When You Least Expect It

I’ll admit, I side-eyed the premise at first: *Another* holiday romance? But *When You Least Expect It* disarms you by making Caroline Parker such a compelling mess. She’s not lovably awkward or secretly soft—she’s *actively* hostile to the idea of love, and Haley Cass commits to that bit. The slow reveal of why (spoiler: it’s not just bad exes) gives the romance real stakes. That said, the middle act drags slightly when the will-they-won’t-they starts to feel like a loop, and I wished the secondary characters (Caroline’s best friend, the office nemesis) had more depth beyond their roles as sounding boards. Lori Prince’s performance is *exceptional* in its restraint. She doesn’t overplay Caroline’s sarcasm—it’s in the pauses, the way she lets sentences drop like a gavel. The chemistry scenes sizzle because Prince makes Caroline’s frustration sound like foreplay. My only critique? The audio mixing occasionally drowns out softer lines during party scenes, forcing a rewind. But the payoff—when Caroline finally admits she’s *terrified* of wanting something—is worth it. This isn’t a romance that pretends love fixes everything; it’s about someone learning to want anyway. And in a genre that often prioritizes warmth over grit, that’s refreshing as hell.