my rating: 3
This book is such a fast, easy read as all the other contemporary romance novels Christina Lauren have been putting out. This book centers around our female mc trying to win over her childhood crush while stuck in some kind of Groundhog Day loop where she keeps reliving a certain couple of days around Christmas. It was an interesting plot and so I decided to pick it up. I haven’t been keeping up with the past two or three newest publications of Christina Lauren after “The Unhoneymooners”, which I didn’t really mesh with, yes, I know such an unpopular opinion lol. Their books have become more plot driven rather than romance/character driven and I’m most definitely a character driven person so if I can’t really connect with the characters and their romance, I’m not getting what I want out of their books that I truly loved from their earlier works.
I totally understand why they’re being super explorative on the different kind of plot lines they’re pumping out because if you’ve got a talent for writing and have fun doing it, why not deep dive into even more crazy plot lines instead of sticking with just pure romance?
The main issue I had with “In a Holidaze”, if you couldn’t already tell by now, is that I couldn’t connect with the romance. It didn’t have much tension and it didn’t sizzle the way I usually like. There wasn’t anything gripping me to their relationship and leave me rooting for them. The main couple in this book have a pre-existing relationship with each other in the sense that we dive into this book and are expected to care for the two when they’ve had a lot of offscreen moments that we’re not aware of. So while they characters are clearly invested in each other, I wasn’t because I didn’t know the things they knew about each other and about the memories and moments they shared.
While I didn’t really find a new favorite romance in this book, I did find the whole book to be a good winter read. It felt super cozy and there were so many Christmas or winter based things the characters did in this book. Fun fact, I read this book in the deep end of summer and Christina Lauren had me really itching for sweater weather.
I also loved the family aspect to this story and how there was this huge family friend group where three different families come together every Christmas and spend time with each other. I grew up with a huge group of family friends like our mc so this was something that made me happy and nostalgic.
While I didn’t like the romance as much as I wish I did, it was much easier to connect to than the other books. This book was more romantically driven so we got a good couple of steamy scenes out of it and I think that we spent a decent amount of time with the couple in this book. It kind of felt like the blueprint of a Hallmark movie, something fast and easy you can throw on in the background to watch. I wouldn’t be surprised if a plot similar to this book is going to be the next Vanessa Hudgen’s Netflix Christmas movie lol.
Have you read this book, what did you think of it? Also, what’s your favorite “new” Christina Lauren book and what’s your favorite “old” book?
[…] Review: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren […]