{"id":23009,"date":"2024-01-28T13:27:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T18:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=23009"},"modified":"2026-03-22T08:56:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:56:00","slug":"the-mistletoe-motive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23009","title":{"rendered":"The Mistletoe Motive"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mistletoe Motive<\/em><\/a> (2021) Chloe Liese<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Gabriella Di Natale love Christmas. She also loves working in Bailey\u2019s Bookshop, where she can recommend books (especially her favorite romances) to customers.<\/p>\n

But the store is in trouble. A chain is trying to put them out of business, so the Bailey’s hired another manager–one focused on business–to try and save the story.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Frost dislikes Christmas, and Gabriella is also certain that Jonathan dislikes her, and maybe wants her gone–at least if the store can only afford one employee.<\/p>\n

The problem is that Gabriella hasn’t bothered to tell Jonathan about her neurodivergence, and how she doesn’t get subtle signals and generally takes everything he says in the most hurtful way possible.<\/p>\n

Jonathan glances up and meets my eyes, his gaze speaking some cryptic language that I don\u2019t.
\nI hate that feeling. It\u2019s old and familiar, and it never fails to scrape open the scab of my social struggles. I\u2019m a neurodivergent girl in a neurotypical world, and my autistic brain doesn\u2019t read people the way Jonathan Tactical-Mastermind Frost\u2019s does. It\u2019s one of the very first things that made me dislike him: I can feel his cunning, his cold, calculating mind. He has what I don\u2019t, he sees what I can\u2019t, and he wields those weapons ruthlessly. It\u2019s exactly why the Baileys hired him.<\/p>\n

Because he\u2019s everything I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n

And in my worst moments, that makes me feel like I\u2019m not enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is important because the story is told only from Gabriella’s point-of-view, and the reader sees a whole lot more that is going on than Gabriella does: such as Jonathan’s actually feelings, as well as the identity of Mr Reddit.<\/p>\n

MR. REDDIT: Wow. I thought Austen was one of the earliest and most influential romance novelists.<\/p>\n

MCAT: Much as I adore Austen, there\u2019s so much more to romance, and I wish more people knew that.<\/p>\n

MR. REDDIT: I wish I\u2019d known, too. Because foolishly I was expecting a HAPPILY EVER AFTER.<\/p>\n

MCAT: Well, at least you know *that* criteria for romance\u2014the HEA<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was a good deal of boinking in this story, which wasn’t what I was particularly in the mood for, and it was enemies to lovers, which is really not my thing, but I enjoyed it anyway. <\/p>\n

I especially liked that Jonathan had his own things he was hiding about himself, which made Gabriella’s coming clean about her own issues an exchange rather than something one sided.<\/p>\n

So it might not have been precisely the story I was in the mood for, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Kobo Originals. <\/p>\n

Cover illustration by Leni Kauffman, Cover Design by Monika Roe<\/p>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mistletoe Motive (2021) Chloe Liese Gabriella Di Natale love Christmas. She also loves working in Bailey\u2019s Bookshop, where she can recommend books (especially her favorite romances) to customers. But the store is in trouble. A chain is trying to put them out of business, so the Bailey’s hired another manager–one focused on business–to try […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,189,292,204,608,196,742,148,26,56],"tags":[508,50,710,197,740],"class_list":["post-23009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-ace","category-ebook","category-good","category-neurodiversity","category-novella","category-physical-health","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-asd","tag-boinking","tag-chloe-liese","tag-demi","tag-diabetes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5Z7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25622,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25622","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":0},"title":"The Mistletoe Motive","author":"Michelle","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mistletoe Motive (2021) Chloe Liese There is a lot I love about this story: the ace rep, the female lead with ASD, the single point-of-view. Jonathan glances up and meets my eyes, his gaze speaking some cryptic language that I don\u2019t. I hate that feeling. It\u2019s old and familiar,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Mistletoe Motive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/The-Mistletoe-Motive-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23162,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23162","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":1},"title":"Two Wrongs Make a Right","author":"Michelle","date":"February 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Two Wrongs Make a Right (2022) Chloe Liese (The Wilmot Sisters) I picked up my first book by Chloe Liese because it was highly rated and had a female main character with ASD. I've very much enjoyed every book of hers I've read since then, although I don't read them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Wrongs Make a Right","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Two-Wrongs-Make-a-Right.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Two-Wrongs-Make-a-Right.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Two-Wrongs-Make-a-Right.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20901,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20901","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":2},"title":"Always Only You","author":"Michelle","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Always Only You (2020) Chloe Liese (Bergman Brothers) Frankie is a social media coordinator for the LA Kings hockey team, which (considering the nature of hockey) gives her plenty to do. I also document informal charitable outings geared toward our most underrepresented fans. It\u2019s not in my exact job description,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Always Only You","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Always-Only-You.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22449,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22449","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":3},"title":"Ever After Always","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever After Always (2021) Chloe Liese (Bergman Brothers) Aiden and Freya have been married for almost a decade, but the last six months have not been good. They have, in fact, been bad. But that\u2019s when it all went downhill. That\u2019s when it tripped something inside me that I haven\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ever After Always","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Ever-After-Always.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Ever-After-Always.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Ever-After-Always.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22443,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22443","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":4},"title":"Only When It’s Us","author":"Michelle","date":"September 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Only When It's Us (2020) Chloe Liese (Bergman Brothers) Trigger Warnings: cancer, death, grief I read Always Only You and liked it, but didn't rush out to read other books in the series. Finally, I decided I might be in the mood to try another, and tore through the story,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Only When It's Us","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Only-When-Its-Us.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13655,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13655","url_meta":{"origin":23009,"position":5},"title":"Tic-Tac-Mistletoe","author":"Michelle","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tic-Tac-Mistletoe (2020) N.R. Walker Hamish Kenneally is moving to the US. His sister has been there for four years, and there is nothing for him in Australia, so he has a two year visa, is going to remote work, and see if a change will do him good. But he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tic-Tac-Mistletoe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Tic-Tac-Mistletoe.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}