I first heard of Bridge Van der Eyk when she came onto our podcast as a guest back in July 2024. I read her first book, 10 Dates, as prep for the interview and loved it so much I preceded to read the 2nd one straight after and finished that as well, all within one weekend. She then released 2 Loves Later which was a continuation story of Libby as she decides who to pick in this sweet romance.
Which brings us to now and The Husband Wishlist, her latest novel which was released at the end of 2025 and marketed as a standalone festive romance. I started reading this a little on the evening of the 30th December, and was finished by 1st January, 2 days!! That gives you a hint at where this review is going.
In Husband Wishlist we follow Jessie, a woman who hasn’t had the best luck in life when it comes to romance but has just recently quit her corporate job to pursue her dream career. After her last breakup 2 years ago, her and her identical twin sister, Anna got drunk and created a husband wish list, which is a list of things Jessie wants in her dream man (with a few funny things thrown in by the twin sister). It was a bit of fun, nothing particularly serious, with things like must have blonde hair, brown eyes, love custard doughnuts, smell like grapefruit.
Travelling from London to New York to go back home to Connecticut for her family christmas, she finds her seat on the plane, only to find her seat neighbour has blonde hair, brown eyes and is very attractive, oh and also loves her favourite custard doughnuts. So, yes that’s already 3 ticks from her wish list.
The flight is very delayed due to bad weather which gives Jessie more time to get to know, hot doughnut guy aka Andy, and soon discovers just how many boxes he ticks. He just seems too good to be true, so, is he?
I loved this novel; it had all the feels that a festive romance should. We had the corny moments, the sexual innuendos, the sugar and most definitely the spice. This was like a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. It was heartwarming to your very core, and I finished it wanting more.
Also, if you are a fan of Bridget’s other works, keep a lookout for some clues about Andy’s real identity. There was one scene in particular which made me realise who he really was.
One of the best things about this book is that although it is a festive romance, the christmas period is not thrown in your face every 5 minutes, which makes it the perfect romance to read anytime, especially during the cold, winter months.
This is certainly a whirlwind romance with spicy scenes at times and mostly set in an airplane, both on the runway and 30,000 ft up in the air. The pacing is perfect, and with this book being almost a love at first sight (or love at first flight…too cheesy?) this is certainly not a slow burn love. So, if you like your characters to fall fast and hard, combined with the consistent innuendoes/ corny comments, you will love this book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 – a feel-good, heartwarming romance, this festive rom-com is definitely sugar and spice and all things nice.
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