Resting Scrooge Face - Meghan Quinn

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AUTHOR: Meghan Quinn

GENRE: Short Story, Romance.
RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: Having low expectations helped. Being a Christmas Scrooge helped even more. 😛 Liked this story enough.

Story Synopsis:
Caleb used to like Christmas, but this year, all things Christmassy are annoying him. Could this have something to do with the return of Nola, “the one that got away”, back to their little town of Bright Harbor, Maine?
Nola has just broken up with her boyfriend and tired of the city, she has come back to her hometown. She isn’t sure what she is hoping for, but she knows one thing: she simply doesn’t want to run into Caleb.
When Nola gets a mysterious letter from a ‘Resting Scrooge Face’, she feels an unexpected connect and responds to it. Thus begins a new friendship over a common hatred for the holiday season. Where will this secret relationship go? Read and find out. A(If you haven’t guessed it already.)
The story comes to us in the first person perspectives of Caleb and Nola.


What works:
🎄 This is an entertaining second-chance enemies-to-lovers romance. All things you expect from the trope are present in this story and handled decently.

🎄 Not steamy.

🎄 Lots of fun moments. You'll either laugh with the characters or laugh at them

🎄 Loved the little letters written by both the Christmas-hating characters. The drama in the story is quite ordinary compared to the connection between the characters in the letters.

🎄 There are only four characters in the entire story. I appreciate the author’s attempt to keep things simple.

🎄 The remaining two characters, Nola’s grandma and the local mailman, have comparatively limited roles, but they sure leave their mark. Both of them are adorable.

🎄 I loved the title. It is a play on ‘Resting Bitch Face’, of which I have been a lifelong sufferer. (I could simply be thinking about the lunch menu but my face looks like I am planning someone’s murder! 😂)


As a short story, the character development is quite minimal and the plot, quite hurried. This might have worked better as a novella. Nevertheless, it does what it set out to do and provides light entertainment.

This was obviously no literary classic but it offered me some smiles. This is my first read of a Meghan Quinn work, and while I am not a regular reader of romance, I might just keep her future works on my radar.

Recommended if you know what to expect from a second chance romance as this doesn’t steer far away from the formula. The notes are the novelty.

The story is free for Amazon Prime subscribers.

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