Review: In a Holidaze

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 favourite 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 hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.

This Christmas romance follows Mae during the Christmas period at the cabin that her family and family friends always celebrate Christmas. During this week, Mae makes a bunch of mistakes and things go wrong and keep going wrong, and to top it off the week ends with the family who own the cabin announcing that they will be selling the cabin and that was actually the last Christmas that they would spend there. Then, on the journey back home there was a car accident and when Mae woke up, she was back on the plane heading to the cabin and restarting Christmas.

I actually really enjoyed the time-loop aspect of the story. I kind of with there was a bit more of it. I think a lot of people think this idea is over done and over used, but I haven’t ever really read or watched anything with this premise. So it was all pretty new and exciting to me. I can definitely see why people could find it an over used idea though.

I really like Mae as a character, and side note how pretty is the name Maelyn! It is all I could think when her name was mentioned. She was quite funny and authentic in that she was constantly messing up and things just went wrong. She made a lot of mistakes, and ultimately had to face the consequences, albeit they were slightly less severe because of the time loop.

What I didn’t like much of from this Christmas romance was the romance. I didn’t really care much for it. It felt kind of bland and I don’t know what it was about it, but I just did not particularly care for it. There wasn’t anything majorly wrong with it, but I was not with the characters. I like to feel like I am with the characters when reading a book, and this was not one of those for me. I don’t think I meshed well with their chemistry – in that I don’t think they had much.

Despite this, it was still a really fun and quick Christmas read. I can’t see myself rereading this one, but I am glad that I did read it!

Have you read In a Holidaze? What did you think of it?

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