Honest review of In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

A light, feel-good Groundhog's Day Christmas romance that didn't quite hit the mark. Christina and Lauren [check out our hilarious interview with them here] still bring their great banter and fun writing style to this book, however, despite the interesting Groundhog's day premise, this book missed the feels train it was aiming for.

Title: In a Holidaze

Author: Christina Lauren

Part of a Series: Standalone

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Christmas Romance

Plot: Maelyn is a mid-20's woman living back at home after leaving her design job in LA to help take care of her sick mom. Now that her mom is better, but she is feeling uncertain about her direction in life. Enter Andrew, the oldest son of her parents' very close group of friends who spend each Christmas together. Maelyn has loved Andrew for as long as she can remember and Andrew just thinks of her as a family friend. On the first night there, Maelyn gets drunk and makes out with Andrew's younger brother. She wakes the next morning immediately regretting it, and double whammy, the Christmas cabin is being sold and it is the last Christmas they will all spend together in it. On the car ride to the airport Maelyn makes a wish and WHAM the car is hit and everything goes black. When she wakes up she's back on the airplane on the way to Christmas break. Each day she makes fewer and fewer "mistakes" until she finally learns her lesson.

Thoughts: This book should have delivered quite a huge punch of squee-inducing Christmas magic, but the romance didn't come through.

Andrew didn't admit to some life-long crush as well, he only "noticed' our fair heroine when she started giving zero fucks about anything because she thought the day was just going to repeat. And while the idea that she is 'finally being who she is inside' does work in some stories, in this book, it didn't really work.

Maelyn wasn't a great character. She was supposed to be in her mid-twenties but acted like a teenager for most of the book, confiding and whining to Benji her parent's friend, and her sudo-Uncle. Andrew and Maelyn had a few really sweet and romantic moments, I loved them laying under the Christmas tree together while everyone else puttered around. But their romance felt really juvenile despite them both being well into their 20s.

I wanted more depth, more sexual tension, and more out of the story. Benji was a great side character, but the other adults were underutilized, and Andrew's brother came off as a tool. As with all Christmas stories, this one wraps itself up in a neat little bow at the end, but it wasn't as satisfying as I was hoping for.

McDreamy to McSteamy: McDreamy but I didn’t love it

Classy to Nasty: Classy

Hero rating: 🍆🍆🍆 He was ok. I didn’t love him but didn’t actively like him either. I do miss the more complicated and STEAMY heroes from the Beautiful Bastard series. But alas, as their books have become more “commercial” and they reach across to Women’s Fiction readers, we are getting way less sexual tension.

Heroine rating: 🍑🍑 She rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to like her and this book way more than I did. I thought she was acting very juvenile and not taking control of her own narrative. I also didn’t feel the chemistry between her and Andrew.

Overall rating: ⭐⭐ This is definitely not a recommendation for me. See below for some Xmas books I do recommend!

Thank you to Gallery Books & Netgalley for my ARC.

Buy it on Amazon | Bookshop: Support Local Bookstores

Christmas book recommendations:

• Ribbons and Os by R.E. Hargrave - this novella is steamy AF, full of Christmas magic and depicts BDSM very believably & very sexily.

• The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis - one of the queens of this genre, Jill delivers a super fun Christmas story packed with feels and Christmas cheer.

May your books be your lover and your hand your best friend

About Romance at a Glance Podcast

On Romance at a Glance, Bridget and Shani review a different genre of romance novels each season and interview some of romance’s biggest authors. They crack each other up while getting into the nitty-gritty of real-life romance, relationships, and sex. Expect spontaneous singing, funny anecdotes, life lessons, naughty language, and 1000% honest reviews. We’ve been called savage and we’re not mad about it.

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