Lyons, Jo – Holidays With the Girls

Review Warning: My puns may not make you giggle, but I’m giving you a heads up this is a cheesy, yet fun review.

Holidays With the Girls: The Girls Series Book Four

~Jo Lyons

Holidays With the Girls by Jo Lyons is like having the Christmas present you’ve been waiting for dropped into your lap, only before you can pull the ribbon loose, chaos starts rattling around inside and you hear the faint sound of ticking.

After a whirlwind Vegas ceremony at best friends Liam and Ged’s bachelor party, Connie should be floating on newlywed bliss as the wife of the gorgeous Matteo. Instead of honeymooning on a tropical beach with Mai Tais in hand, she’s white-knuckling a long-distance marriage thanks to Matteo’s demanding work associate, Birdie, who always seems to have one more reason to keep the newlyweds apart. As if that weren’t enough, Connie is trying to launch a solo career after her days with the Dollz while somehow saving her best friends’ dream wedding.

The catch? Ged and Liam are adamant the wedding must take place in France. On Christmas Eve. They want Bridgerton meets Hogwarts with the energy of Las Vegas and the emotional soundtrack of Whitney Houston, all inside a French château. It sounds like the recipe for the world’s strangest Christmas fruitcake until you remember their original venue was destroyed by a freak storm just eight weeks before the wedding, finding a planner who understands their “vision” is nearly impossible, and the airlines would rather cancel Christmas than rebook an entire wedding party.

Thankfully, Matteo comes to the rescue by securing Château Beaumont, Birdie’s family home, leaving the Dollz to become wildly underqualified wedding planners. Once everyone descends on the château, the holiday cheer starts unraveling. Cherry arrives with her children, despite kids being strictly forbidden on the estate. The grooms are acting shiftier than an elf with something to hide. Then Connie and Matteo overhear whispers that could burn down the hearth of friendships, marriages, and careers. Ho, ho… uh-oh.

Holy silent night, this cast is packed tighter than Aunt Susie’s Christmas fruitcake. Connie remains the heart of the story, the friend who never hesitates to say yes for everyone else but forgets to ask when someone might do the same for her. Her marriage to Matteo becomes a tangled strand of Christmas lights with Birdie constantly hovering like the Ghost of Christmas Past. Ged and Liam are gloriously over the top, fiercely committed to their impossible wedding plans while clearly hiding something that keeps you eyeing them harder than a suspicious mall Santa. And the Dollz, Tash, Big Sue, Big Mand, Liberty, and Cherry, are less like Santa’s polished reindeer and more like the backup team that skipped flight school: loud, loyal, lovable, and occasionally crashing into absolutely everything.

Beyond the laughs, Lyons reminds readers that the holidays are built on friendships, found family, forgiveness, and extending an olive branch… or perhaps a pear tree branch. Even the quieter supporting characters feel purposeful, adding warmth and depth rather than simply filling space.

Lyons keeps the pacing charging ahead like the little train circling the Christmas tree, running full throttle with no interest in brakes. From the opening pages, an invisible countdown clock ticks louder with every chapter. The château practically decorates itself through Lyons‘ vivid descriptions of frost-covered grounds, champagne-fueled celebrations, and diva-worthy demands. Once wedding week finally arrives and the carefully wrapped plans begin exploding with Cherry’s surprise arrival, increasingly suspicious grooms, and dangerous secrets, the story becomes a runaway toboggan racing downhill. You may have a pretty good idea where the sleigh is headed, but getting there is half the fun.

Holidays With the Girls is heartwarming, hilarious, and guaranteed to make you snort hot cocoa through your nose while reminding you that the people who drive you the craziest are often the very ones you’d happily rescue from the naughty list.

Jo Lyons slides Holidays With the Girls under the Christmas tree on August 23, 2026, but it’s available for preorder now on Amazon. Don’t be naughty and skip this one. Santa’s still making his list.

I would like to thank author Jo Lyons and NetGalley for the opportunity to review Holidays With the Girls. As always, all opinions and reviews are of my own volition, Karen Brooks aka The Tx Lit Chic. I have not been promised any compensation, current or future, by the author or publisher for a fair and honest review of Holidays With the Girls.

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