Groundhog Day Meets Christmas!
It feels like all Christmas, all the time around the Microcosm–reading-wise that is. Yesterday marked the beginning of the release of Christmas-oriented family fiction and romance. Of the four I’ve read so far, In a Holidaze is by far the best read. Read more below!
Christina Lauren
October 6, 2020
Gallery Books
Blurb: One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.
But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.
The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.
Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark “downright hilarious” (Helen Hoang, author of The Bride Test) hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.
Purchase Links:
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Groundhog Day meets Christmas! What happens when a young woman, Maelyn Jones, spends her last Christmas in the cabin she, her family, and her constructed family have spent every Christmas in and she has made a set of wrong decisions? Well, she asks the universe for help in knowing what will make her happy and what is the right thing to do, of course, and is thrown right back into reliving those six days again. Christina Lauren has a delicious, happy hit with In a Holidaze.
While Phil Connors had to relive Groundhog Day in order to learn how to be a better person, Maelyn Jones relives the Christmas holiday to learn how to take risks and live her life better, because she is in a serious rut. She’s in a job she hates and she has never acted on her feelings for the boy she’s loved since she was thirteen. What ensues is a charming, funny story of family, friends, holidays, and what it means to have the people you love and who love you in your life as well as to live an authentic life.
I love the relationship that already exists between main characters, Mae and Andrew, as well as the one that develops. They are sweet and caring of each other and exemplify what real love means and how important it is to have friendship in the mix.
His breath comes out warm against my neck, voice shaking: “It never occurred to me that you might be mine.”
There is something about Christina Lauren’s storytelling that just works for me. Maybe it’s because her characters feel relatable or that the relationships and reactions feel real or something else that I can’t quite put my finger on. Regardless, she has very much become a must-read writer for me.
In a Holidaze is everything I want in a holiday romance/story. It was definitely one of those reads during which I smiled a lot and just felt good with. Laughs, swoons, happy. What more do you need?
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
rating:
5 out of 5 butterflies