I would like to thank netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Not really interesting.

Trouble with Tinsel
By Juliet Giglio; Keith Giiglio

2.5 - 3 stars

Summary: The story was an interesting premise about two main characters that had been lovers before find themselves in an arranged engagement to fool the movie production in a bid to enhance their prospects of their script continuing to be produced over the Christmas theme.

This book I had high hopes for. Instead I struggled to relate to any of the characters, they appeared one dimensional and chasing their tails all through the book. The heroine was too cheerful and no agency. She was not a strong character. She could have fought for what she believed in, instead she just plays down and follows the main male character lead. I felt like I was going round in circles over and over. The storyline was plausible to an extent, but it failed to hit the right marks for me.
I felt the book was too long for the story being delivered with most of the content a lot of same on each chapter. I wanted to stop reading after chapter 15.

This book was a struggle. The premise seems great -- two Hollywood scriptwriters/lovers who split up after failing to make it in Hollywood reunite when one of their last projects finally is turned into a movie. The problem is not the premise but the story itself and the writing.

The story is not well thought out with clear motivations, feelings, relationships, etc. Then, there are the extreme lack of details provided (what do any of these people look like?), the random jumps in time both in how random the time jumps are but also time jumps in what normally be a scene that is shown in the story. For example, there is a long build up to a major meeting where they will learn all of the issues the studio has with the script, and then the actual meeting and complaints are skipped and the next section starts a week after the meeting! The POV also changes mid-chapter several times as if the author could not find her voice, leaving me often scrambling to tell who was now directing the story. Overall, poorly written, poorly edited.

great book and loved the mystery through out the book. I loved the characters and how they grew through all of their adventures. I enjoyed this book and this author and will check them out again add them to my reading pile.

I was not able to finish the book and therefore do not feel that I can give an unbiased review about the book, its plot, characters, or the author's work. I might revisit this book at a later time and finish it then, but not right now.

Firstly I want to start by saying I was SHOCKED to find out this book was written by the same writers that made some of my favorite movies growing up like Return to Halloweentown, a Cinderella Story and Pizza my Heart....shocked I tell you!

Now back to the book review: solid 4/5. It felt like a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form and slightly less cheesy as it still had a decent plot, back story, and character development.
I really enjoyed the story, especially the holiday/Christmas aspect of it as it's my favorite time of year, and I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't as extremely cheesy as I was expecting.
My favorite secondary characters were Kerri's parents and Amari bless her naïve heart.
I also found it quite funny the parallel that was drawn between the movie in the book and the actual plot of the book.
They did a pretty good job with the imagery and bringing Hollywood to life including the people, the vibes, and the anxiety (I felt anxious for everyone throughout the book).
Would've loved to have read this in December to properly get into the mood, but was a very enjoyable read, and would definitely recommend it to my audience!

Note: Thanks NetGalley & Publishers for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This second chance romance book was so cute! Kerri has moved on to New York as a teacher when a script that she wrote with her former partner, Jon gets financed and she has to return to LA for the movie. This movie getting picked up puts them back in forced proximity and gives Kerri a lot to think about her life and what she actually wants. While I thought the story was really cute, it bothered me how quickly Kerri left her fiancé and life in New York.

DNF @ 45%. I despise all of the characters in this book. They are all rich (or wannabe rich), entitled, scheming, horrible people. People like them are the reason we are in the mess we are in as a society. I just know that Kerri is going to cheat on her fiance, Beau, at some point, with her ex/scriptwriting partner, Jon. I hate the anticipation of knowing that and it makes me pre-hate her even more. There is chemistry and history there between Jon and Kerri, but for god's sake, BREAK UP WITH BEAU, THEN!!! Beau is NOT a bad guy. She should absolutely break up with him to be with Jon, but she's not going to because she sucks as a person and is more interested in herself and her career than she is in other people. And Jon certainly won't stop her, because he is still in love with her and likely has been since their split. And honestly? Mazel. Let them stay together in all their awfulness. Less sharks out there for the rest of humanity to encounter. I feel nothing for them but anger. I certainly hope the co-authors of the book didn't write this from reality because that's a shaky foundation if I ever heard one. Yikes. There is no chemsitry there whatsoever. There are also way too many characters and points of view that just don't matter. Amari is a try-hard popular actress, Richard gives me the ick as her agent who is in love with her and essentially tries to manipulate Lucas to get him away from Amari, and Lucas is your typical Holllywood blowhard nepo-baby director who wants his fingers in all of the actress's pies, a his-way-or-the-highway dude-bro who has skirted through life with a gold spoon where the sun don't shine. Cringey writing, do not like, will not finish, not sorry about it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the authors, and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

This one wasn’t for me. The characters had no depth and I didn’t care about them at all. The Amari and Lukas characters were really awkward and the dialogue was strange. This was based in Hollywood about making a movie so there was a lot of on set stuff that didn’t seem realistic at all. The pacing was choppy and the plot was random. The FMC didn’t come across as I love with either of her love interests. I wasn’t sure she had ever met her actual fiancé. And then within a month he decides to uproot her whole life in such a big way? None of it. Came. Crosses heartwarming or romantic at all.

This is a second chance, fake dating romance set in the movie business about a woman named Kerri and her screen writing/romantic partner named Jon. After the they failed to sell their last script, Kerry moved back to New York City to start over. She is now a teacher and has a new fiancé.

Out of the blue, a script Kerri and Jon wrote together suddenly gets financed and Kerry has to go to LA at Christmas time for the movie shoot. She ends up staying with Jon at the house they shared together, in the guest room. When they meet the leading lady, she thinks Kerri and Jon are together romantically, and is so inspired by it that they don’t tell her the truth.

They’ve always had intense chemistry, and now that Kerry is back it’s stronger than ever, especially since Jon makes no secret of his desire to get back together.

I really enjoyed reading about movie making behind the scenes, there’s a lot of details. Unfortunately I didn’t like how quickly Kerri forgot about her life in NYC, 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

This was a cute rom-com about a former screenwriting couple, whose script gets greenlit for production, years after they have broken up, both as a screenwriting couple and an actual couple. Kerri, who currently resides in Brooklyn with her fiancé, flies back to LA to meet up with her ex to begin working on the movie. Kerri is wearing her engagement ring, and the star of the movie, Amari, mistakens her and Jon as the engaged couple, and that’s the whole reason she wants to continue doing the movie. So Jon and Kerri pretend to be an engaged couple, while slowly falling back in love with each other and their Hollywood dream that is coming true. Of course, her real fiancé Beau, is a problem that is always at the back of Kerri’s mind as they try to keep up this farce.
I found this to be a really cute and sweet read overall. At first I thought Beau was the better pick, but as the story went on and it showed how much Jon really knows and loves her, and Beau really only knows and loves a certain version of her, my opinion changed. I felt that the ending was a little rushed, but I still loved the story. Also, the ‘About the Authors’ page! These two have credits on some of my favorite films growing up! Such as Tarzan, A Cinderella Story, and a Halloweentown movie! How cool!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read this one early!

A few years ago Kerri and Jon wrote a movie script called Fire and Ice. During that time they also had just broken up. 

Fast forward to the present time. Kerri is engaged to someone else while living in Brooklyn NY. Jon is still living the LA life, trying to get a movie script greenlite and Ubering. When one day to both of their surprises Fire and Ice gets greenlite!

Everything takes off from there. Kerri has to immediately leave her Brooklyn life to go back to LA to work with her ex-boyfriend on the film. 

There are many hurdles that they have to face while the movie is filming. For instance, their main character Amari assumed they were engaged judging by the ring on Kerri’s finger. They both thought it would be bad for the film if they admitted that she was actually engaged to someone else. So now they had to fake being engaged. Aside from all that, I loved seeing all the ups and downs of what went on behind the scenes of creating a movie. 

The story will have you rooting for Jon and Kerri to get back together. You could see that they complete one another perfectly. From their fun banter to their reciting movie lines. They were both such great well well-developed characters. 
It was also so easy to visualize everything in the book which really brought the story to life for me. 

This is an adorable holiday rom-com! 

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Trouble with Tinsel is a festive romance from writer duo Juliet and Keith Giglio. It’s a Hollywood festive romance focusing on Kerri and Jon, ex writing partners as well as romantic exes who have been given an amazing opportunity for their work to be adapted to the big screen, years after they parted ways.
Kerri left Los Angeles and the movie business and became a drama teacher, meeting someone new a getting engaged five days before she returned to Hollywood whereas Jon remained in L.A trying to make it big whilst staying afloat by driving for Uber.
Kerri has no intention of staying long whereas Jon is determined to fix not only their working partnership but also their romantic relationship.
After meeting with the intended lead for their movie who mistakes them for a newly engaged couple, they hesitantly decide to go along with it to ensure the success of the project.
Now I was hoping to enjoy this new festive release, but I found it frustrating. Kerri was whiny and immature, and so was Jon really. I found it very difficult to connect with the characters. From what I could remember there were no character descriptions and generally it wasn’t written in a way that flowed nicely. I don’t understand the comedy element as it was non-existent.
Thank you for the eARC, I hope others enjoyed this more than I did.

“And the lightsabers!“

The Trouble with Tinsel is my first Christmas novel of the 2023 holiday season.

This was a cute novel and i liked the storyline and plot twists. Most of the bones of the book are good, but it was fairly obvious that this was a dose of fictionalized biography. In movies you show, not tell, for the most part. And this novel was clearly written by screenwriters.

In writing a novel when you started with writing for the big screen, there are a few giveaways, and one of them is telling things that writers/editors would typically cut for either narrative tension or because the gist comes through dialogue. And all I kept thinking was that the novel’s editor could have cut some of the telling and sharpened up the story a bit. I don’t think that happened here and that’s a missed opportunity.

As an Angelino, I loved the show business inside look, and I’ve even been to WB lot as a tourist a few times and could picture some of the scenes. I would bet that these authors will learn to write a tighter book with a few more novels under their belt(s). And it would seem their personal love story serves not just as inspiration for this novel, but also as a real-life fairytale.

Also the quote at the top is from dialogue about a John Williams concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a quintessential LA experience I recall fondly from my younger days.

Was excited to read a second chance romance set during Christmas, however The Trouble with Tinsel was a disappointment. Felt like I was constantly skimming just to get through the book. Characters lacked substance and I felt like there wasn’t much chemistry between any of the characters- romantic or platonic. I wish every chapter was more fleshed out, felt like many scenes ended abruptly. I did love the cozy Christmas atmosphere throughout the entire book.

This was a mostly entertaining second chance, fake dating romance set over the holidays in LA as two former screenwriting partners reunite to sell, produce and save their latest film project.

I didn't love that there was also a love triangle and infidelity element - this one gave me tons of Roughest draft vibes (and not in a good way). While I didn't hate this one like I did the Roughest draft, it still had some rough patches.

Overall if you want a (mostly) feel good holiday save the movie read, and enjoyed books like Right on cue by Falon Ballard or Julie Murphy's Christmas Notch series, this one might be for you. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Trouble with Tinsel by Juliet Giglio; Keith Giglio was a fun and festive holiday rom-com.
This book was super cute. It had good humor with amazing characters.
The writing style is very easy to read and the characters all shone in different ways.
The story building is done so well. These authors kept my attention and never once did I get bored.
It had all the warm and charming Christmas vibes that I expect from a Christmas book.
A super charming read. And I’m excited to read from this duo in the future.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

While I enjoyed this Christmas-vibey read, there were a few things that knocked it off kilter for me. The characters didn't really seem to be on the same page, despite always saying "how on the same page" they were. The POVs often felt disjointed as the single POV often morphed into a few POVs and it got a little confusing after awhile of reading. However, this didn't make the second chance romance any less enjoyable to read. I do wish that there had been a bit more of like a backstory lead up rather than just being chucked into the deep end. Overall, it was a cute read and I will continue to request stories from this writing duo!

DNF at 25%



I don't like the writing or the narration. The sentences are choppy and chapters end abruptly. I haven't read a single character description - and I've met so many characters, I don't have a single clue what any of them look like. There's no chemistry between the main characters, Jon just sounds sad and desperate as he continuously fixates on details of their previous relationship together.

Thank you to the publisher for this eARC and the opportunity to read it. I will not be finishing this book.

This was a supper quick hallmark- Christmasy read. I enjoyed the banter of the characters. I did like the story overall, I wouldn’t say this has made it to my favorites list but I would absolutely recommend it to someone who wants a quick holiday contemporary.

**Thank you to Netgalley for the arc**