A Review of His Christmas Wish by Fiona Murphy

This is the first time I’m reading anything by Fiona Murphy and it won’t be the last. This novel captures the essence of Christmas: family, love, good deeds mixed in with some romance, a few surprises, and a heartwarming ending.

So, let’s meet Lydia Romano, a renowned and in demand sexy, sassy plus-sized stylist with many rules that her clients adhere to like not contacting her before noon (it’s on her business card that her hours are from noon to six). So, when she gets a call at six in the morning, she is furious and lashes out at the caller who later turns out to be Decker Holt, the ruggedly handsome, overbearing, commanding, and possessive billionaire. After apologizing to Decker for the way she answered the phone; Lydia agrees to style his sister, Juliet who is slated to attend various events with him over the holiday season. When Juliet decides not to go with Decker, he tells Lydia that she has no choice but to attend in Juliet’s place.

This is where the romance heats up. Decker is intrigued by Lydia and offers to donate money to her charity for each event she attends with him. However, he has a lot of demands – what she should wear, no showing of skin and her tattoos, etc. When she defies him in the way she dresses for the first event, she ends up embarrassing herself and is slapped with unkind words by some of the women at the event. She is shaken but then follows his instructions for the next event. Thereafter, the two become inseparable: arms around each other at events, deep conversations, tense moments, and intimate trysts.

Overall, this was a quick and fun read. I loved the pacing of the storyline, the theme of friends to lovers, the dialogue, the well-rounded characters and their edginess, as well as their vulnerabilities. Despite Lydia and Decker bumping heads a few times, there’s no denying their chemistry sizzles on the pages of this novel. Moreover, their backstories provide readers valuable insights into their personalities and motivations. The ending was quite fitting for this genre and very timely for the Christmas season with both their wishes coming true – heartwarming. So, here’s to reading another novel by Fiona Murphy. Two thumbs up!

Rating: 4 stars

Some of my favorite lines:

Without remorse or hesitation, I make an offer I know she won’t be able to refuse. I need a date for six events over the next few weeks. I’ll donate ten thousand dollars for each date she attends with me to the struggling charity she is devoted to.

She counters with twenty-five thousand each date and a whole lot of hate.

Deal. It's a bargain, as far as I'm concerned.

I have six dates and her love of the magic of Christmas to get her to take a chance on the magic of us.

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