
Member Reviews

Have you ever crushed so hard on a guy that it lasted for years? Never told a soul, but suffered in silence?
This story reminds me of my teenage and young adult years so much! With a Hallmark movie feel to it, this book is a wild and wacky ride back to the future, or is it the past?
The setting is awesome. The descriptions are just as crisp and clean as the new-fallen snow. It definitely made me long for the holidays!
I simply fell for the delicate balance our main characters had. Tentative, yearning, and just so perfect. Notice, I am not naming who HE is… I want it to be a surprise for you. But oh, what a surprisingly sexy and heart-filled story!
The authors have such a perfect formula for their writing. I am forever thankful for their amazing talent to tell a story that sucks me in so deep. Tears and smiles, emotions all over the place, I ended with the most amazing “sigh” for the love of it all.
Contemporary Romance? In a Holidaze is so much more than that! The authors are a national treasure and this book is a perfect reason why.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren was a quick, fun read though it was a bit predictable at points throughout. It was interesting that the parallel to Groundhog Day was noted within the novel. This book was feel-good and I would recommend it for fans of romcoms. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

A holiday ground hog day—perfect light read with lots of laughs as our heroine repeats her holiday and tries to get the guy of her dreams. I breezed through this and totally will be rereading during the holiday season with a cup of hot chocolate!

Mae and Andrew's families have been friends since their parents grew up together and they always vacation at her mom's friend's cabin during Christmastime. This year's no different, except that Mae keeps experiencing the same days over and over, like in the movie Groundhog Day. Can she get out of the loop long enough to tell Andrew she's been in love with him since she was a young teen? This book was amazing! I adored Mae and Andrew's story and I couldn't put it down. Christina Lauren doesn't disappoint!

I think Christina Lauren are incredibly talented and when I saw they were writing a Christmas book I was really excited. I typically love Christmas books.
Unfortunately, this book kinda fell flat for me. The first 25% of the book isn’t very well written. It drops you into the life of a large family with a lot of characters and then our main characters starts living a Groundhog Day situation over and over again. It got repetitive and rather annoying.
When the plot finally twisted around 35% in, and it became a traditional Christina Lauren romance book I enjoyed it more but this one wasn’t very steamy...and it just needed more mmpff to it if that makes sense.
While it was fluffy and entertaining enough and it had a sweet ending, it was overall a big disappointment after the other Christina Lauren books I’ve read, and the whole Christmas aspect of it felt forced and throwing stuff in about getting drunk on eggnog and accidentally kissing someone that just was way too Hallmark-ish.... The love story here would have been good even if the book had been set at a family reunion in the summer. The Christmas setting was pointless...
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

After a silly drunken mistake and ending their vacation with bad news, Maelyn is sad to be leaving the cabin and the winter holiday with their friends that have become family. While wishing for a sign of what will make her happy, she opens her eyes to see a truck coming directly for their car. When she awakens however, she is back on the plane headed toward the vacation, a week ago. Will she be able to fix everything this time around?
Christina and Lauren can seriously do no wrong in my book! So first of all, you all know I am a “don’t start Christmas too early” gal. However, my ARC schedule is what it is so a Christmas book in August just happened! What I really loved about this book was that is centered around Christmas, but wasn’t too Christmasy if that makes any sense at all! Now on to the more important things. I just loved this cast of characters, and it made me think of all the family vacations we took as kids with my parents friends and their families. There is just a special bond with the people you truly grew up with. While I feel like I have read the Groundhog Day plot a few times recently, I really enjoyed that it wasn’t pushed too far. She restarted a couple times, but it wasn’t too many for my taste! I think the repeated days were different enough that it didn’t feel too repetitive. Overall, in true Christina Lauren fashion, this was a fabulous story that will melt your heart in even the coldest of months!

I did enjoy this book but I felt the premise wasn't really that big a deal to the storyline. If anything, I think it distracted from the romance. Not my favorite Christina Lauren.

I am a huge Christina Lauren fan. I feel like with this book they went back to the elements I love. It is friends to lovers set in Christmas time. I loved the family, the friends, the time travel. This was a fun one.
i will be interviewing Christina Lauren in a few weeks and can't wait to dive deep discussion on this book. Interview and review will be posted on publication date.

"I want to put it in a snow glove and be able to see it just like this, forever." 💕
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I am so happy to read Holidaze by @christinalauren because I am a fan of their work and Christmas! 🎄
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The title makes sense after the first chapter of the book. It's like Groundhogs Day story which I didn't expect at all going into it!
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I thought that the Groundhogs Day thing would mess up the experience, but it doesn't. It instead works soo well! It flows well into the plot and still has its unique, unexpected twists. I was still trying to figure out what was going on along with Mae 😊
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Also, I love Mae and Andrew!🥰😍💕 Mae ends up telling her childhood crush how she feels. That's all I can say without spoilers 💕 But imagine telling your forever crush 🙈
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I really enjoyed this 🥰 It was cute, exciting, and just fun! Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in for my honest review.
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🎉 Pub Date 06 Oct 2020

This was a cute holiday story for sure! If you like Hallmark Christmas movies, this will be a hit for you. I’ve only read a few of Christina Lauren’s newer books, but it didn’t have that comedy edge like some of the other ones. But I enjoyed it and recommend it. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC copy!

The only person whose expectations you have to live up to is yourself.
Alright, I know I love Christmas books and movies, but this can be described in one word: SWOON.
Mae, her family, and family friends do Christmas every year together. She’s down on her luck this year and after finding out there may not be another Christmas tradition, she asks the universe, “Can you show me what will make me happy?” Next thing she knows, she hit head on by a truck and wakes up in on the plane 6 days before. Goodbye Christmas, Hello Groundhog Day!
I think the real question in this book is what brother are you hoping Mae ends up? Are you Team Andrew or Team Theo?
Andrew is a swoon worthy character. He’s funny, caring, not pompous, a listener. I loved that their relationship was paced well. I don’t like rushed relationships where I turn the page and then the couple is already in love when they met 2 minutes ago. Though they’ve known each other for 20+ years, their relationship progression was perfectly done.
I really enjoyed how the characters were all different and all played their own significant role. I swore Benny was the guardian angel trope. He was a great character, and I really enjoyed all their relationship dynamics.
I will say I was hoping the ending would be different. I was hoping that something would happen with the car accident, but everything that happened in the new universe still occurred. I didn’t want to completely abandon that part. Having a 6 months later was not what I was expecting, but oh man, I loved it.
This was a super quick read that honestly, I didn’t want to end! Can we Groundhog Day this book for a few more chapters so I can continue to obsess over Mae and Andrew? K thanks. If you want your heart to be full, pick this one up and snuggle deep by a fire.
Thank you so much NetGalley and Gallery Books for this amazing ARC ❤️

What if you could look up and ask the universe “what would happiness look like?”
Would you be prepared for what it reveals to you?
That’s the question Maelyn Jones asked....and the answer she got was more than she ever dreamed. Come to think of it, maybe it was all just a beautiful dream. You’ll just have to read the book to find out!
Christina Lauren have written a joyful rom-com that will melt even the coldest Scrooge heart. What if the love of your life has been in front of you all along. What will it take to let the universe know you’re ready to take that leap?
This is the second book I’ve read recently with a similar premise. But, it certainly didn’t take away my enjoyment for either read. Guaranteed to warm your cockles! “What exactly IS a cockle?!” So go ahead and open yourself up to believe in love and let the stars guide the way! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A fun weekend rom-com buddy read with Susanne.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC to read and review

*Review will be posted to my blog on 9/28/20*
**3.5 STARS**
Breakdown ~~
My Attention: had it for the most part
World Building: Salt Lake, Utah – annual Christmas trip
Writing Style: flows quickly, great character dialogues
Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥
Crazy in Love: friends to lovers
Creativity: it has a Groundhog’s Day movie time loop
Mood: ready for the holidays
Triggers: car accident
My Takeaway: Be careful what you put out into the universe – you might really get what you want. And I mean that in a good way.
I Liked: ~~
*The bonds between the families is awesome. Mae’s parents and their best friends have a tradition, they meet up in Utah and spend Christmas together. They’ve been doing it for years and the bonds are evident.
It’s so hard to hate a Christmas book – it just puts you in a happy mood and this book definitely made me feel like
I was watching a Hallmark Channel holiday movie!
*Andrew and Mae are so cute together. She’s crushed on him forever, since they were kids and now as adults her love has endured but he’s never reciprocated his feelings until something happens – and Mae finally has the guts to tell him. They are friends who become lovers, so there is heat in their touches but laughter too when things get awkward. It’s wonderful!
*Benny is awesome, he’s the family friend/Uncle figure who is a great listeners and knows Mae’s secrets. We all need a Benny.
Random Notes:
*The groundhog day’s aspect of the story threw me off a little. I was getting into the story and then bam! Haha…it’s not my favorite kind of trope to read but I went with it.
*Theo, Andrew’s brother is supposedly the closest to Mae. They sounded like they were besties and yet…it didn’t come off that way in the book at all. So I think I wanted to see more of her interaction with Theo.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this was an enjoyable, lighthearted holiday romance story that would totally make a good Christmas movie. I look forward to reading more books from this author!

I couldn't really get into the bulk of the book because I couldn't get past the groundhog day trope but the ending was very sweet and made it all worth it. I think I would really enjoy this book closer to Christmas and that is why I am giving it a higher rating than I feel about it right now.

I have been a big fan of this author from fanfiction days. Her dialogue is always so real and witty. Her characters are relatable, flawed, and likable. Maelyn is attending an annual family Christmas with her family and several of her parent's friends and their families. An event that has been .occurring since before she was even born. This story uses the Groundhog's day troupe to allow Maelyn to find her happy. This is not a supernatural book that gets bogged down in the how it happened. It is just a vehicle to show Maelyn's progress in finding her happy. Her happy since she was thirteen has always been Andrew, the son of her mother's best friend, and the older brother of Theo one of her best friends from childhood. I really liked Andrew and his sense of humor. This is a great book for "Feels". I read this in July but it would be an awesome Christmas read. The side characters are warm and supportive but not perfect. I would love to see the gang again, maybe with Theo's story?
Grateful to NetGalley and Gallery Books for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

This was another delightful book from Christina Lauren, and this one gives us a holiday twist! This book follows Mae as she finds herself living her Christmas holidays over and over again in quirky take on Groundhog Day. As with most of the books from Lauren, Holidaze was fun, flirty, and a good old-fashion rom-com story to give you a lift. The one downside was I found myself wanting the side relationship with Theo to be fleshed out a little more. Because we never got much of a backstory with Theo, his part of the story felt forced and a little unbelievable. However, overall, this was such a fun, read, and I think I may have to revisit it during the holiday season!

Christina Lauren books are reliably enjoyable. So the bar is set very high for them in my mind. This one was...just ok. I didn't dislike it, but I can't write a glowing review of it either. In defense of the book, I don't love holiday themed books (one area where the movies are better) and I also don't like time loops as a plot (ala Groundhog Day, Lydia Bird, How to Save a Life). So, it had to overcome those biases in my head.
This book is set near Sundance, at a cabin where old friends and their families gather for Christmas. Think The Family Stone but with found families. It's a tradition that sounds wonderful and I wish I could do this with my friends for the holidays too. Traditions continue and children age, family dynamics change. Then the main character, a floundering 26 daughter gets stuck in a time loop.
It then becomes a little It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol with Mae considering how her actions can change the future for the group. This is the part that didn't work for me. It only started over a couple of times but then she miraculously changed everything by just a few small actions.
This does have a cute love story but the real love story is the love in this found extended family and how they all want to stay together for future holidays. There are some lovely relationships and I really liked the setting.
This might be a cute book to read while decorating your house for Christmas or wrapping presents. I think I'll stick to my favorite holiday movies.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

IN A HOLIDAZE is the perfect happy Christmastime romance novel. The atmosphere throughout the book was so wintry and cozy, especially with the setting in a cabin filled with such close friends and family. I loved that there was a big cast of characters; it made for the perfect holiday feel. Mae was a great narrator and, like all of Christina Lauren’s main characters, had a distinct personality and was so much fun to follow. I loved seeing her take control of her life over the course of the book. Andrew was a great love interest and the relationship they shared (not only in the present, but the glimpses we get into their past) translated so well on the page. The only complaint I had with the book was the end conflict scene; I felt like the justification for the argument the characters had wasn’t authentic and didn’t feel real enough to cause as big of a dilemma as it did. The ending, though, was perfectly done. Honestly, this should be a must-read for anyone looking for a light-hearted romance for the Christmas season.

I only discovered the Christina Lauren duo earlier this year, but I've spent the last few months reading all of their work and I will just say they have hit it out of the park once again. This novel is a heart-wrenching tale of letting yourself go and being truly yourself. To take hold of what you want, and even if it doesn't work out like you hoped it would, to still be proud of yourself for putting it out there and to still be OK with yourself. And of course, romance!
This book - Christmas in July? Yes, please! What a delight this read was, and I just devoured it in one day. The plot (hello, Christmas magic!) moves along so nicely that you don't realize you've reached the end until you're trying to turn the page and there's nothing left. I gasped, I swore, I cried. I cried kind of a lot there towards the end, to be honest.
I don't know what kind of magic these wonderful authors put into their work, but it is working. Their way with words - and with plot points - keeps their stories flowing very nicely. This story has the potential to get bogged down in the transitions when Maelyn gets sent back to the first day of vacation, certainly in a more Groundhog Day kind of way (so many repeats) than I would be interested in reading. But it just doesn't. I did find it to be a little bit of a tease to suggest there would be a love triangle between the two brothers and Mae, and that almost put me off of the book altogether, but there really isn't such a thing in it.
I would say my only complaint is that there are a lot of characters, and we really only get to see most of them superficially. I could have done with less people at the cabin, or a slightly longer book getting to know everyone. They seemed like a delightful crowd and would be fun to know. I did have some trouble keeping everyone straight in my head, but not enough to put me off.
All said, this is a delightful, funny, fun, sad, happy, and despairing book that I think all fans of Christina Lauren will absolutely love. I know I did!
Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Chrisina Lauren has long been one of my favorite contemporary romance author's. I was so excited to see her new title "In a Holidaze!" The fact that this is a holiday tale made it even more exciting. It put me in the mood for the upcoming holiday season.