Very cute! Think Hallmark movie in book form! A sweet story with characters you will love! And a deeper message of finding your true happiness! Definitely a great Christmas read!!!

Okay, this maybe biased by the fact that it’s the first holiday book I read officially in season this year, but I found this to be just perfectly charming. The main character was relatable imperfect, the side characters were intentionally written and maybe the plot was a bit predictable but for a holiday read, sometimes that’s all you want. Conflicts seemed to get solved a little to easily, but it’s Christmas and I’ll allow it.

Gwen’s life has fallen apart, and spending Christmas with her family is only making it worse. Just when she thinks the worst day is finally over, she wakes up to find herself caught in a time loop and reliving Christmas over and over again. Can she figure out how to get out of December?

I received an ARC of The Christmas Wish in exchange for my honest opinion...and honestly, this book was just okay to me. I enjoyed the start and had a couple laugh out loud moments. I also enjoyed the depth of the book, which I feel like a lot of Christmas books lack. This one definitely wasn't surface level, which I loved! But overall, it was a little crude for my liking and the whole loop/Groundhog Day premise got old. This was my first time reading a book by this author and I would absolutely give another of her books a shot, but this one just did not do it for me.

Thank you kindly to Harper360/Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book which is set to release on November 15, 2022.

Lindsey Kelk is an author whose books always hit the spot with me. And this was a Christmas book! Double win! At first, I was a little nervous when I realized that I was entering into a Groundhogs day type of situation, but Kelk did not disappoint. As Gwen tries to relive each Christmas trying to figure out whose wish she needs to make come true, she has different interactions with her former neighbor and crush, Dev.

This was such a fresh take on a type of plot that gets used often. Gwen and Dev were so sweet together and I loved that each encounter brought them closer, yet Dev wasn’t able to remember. The healing that took place with Gwen and her family was touching and a big part of what Gwen needed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The end of October means it's basically Christmas and this was the perfect start to the holiday season. This was a super fun, Christmas themed read that I absolutely loved. It was heartwarming and so relatable because it highlighted the true craziness of Christmas time. If like me, one of your guilty pleasures of the holiday season are Christmas hallmark movies this book is for you. You get amazing character development, super relatable and hilarious family dynamics, friends to lovers and a fun twist on the fun "Groundhog Day" loop!.

I know what some of you are going to say "that's been over done" - I would have to agree BUT this is one of the exceptions. This had such a fresh take on the groundhog day loop that I really enjoyed.

You have a newly dumped Gwen Baker who has had a terrible last few months - in not just her love life but also in her career; and is down on her luck, but there's nothing the magic of Christmas can't fix right?!? [or so her cousin Many kept trying to convince her of] Until she's stuck repeating Christmas day over and over, she comes to the conclusion that this is all because of a wish made by someone in her family - but who?!? She sets out to figure it out a day at a time until she can find a way to end the maddening loop. In her process to pinpoint who the culprit is she navigates her family chaos by setting out to grant each persons wish [to the best of her abilities]

In true Christmas journey fashion she learns to let go of things in her life that didn't bring her peace and happiness. She found herself, reconnected with pretty much everyone in her family and found the parts of herself she lost along the way from years of being miserable. She found true value in the small things and learned valuable lessons. This was really the perfect holiday read that had me in my feels in just the right ways.

I gave this a 4.5 stars! Definitely recommend.

Thank you to Harper 360 and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Christmas Wish
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 11/15/22
Author: Lindsey Kelk
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 352
GR: 4.19

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HarperCollins and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: I throughly enjoyed this book. Technically, this is a romance, however, it is more of a Family Drama with a Romance twist. I loved the premise of this story, kind of stuck in Groundhog Day, Christmas edition. This was a bit of a slow burn as we did not get to the time travel until almost 1/3 through, although the slow burn is necessary to build up the characters. The trope follows a second chance romance, which I adored. Gwen does a lot of soul searching, discovering who she is, and where she wants to go. Gwen also repairs familial relationships through the story, she really grows throughout the story. This was an entertaining and lighthearted read that I throughly enjoyed, perfect for the Holiday season. I had many laugh out loud moments during this story. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and were creatively built through the story. The cast characters were wonderful. I loved the developing second chance relationship between Gwen and Dev, it was so easy to route for them. The author’s writing style was complex, crisp, warm, funny, lighthearted, and just beautiful. The story flows well, although the pacing, at times were a little slow. Overall, this was a lighthearted, swoon-worthy story that is perfect for the Holidays. This story publishes next Tuesday and I highly recommend picking up.

This is a quick read full of quirky characters. Think Groundhog Day, but at Christmas.

Gwen is not feeling the Christmas spirit this year. Her relationship ended and she had an outburst at the law firm where she worked. She is on her way home to her Christmas loving family.

After a Christmas day with the family that ended with a fireworks display worthy of the drama in Gwen's life, she wakes up and it's Christmas day again... and again.

She tries fulfilling the Christmas wishs of her family thinking that will close the loop. Will she discover the key to stop the day from repeating?

Lindsey (great name btw) outdid herself with this one! Now I’ll have to read her entire backlog! I laughed so much, cried, and enjoyed every single minute of this book.

Gwen finds herself stuck in a “Groundhog Day” situation where she’s doomed to repeat Christmas Day. Gwen is spending the holidays with her family, and they are quite the bunch. Immediately Gwen is just tryto solve the dilemma of the repeated day in any way she can.

Gwen quickly finds out that each member of her family is struggling with something. Gwen devices since the day is never ending she’s going to reconnect with each of them, and really find out what’s going on below the surface. It becomes more than just ending her perpetual Christmas Day, and more about family.

I was a little worried this particular take on Christmas was going to be get to similar to other novels I’ve read with the “Groundhog day” concept, but this was a refreshing take on it. It’s the perfect lighthearted Christmas read that will put anyone in the Holiday Spirit.

A special thanks to Netgalley and Harpercollins for the chance to read this arc.

I am glad that I read this book. The book is filled with Christmas vibes and light humor which makes the book so much more cute and endearing. I don’t think that this book is boring and very long because the action begins exactly when all the characters and their emotions are already clear. This book discusses a lot of social issues and what I liked and it is making this book more realistic and important. And issues such as love, betrayal, relationships. All in all, this is a very sweet warm Christmas story that creates a romantic mood perfect for cold winter evenings.

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk
3/5 ⭐️

Setting: Northern England
POV: single, 1st person, past tense
Genre: clean romance
Spice Level: 1/5🌶, just kisses

What I Liked: This is a very sweet Christmas story! I will say that it focuses more on the FMC’s personal journey than the romance, which some people love! This is aggressively British. If you haven’t lived there or watched a lot of British shows, you might be a little lost.

What I Disliked: It took 25% of the book to before the main premise happened, so I was a bit bored. Thankfully things picked up from there! There’s also a ton of pop culture references, which pulled me out of the story.

Overall Thoughts: It’s cute, it’s sweet, I liked it just fine. If you like low-stakes stories, this will be right up your alley!

Memorable Quote: “You can’t stay in a situation when it isn’t right because you’ve put the time in, trust me.”

4.5/5
It’s giving hallmark Christmas movie and I am here for it! This was such a fun read to start off my holiday season vibes. Loved Gwen and the whole lot. I was nervous that this loop story line would be too much for me and make me want to put this book down but that was not the case. When I says I was chuckling throughout this story I meant it! The quirky nature of the characters really came through and. I found my self thinking of my own family while reading. I am always a sucker for romance so I do wish there had been some more dev action, but overall I really did enjoy this read.

Thanks NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions on the story are my own.

Gwen is headed home for Christmas after a breakup of a long term relationship and suspension from work. Christmases are already fraught with family tensions so she is really dreading this year. After a disastrous Christmas Day, Gwen goes to sleep and wakes up to the same day a la Groundhog Day. Each year, one person gets a wish after finding a hidden coin in the Christmas pudding and Gwen decides maybe this time loop is happening because their wish didn’t come true. She can think of no better explanation. Not knowing who found the sixpence, she spends each new day focusing on one family member, trying to get to know them better and see if she can discover what their wish would have been and help it come true. In all of this, she keeps running into her childhood neighbor and crush, Dev. As she works to get out of this time loop, high-jinx ensue while she also deepens relationships with those she loves.
Delightful! A Groundhog Day plot done right. I went in expecting a romance but this is mostly a family story with a side of romance. I loved seeing her family relationships grow. There was a lot of depth and it felt realistic to me. Of course, I could have used more of Dev because he was so sweet. Not sure this story will stick with me for the long term but it definitely set itself apart from many other holiday books I’ve read.
4.5⭐️
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

This story begins on Christmas Eve, when Gwen’s cousin Manny arrives to drive them to the home of her parents for the holiday. As usual, the CD player is her job along with passing him the treats he likes best, the others are hers. Manny’s had a tough year, and is looking forward to Christmas, while Gwen can’t bring herself to be excited about Christmas. This year, anyway.

Last year, Gwen had been happy, expecting to be married to her boyfriend in the then-near future, but that’s over. He dumped her for the receptionist. Gwen had also felt fulfilled in the law firm where she’d worked for years, although overworked enough to have ended up on mandatory leave, and is beginning to question if she ever wants to return there. She’s dreading having to be near her sister, who will also be there with her husband and children, as they rarely have even a civil conversation. She’s also dreading having to talk to her father about her thoughts on leaving the company and finding another job that would be more fulfilling.

When they arrive, she finds out from her mother that her Aunt Gloria called to let them know that her pregnant cousin Natalie had gone to the hospital, which means, perhaps, a Christmas baby.

She ends the day sitting with Manny by the fire after consuming enough alcohol to feel cozy with a plan for the next day - to forget about work, forget about her ex, and to avoid fights with her sister

On Christmas morning, she wakes up, with the smell of food, and text messages from friends with photos sharing the joy of their children excited about their gifts. The joy of Christmas after seeing all those faces lit up with joy was just what she needed. Another text follows later, with another photo sharing the news of the best gift, the news of the Christmas baby’s arrival at 4:47am. The presents are opened, dinner is had, and then the day comes to an end.

Only it really doesn’t, and Gwen wakes up the next day and, somehow, it is Christmas all over again, although she seems to be the only one who realizes that they had celebrated it the day before. Somewhat reminiscent of Groundhog Day, this continues to happen.

Each day, she tries her hardest to figure out how to break this “spell,” which offers some entertaining moments, funny ones, as well as moments of love. Love for her family, for a boy she had a crush on when she was young, as well as trying to create a more amicable relationship with her sister.
Overall, this was a sweetly fun, lighthearted read that offered unexpected moments of wisdom as Gwen desperately seeks a way to bring this Christmas-Day-on-repeat to an end, believing that if she can determine each of their Christmas wishes and fulfill them, it will finally end this seeming nightmare.

An entertaining read, including a dash of potential romantic connections, family feuds, and a lot of shenanigans that added to the ‘joy’ of the holiday, along with other moments that offered insights into long-term family misunderstandings, as well as resolutions.



Pub Date: 15 Nov 2022

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harper 360, HarperCollins

I can not express enough love for this book!! The perfect groundhogs day trope at Christmas.

Gwen Bakers life is turned upside down when her longtime boyfriend cheats on her and dumps her, she’s forced to move into an uninhabitable home, and is on leave from her job after an unfortunate incident. She’s headed home for Christmas and ends up reliving the day over and over again. What A beautiful story about learning to find your own happiness, and helping others achieve theirs in turn. This book had so many moments that I laughed so hard I cried, and I fell in love with so many of the side characters. That epilogue was *chefs kiss* in how it wrapped the story up in a perfect Christmas bow. This fun holiday read checked all of the right boxes for me and I can see myself rereading this one every holiday season!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper360 for the chance to read this fabulous Christmas story, in exchange for my honest feedback!

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk is a Hallmark movie if Hallmark let their leads drink and curse. Gwen Baker is messy. She hasn’t always been though. She’s a lawyer at a top firm, fulfilling all the professional dreams her father pinned on her. But when she’s forced to take a leave from her job and discovers her long-term boyfriend has been cheating on her, she returns home for the holidays hoping to rest and regroup. You know where this is headed: the classic Hallmark time-loop trope. Gwen keeps waking up to relive Christmas Day over and over, with all its disappointments and arguments and awkward gifts (Gwen’s dad gifts her a vibrator thinking it’s a massager 😂). As she tries to work out how to escape this endless Christmas, she also begins to work out her goals, relationships, and next steps.

I read this while traveling to Chicago for the weekend and it was a perfect travel read. I’m a big fan of holiday movies and this read like a movie. It was fast-paced and funny. Gwen is endearing as are her family and friends. If you’re a Hallmark fan and looking for a light holiday read with similar vibes, this is for you.

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk is a wonderful holiday read. This author is quickly becoming the Christmas Queen with her holiday books. This book made me literally laugh out loud so many times. The writing was sharp and definitely a fun Christmas-time read without being "too cutesy" as so many holiday books can be. It felt like Groundhogs Day but at Christmas! Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for this ARC! This was the perfect Christmas read, it was funny, heartwarming and downright sweet. I loved everything about this book!! This was my first read by Lindsey and I will definitely be reading more in the future.

This was a really sweet story about learning that things aren't always what they seem in everybody's life. I could see most of the plot points coming, but I think that contributes to a cozy feeling when you're reading a holiday romance. What I appreciated most about Gwen's character is the realistic ways she learns her lessons - she isn't a character who keeps trying the same thing and doesn't know why she isn't getting different results. The side characters were all wonderful and I was rooting for their joy (other than Oliver, of course) and the epilogue was a *chef's kiss* way of bringing everybody back together.

this book was pretty cute, it took a while to hold my attention and get into it. But overall a sweet christmas story

Gwen Baker isn’t living her best life. Her boyfriend of four years dumps her for his receptionist. She is on mandatory leave from her law firm after rebuffing unwanted advances from a wealthy client. Coming home to celebrate Christmas turns into a fiasco. And it goes from bad to worse as she wakes the next day to find it is Christmas again.

This Christmas story with a Groundhog’s Day theme goes from slap stick to dealing with real family issues. Gwen decides to focus on a different family member and see if she can give them their deepest wish to break the loop.. It means spending time with her parents, wise-cracking grandmother, beloved cousin Manny and her unhappy older sister. Along the way she usually gets a daily check in with next door neighbor Dev. He was her teen crush and they fell apart when he went to college,.

This is primarily (Women’s) General fiction with a romance over all arc. You know he is going to be the love interest but of the characters he is the one I felt I knew the least. I think my favorite reaching out is with her sister. It felt the most real as the older sister felt over looked in favor of Gwen. Her accomplishments weren’t as recognized, just expected. And now she is a mother with a marriage and work that is floundering. I love that Gwen can’t fix her problems but she can be a listening ear..

This is an entertaining story and a fun read for the holiday season. It is a story about connecting with family and personal growth with a side of romance. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360, Harper Collins for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.