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GOOD READS SUMMARY: 

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 collide, 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.

TEE"S REVIEW:

Are you ready for some Christmas Cheer? If so you need to pick up the new book In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren. This book will have you dreaming of snowy days and log cabins in the woods with the people you love.

The story uses two fairly common tropes to build its plot. The “ make a wish “, where you make a wish and end up in the past so you can hopefully fix or change things, and the “ Groundhog Day “ where you are in a constant loop of a certain time period. Lauren does an excellent job of combining the two.

Being from the South, having the typically shown snowy cold Christmas is as fiction as most of the books I read, so the setting in the book was wonderful to me, and the author described everything in detail, which gave me the feeling of being transplanted straight to Utah ( which was great because we are still having 90-degree weather where I am at ). I even told my husband we need to pack our bags this Holiday season and head for somewhere snowy !! The cozy log cabin, the snow, the tall trees, the big porch, it all just felt warm and fuzzy like you expect Christmas to feel.

The family dynamics were great in the book, and while yes, it was a romance, I felt it leaned a bit toward a family saga also. There were so many times you felt like the fly on the wall watching the family’s yearly traditions, their love for each other, their doubts, and their fights. The family felt real to me, they were not a perfect family, they had their flaws, yet even with flaws, they showed great respect and love for each other. Possibly my favorite relationship in the book was the main character Mae’s relationship with Benny. It was a close almost parental type relationship, where she often turned to him for advice, not wanting to tell her parent's certain things. It was a relationship a lot of us could have really used as we grew up.

I am not giving much detail on this review, as it would be so easy to give away the entire book, but I will say, I could easily see this as a Hallmark Christmas movie, it is funny, it is cute and cozy and it is magical. Be prepared though, the typical meet-cute is not in this story, it isn’t needed to be part of the story, but it doesn’t feel lacking at all. All I can really say is JUST READ IT…YOU WILL LOVE IT…