Knotty New Year is a contemporary Omegaverse holiday romance, book one in Merri Bright‘s The Billionaire’s Betasitter series. Candy Kane arrived for the wrong job, but it’s too late to turn back. She needs the money as a way out of what’s expected of her, but the last thing she expected was to be snowed in in a mansion with her grumpy new boss, Nicholas Paxson. A soulmate wasn’t on either of their Christmas lists, but you should never stub a gift from fate.
This is the second book in this series that I’ve read, and hearing the struggles of Omegas hasn’t gotten any easier. It always pulls at my heart how alone the world has made them feel, taking their choices and making their only worth being married off to an Alpha—it’s enraging. But I loved how Candy was determined to make something of herself, thinking the job she was getting was as a personal assistant but ultimately being substituted for a betasitting job, while irritating it was the best thing to happen to her. Candy isn’t someone who likes to appear overly emotional; I think that’s probably down to stereotypes surrounding Omegas, so she tends to internalise her feelings and hide when she can’t control them. Watching her try not to show her pain and anger, at times, made me hurt for her, especially when she was hit with humiliation; even in that wardrobe, she showed iron strength. But this strong emotional tug you feel for her is balanced out by her humour, possessiveness, heated ‘good girl’ demands, and sass; I loved every age dig she threw at Pax. She doubted herself a lot throughout this book; due to Pax’s actions, which caused her to naturally become insecure and suffer alone, and we almost started to lose Candy as she shut down—she was so too worthy of him, and I wished he had been honest with her sooner. But I’m so happy she had Rain to lean on and Pax’s family, especially Valentine. I feel like a lot of her heartache, which she admits, would have been eased if she had tried to broach him rather than letting him come to her. They both needed to let the other into their lives, not just their beds. But I adored that after all of the bumps in the road, she got more than she ever desired to have; she deserves it!
Pax makes a lot of mistakes in this book, but this is solely down to him leading with the idea that he needs to look after everyone and put their needs before his own, and in doing so he inadvertently hurt his omega, Candy, on more than one occasion. He had become somewhat of a loner with nothing to do in his spare time but work, which becomes a later trial in the book, but his first struggle was the age gap. His need for her seemed to live in the indecent range of his mind, but you can’t mess with fate’s plans without getting burned, something he should have already known about. Pax is rather stubborn, a lover of control, so it was like he was playing tug-of-war between his need to give Candy all she wanted in life and his desire to keep her for himself, not thinking of a middle ground. I think another of his drawbacks from bonding with her was that he knew just how special the bond was and he didn’t want to be a cause of pain for her later one. It was a sad little one-line thought that stuck with me throughout; it helped to cement this character’s mind. This didn’t alter my anger towards him; there were a few times that his thoughtless treatment and actions towards Candy made me want to rage at him for humiliating her in such a way, which led me to his other drawback of thinking himself not worthy of her, and at times I thought the same, but he would be if he tried and he did—Lin calling him out was perfect timing, as was Rain’s meddling because he stepped up! And honestly, I’ll take all of the apologies in the form Pax is giving them. Pax did a very quick U-turn, not wanting to take a choice from her and moving their relationship very quickly without making any changes himself, but this got rectified thankfully; his realisation came far too late. In my opinion, Sir needed to think a little more before he acted.
This was such a fun, spicy, and heart-aching journey. So many times my heart ached for both Pax and Candy, mostly Candy because she went through it in this book; I felt like climbing into the book and raging at Pax while I threw some things at him until he finally realised how stupid he was behaving. So I was thrilled that Lin did something similar for me. The spice in this was so good. Pax is all about control, praise, and dominating actions, bringing up fantasies Candy never thought about, and I adored the pieces we got of his family members and Candy’s friends. Rain was such a key support for Candy and this couple’s relationship, and my heart softened with every interaction of Valentine on the page. I so look forward to their books. Miscommunication was a key running theme, although it was minor ones throughout that led to insecurities on both sides. I’m not the greatest lover of this, but it was handled all so well. Knotty New Year was a lot of thinking with your head rather than your heart, which made for a bumpy ride. Therefore, I am rating Knotty New Year Four out of Five stars.
As with every book in The Billionaire’s Betasitter series, it’s an over-eighteen read. I’d recommend it to those who love a spicy holiday read, an Omegaverse that hits the contemporary romance genre, soulmates, the grumpy-sunshine trope, an alpha taking control, fighting your desire to give the one you crave all they’ve wanted, age gap, forced proximity, the breeding kink (naturally), some interesting descriptive words, furry comments, and an ending that wraps up in a perfect Christmas bow. I adored these two; I felt every emotion and understood every reasoning behind their actions. Merri Bright manages to stitch humour, spice, and heartfelt emotion so seamlessly. If you love sassy-driven female main characters that crack your heart with their softness and headstrong, leading male main characters that drive you crazy with their hot and cold switch between flirty and fierce, all while hiding their longing for something else they’ve had no chance to hope for, then you’ll love Pax.
Favourite Quotes
“So close… and yet untouchable. Far too young, too enticing, too naive, for someone like me.”
– page 19
“No touch would ever be enough if it didn’t come from the hands of Nicholas Paxton.”
– page 26
“And if a moment was all I could get with him, I would take it.”
– page 62
““You’re all I can see, all I can smell. All I can remember.””
– page 68
““Oh my gosh, it’s Pretty Woman minus the debasement! He does want to be around you.””
– page 79
“She was mine, yes. But I was also hers—body, mind, and soul.”
– page 179
Finer Details:
Title: Knotty New Year (The Billionaire’s Betasitter #1)
Author: Merri Bright
Pages: 236
Publisher: Bright and Dark Publishing
Publication: 2023
Language: English
Rating: 4/5