’re looking for.

*I received an e-ARC of The New Year’s Wish from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available for the Kindle