Christmas People

Jill is not a Christmas person and is still trying to avoid her breakup with Grant. Jill feels like she’s a failure. She returns home for Christmas and ends up stuck in a Heartfelt movie. Will she get her happy ending and return to reality or will she be stuck forever? What will Jill learn? This book is a Christmas romance and has a hallmark Christmas vibe to it. If you like Hallmark movies or holiday romances you will like this book. It was a slow read but the ending was so good. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️Second-Chance Romance • Holiday • Hallmark-Style MagicJill, a struggling screenwriter in Los Angeles, reluctantly returns to her small hometown for Christmas. The last thing she wants is to bump into her ex, Grant—but of course, that’s exactly what happens. First at the liquor store. Then at the local bar. And somehow… she ends up at his house.But when Jill wakes up the next morning, everything feels off. Her life suddenly looks like one of those Hallmark holiday movies—complete with cozy snowfalls, picture-perfect decorations, and a version of Grant who seems too good to be true.As Jill begins to live out this picture-perfect holiday romance, she’s forced to confront what she really wants—and who she wants to be. Will she learn the lesson this magical town is trying to teach her, or will she head back to L.A. the same person she’s always been?

Cute tale about Jill, who is most decidedly not a Christmas person, and the rest of her immediate world who is. She’s back in her hometown this year at Christmastime after living and working in Los Angeles as a screenwriter, and her family and childhood friends are there. She wakes up one morning after a night of drinking and finds herself in the middle of a heartwarming Christmas story! Her old boyfriend is there as well as other old friends, and it really had the flavor of a Hallmark movie. It did not have the stereotypical ending, but I liked it.Four delightful stars! I switched back and forth between the book and the audiobook, the narrator was excellent. I received a copy of the digital ARC and ALC via the publisher and NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Three years ago, after a Christmas Eve disaster, Jill Jacobs packed her bags and moved herself to California – here was her chance to become a screen writer. But what was the life changing event that happened to Jill - her boyfriend dumped her on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, Christmas is her least favorite holiday, well actual she hates the holiday and for the first time since that move Jill is heading back home for the holidays. To escape the mayhem of being home Jill skips out to a local bar only to wake up after a drunken night in a Santa sleigh in an alternate universe and what has turned into a Hallmark-movie type setting known as Sweetville. Sweetville has it all – all dressed up for the holiday, the ex-boyfriend, her high school crush and what more would a non-baker what to participate in .. a baking contest.I thought the book was just okay, it was cute in a Hallmark kind of way. It took me a long time to warm up to Jill, the pacing was off for me and I felt it took the book a while to get going with that. If you love Hallmark Christmas movies with some magical realism thrown in .. I recommend The Christmas People.

3.5 stars rounded up, cute and a bit spicy.Jill is a struggling screenwriter in LA. She wants to be taken seriously for her quirky screenplays, but no one seems to be interested. Her only possibility is writing for the Heartfelt (read Hallmark) channel, and Jill doesn't want to stoop to that. She had a bad breakup back home with her ex, Grant, who went to New York to become a chef while she went to LA to pursue her own dreams. When she gets back home for the holidays, she gets quite drunk and wakes up in an alternate reality: Sweetville, where everything is holiday themed and full of Heartfelt channel tropes, including a baking contest.I did enjoy this book, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Patti Murin and she is the absolute best at narrating snarky romcoms. I wasn't always the biggest fan of Jill or her hang ups, but I also appreciated her character growth and the realizations she came to after everything she experienced. The romance did not turn out the way I was expecting at first, it didn't go the typical way a Hallmark movie would go. I adored the way it ended and found some of the parts really touching, particularly when Jill reconnects with her best friend. I liked that Jill eventually took the time to examine some of her past actions, although it took the book a while to get going with that. The reason for my 3.5 stars was because the pacing was a bit slow to get going but once it did I enjoyed the book.This is a fun book, not particularly Christmassy but definitely holiday themed. If you love Hallmark Christmas movies you should definitely give this one a chance. Just be forewarned it's a lot spicier than your average Hallmark tale.I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.