Cabin Crush by Kasey Stockton | Book Review

This Christmas, all she wants is him.

Rachael
I’ve had a crush on my brother’s best friend my entire life. Once, in high school, I even got a taste of what it would be like to be with him thanks to some well-placed incredible and humiliating. We always spend Christmas with Max’s family at our cabin, and every year I have to suffer through a blissful week with him in a completely platonic way. His steady stream of girlfriends have made him off limits . . . until now.

It’s Christmas.

We’re at the cabin together.

And Max Dawson is single.

Max
I’ve never looked forward to Christmas less in my entire life. My parents’ holiday will be ruined after I tell them my news, and to make matters worse, I blabbed to Rachael on the drive out to the cabin. Now she has to keep my secret until I’m ready to share with my family.

Which is probably why she’s acting so weird. Watching me. Touching me. Flirting. It would be terrible if I wasn’t enjoying it so much. But her brother has made it clear she’s off limits. And besides, I kissed Rachael once, and we all know how that ended.

So we definitely shouldn’t do it again.

Right?

There’s just something about a trope-filled Christmas romance, and Cabin Crush has a bunch of them! You’ve got brother’s best friend, childhood friends/grew up together, mutual pining (yet they both think their love is unrequited), forced proximity, and friends to lovers. I love all these tropes, and am honestly so happy to not see an enemies to lovers for once because that’s my least favorite and appears to be everywhere right now, across all genres. Anyway, this was cute! Even though some young teen drama happened that made things a little awkward for the two of them, Rachael and Max have a really sweet friendship. They’ve been pining away for one another for years, and that makes it even cuter.

I love a dual point of view, which you’ll get with this story. It’s so fun getting into the heads of the main characters, and it made me really like both of them. I really enjoyed the family cabin all decked out in Grinch-themed decorations. This cabin sounds like a very cozy and comforting place to be, minus the lack of heating in some of the rooms. I loved the two families, particularly the dads who were both super lovable and funny. I really enjoyed the coziness of the story. The families spend their time at the cabin watching Hallmark and other Christmas movies, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows around the fire, baking and decorating cookies, doing puzzles, chatting on the couch, eating lots of yummy food, hiking, caroling, sledding, and more. There were some deeper, more difficult conversations to be had surrounding loss and grief, and I felt those were handled with reverence and added depth to the story. The romance itself was a little on the cheesier end of cheesy, even for a Christmas romance, but that’s ok! It made me smile. All in all, Cabin Crush is a very fun closed-door romance with a lot of Christmas cheer and characters you’ll love. I’m excited to read some of the other standalones in this series!

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