Dipped in Holly – Dana Isaly

I am lovinggg the Christmas vibes!! This short novella swept me off my feet. While it was a super easy read, I did have a few comments on how it could’ve been bumped up to a five-star read for me. 

Since this was such a short book, I’m going to give some points that I enjoyed and points of concern instead of a full review. 

“Now the last memory he has of you will be watching you melt for someone else.”

-Dana Isaly

Points that I Loved:

• The name “Holly”
  • While this is such a small thing for the author to add to a book, it totally gave me the holiday vibes from the get-go. I love how subtle this touch is but how important it is in the making of a Christmas book. 
• The Christmas theme continues
  • As a smutty book centered around Christmas, I can understand if it sometimes gets hard to stick to the Christmas theme, but the author threw in Christmas lights as bondage and slutty Mrs. clause outfits, making the book centered around the Christmas theme which is exactly what I was looking for. 
• The instant chemistry and tension
  • In small books such as this one, I often find it difficult to get behind the tension that comes with the two characters and their chemistry, but Dana Isaly was able to show me just how sizzling their heat was, and just how much they both wanted it. It had me aching for more!

This kiss is everything. This is the kiss. This is the kiss that makes you realize you’ve been missing out your entire life on having the shit kissed out of you.

– Dana Isaly

Points of Concern:

• The age gap
  • I had no idea that the age gap was going to be this large in the book. It was mentioned in the content warning, and while I’ve definitely read worse, it kind of put me off for a few pages which I didn’t enjoy. 
  • However, I do have to say that it was in the content warning, so it is my fault for not taking more consideration when reading it. 
• The twilight references?
  • I don’t know if it’s just me, but there were a few twilight references in the book that made me think that something was a little off. For instance, we had “It’s like he’s my own personal brand of catnip.” or even, “He looks at me like he’s trying to consume me from the inside out.”
  • I’m not sure if I’m completely overthinking these lines, but in my opinion, they’re iconic twilight lines, just a little changed. This was kind of weird for me to read, but I do like twilight so it didn’t ruin anything for me, just made it a little more cringe. 
• My biggest complaint
  • My biggest complaint has to be that I wish this book was longer. I NEED more of these two, more of them discovering each other and finding out why they like each other so much. More of their undeniable chemistry and how they learn to function around one another. I NEED MORE!!!!!!!!!

Overall, Dana Isaly did an amazing job and gave me exactly what I was looking for in a smutty book full of Christmas spirit!

Rating: 4/5⭐