Overall, this was quite charming. I loved all of the baking-related aspects and learning more about Swiss treats (Callie’s father is from Switzerland). Callie and her love interest are adorable together, and I liked how their relationship progressed. The narrative is clunky/heavy on exposition at times, though that did not prevent me from enjoying this sweet story. I recommend to anyone looking for a holiday Hallmark movie in book form.

"Callie is officially in grinch mode...
She's given up on love and Christmas…but fate has other plans." - excerpt from The Christmas Countdown

You know I'm not a romance reader if you read my reviews. I recently had the chance to read an ARC of "The Christmas Countdown" by Holly Cassidy (also known for her excellent suspense novels as Hannah Mary McKinnon). Get ready for some serious holiday cheer with this heartwarming story.

Meet Callie, who moves to a new town with her childhood sweetheart and lands a job with the same company, only for him to dump her and break her heart! What a low blow, right? But when she's feeling at her lowest, her sister creates a unique Advent calendar to lift her spirits. And when Callie crosses paths with a charming and incredibly attractive baker, her Christmas takes an exciting turn. You'll adore Callie and her journey!

The Christmas vibes are strong with this one! This is a must-read if you're a fan of feel-good holiday movies with a touch of romance (Hallmark vibes, anyone?).

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and Holly Cassidy for providing this ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

THE CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. What a fun holiday read to binge! Callie is fresh off a 10 year break up, and not in the holiday spirit. When her sister tries to cheer her up, by reviving a Christmas countdown of treats and activities advent style from their childhood. When her sister must travel for work, Marco a local chef steps in to help complete the list. This was a great holiday hallmark book! I genuinely couldn’t put it down cause it was so festive and cozy! Def a recommendation for this holiday season! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars!!!!

This is a cozy, sweet Christmas romance. I loved the concept of this story and I am inspired to possibly make my own Christmas Countdown of sorts.

The mid to latter portion of Chapter 23 would be dream come true in my real-life!!! lol 😂 Kudos to the FMC for standing up for herself and knowing her worth!!!

Thank you to Putnam and Holly Cassidy for this amazing, sugary-sweet 😉 romance for the Christmas holiday. Also, thank you and NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC!! 🧚

**Closed-door Christmas Romance**

Summary: Callie is feeling down after her boyfriend of ten years, Oliver, breaks up with her and immediately starts dating someone new. She would like to skip the holidays altogether, but her sister Anita won’t allow that to happen. Anita organizes a Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar with challenges and treats on alternating days, forcing Callie to get out of the house and engage with the world. At first, she reluctantly participates, but finds that she is actually (gasp) enjoying the Advent activities. She makes new friends and meets Marco – a handsome, charming baker who gets Callie’s pulse racing and might be able to convince her to believe in love again.

Thoughts: After a series of taut, stressful thrillers, this was the tonic my mind needed! It felt a bit strange reading a Christmas themed novel in August, but I quickly adapted. This was a fun and charming novel with a likeable and perfectly imperfect protagonist in Callie. I enjoyed her adventures opening the Advent calendar and some of the scrapes she managed to get herself into! (Although I don’t know if I would have her patience with her interfering and nosy sister.) There were some good chuckles interspersed throughout and the spice was kept to a respectably comfortable level for my liking. I quite enjoyed this sweet Christmas-themed romantic comedy. It is just the thing to read leading up to the holidays when you want to relax after battling the crowds at the shopping mall!

A lovely Christmas love story and I loved the advent Christmas tree gifts and challenges and the relationship between the sisters

Did I spend the past two very hot, very August days reading a super fluffy Christmas romance novel? Yes.

Did I love every minute of it? Absolutely, yes.

The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy is a 5 star for me.

The premise for this book was adorable. It was a Hallmark movie through and through. (and I mean that as a compliment) From the meet cute to the happy ever after I kicked my feet and giggled at every single pun. Callie and Marco were adorably corny. (Also a compliment)

While there were occasionally awkwardly worded conversations, I personally love that. I'm an awkward person, and the longer I live, the more I realize I'm not alone in that. 🤣 I absolutely loved Callie's character. A young woman whose life revolved around her longtime boyfriend who unceremoniously dumped her after moving her away from her hometown. She's lost her way, lost her will to trust in people, and lost her Christmas spirit. Thanks to her big sister Anita forcing her to have some Christmas fun, she meets Marco, who is just as awkward with a love of puns just like her. He helps her get back to the real her instead of trying to be who she thought her ex wanted her to be.

This story was great, and it makes me yearn for the Christmas season! I also think I might have to make my kids a treats and tasks Christmas Countdown.

Huge thanks to #netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam publishing for allowing me to read this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking for a fast-paced, easy holiday read, with hilariously corny puns, nicknames, and some banter, then I highly recommend this read. Once I started, I put everything else to the side until I finished. If not for responsibility, I definitely would have read it in one sitting.

This book was so good, I was irritated when I had to go do something else and couldn't read it. I actually liked it better than The Christmas Wager (which I also enjoyed).

Callie's sister wants to get her out of an extended post-breakup funk, so she arranges a fabulous advent calendar experience to get Callie in the mood for Christmas. Every task called on memories from their childhood. My only real issue was that no one respected poor Callie's decision not to spend Christmas with her ex and his new fiancé. I mean, come on. They were together for ten years, never got engaged, and it was their first Christmas apart. No rational person should have asked her to endure that. But that was a minor irritation in an otherwise excellent read.

Yes, it was a bit predictable at times. But romcom is a pretty established genre, so I'm used to seeing the same tropes popping up over and over.

As a fan of the Christmas Wager, I was excited to get an ARC of The Christmas Countdown. This was a fun read -- easy to get into the plot and I loved the self growth of the main character. I think we can all think of a time when we were not excited to get into the holiday spirit but this made me want to be (even in the summer!) Highly recommend as a holiday read!

With the spirit of the grinch and a meddling sister, Callie is trying to hide out this holiday season after her boyfriend of 10 yrs breaks up with her. The cherry on top is the fact that he also happens to be the son of her mother’s best friend and works in her office.

Cue Grinch vibes because Callie is sitting this Christmas out.

Until Anita (previously described meddling sister) creates an advent calendar gift idea that will force her into doing… well… anything to get into the Christmas spirit.

Enter the baker, who is full of puns and witty comebacks that will make you smile as you read this Hallmark-esque novel.

Total ‘smile-as-you- read’ holiday book cleanser. I especially loved the little Germany tidbits which just reminded me of how much I love that area during the Holidays. My fav season spent in Europe over the years and many a days wandering through the Christmas Markets.

Dieses Buch ist sehr süß 🥰

This book was the perfect cozy holiday novel. I read The Christmas Wager by Holly Cassidy last year, and this book gave me the same vibes while being completely it's own story. I did find myself questioning some of the actions of the main character, but by the end I was rooting for her and quite enjoyed how the whole story wrapped up.

I loved this book. It talks about growing after a break up and learning that it's not your fault that you didn't last. I for sure plan to buy it and add it to my on-going collection.
5/5

The puns were a nice touch, I loved it.

This story is cozy and sweet! Very perfect for the those of us who binge the Hallmark Christmas movies every year!
The first chapter makes quick work of introducing Callie, her backstory, and even her favorite hobbies right off the bat. We don’t waste a ton of time meandering through chapters of dull details and that’s so refreshing in a book. In my opinion it allows for more storytelling.
I loved the idea of the advent calendar with tasks and treats! It must have taken so much time to develop. How great is it to have someone love you that hard!?
The meet cute was eggcellent! All the puns had me rolling.
I enjoyed getting to watch Callie and Marco’s love story unfold. I also loved seeing the advent challenges bring Callie into her own, understand who she is and go for what she wants instead of always caring about being what people expect her to be.

I’d definitely recommend this book to others!

This was a very jolly Christmas read. Callie and Marco had such great chemistry and the advent calendar challenge was so fun to follow.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam Son’s and NetGalley for this ARC.

What a sweet Christmas read! The characters are lovable and the story easy to fall into. I love the advent calendar challenges and treats, the family supporting each other and the love story!

The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy

It made me believe that Christmas is still for me!

Callie had an amazing boyfriend, a dream job and a beautiful new place to live. Unfortunately, not everything ended up so perfect when her boyfriend left her after a decade together and also announced that was in love with someone else.

Heartbroken and hopeless Callie moved in with her sister Anita who took her in immediately a did her very best to give back Callie a bit of hope and joy.

While Callie and her ex remained working for the same company, she counted on Hazel to be at ease at work and have someone to talk to.

Callie refused to go home to celebrate Christmas with her family as her ex lived next door and was such an awkward feeling! They were supposed to end up together…but, they didn’t.

As Christmas got closer Anita came up with the most wonderful idea! An Advent Calendar! Yes! That would be the solution to help Callie and give her back hope and a joyful holiday spirit!

This story was delightful beginning to end and for all those who need something beautiful, peaceful and heartwarming, this is definitely your novel.

I loved how Callie opened her heart task after task and how Cassidy created such a great guy for Callie to share her life with. I absolutely loved this novel and I highly recommend it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Thank you so much to @netgalley and Holly Cassidy!

This is a fun quick read perfect for those who want to get into the holiday spirit. You may know what's coming, but fans of Christmas roamnces will be happy when they get there.

Follow along with me for a moment as I go off topic. One of my favorite Christmas movies is “The Holiday Calendar” on Netflix. Based on the title, I bet you could assume that it a similar concept to this book. “The Holiday Calendar” follows a photographer who is given her grandma’s old advent calendar. Magically, each day, a wooden figurine appears in the calendar, serving as a hint of what the day has in store for her.

I love that movie because even though it’s cheesy (as the best Holiday movies are) it has a lot of heart and sentimentality. Now, you may be wondering, why I bought it up. I believe this book takes the concept (an advent calendar shaping the day of the heroine) to an elevated level. I loved the dynamic between Callie and her sister and their obvious affection for each other. The nostalgic gifts and ‘assignments’ had so much meaning and I loved how the focus was on making Callie enjoy the holidays like they used to as children. It really tugged on my heartstrings how much thought Anita put into her calendar and what it meant to them as sisters.

Ironically enough, I had almost forgotten to write anything about Marco. Don’t get me wrong, I liked his character and his positivity a lot. But I felt like the story was so charming and festive even without mentioning the romance. Callie’s journey of self-reflection and trying things outside of her comfort zone was so much more fulfilling!

🎶Fitting Songs:
↳ Last Christmas by Wham!
↳ Cindy Lou Who by Sabrina Carpenter
↳ Christmas Makes Me Cry by Kacey Musgraves
↳ Love to Keep Me Warm by Laufey
↳ You to Me by Dave Barnes

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

A chance meeting at a a Christmas tree market can change everything. Callie’s life was at a standstill. Her longtime boyfriend and job were at a crossroads. Meeting Marco was a catalyst she needed to balance out the changes she was experiencing. Add in an advent calendar from her sister to spur her on to challenges that made her realize she could do better. This was a cute coming about Christmas story. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy. I’m leaving this review voluntarily