Christmas Joy is exactly what I expected it to be. To me, it felt like a good Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. The characters, the setting, the magical moments - it was everything that I love about Hallmark Christmas movies - be it in July or December.

Joy grew up in Crystal Falls but has since moved on and moved away to bigger and better things. She is now a market researcher and awaiting a giant promotion when she receives a call that her Aunt Ruby took a fall and is in the hospital. She quickly drops everything and returns to Crystal Falls to check in on the only family member she has left. Aunt Ruby has broken her foot and will require short term rehabilitation. But if she is there who will decorate her house for the Christmas Cookie Crawl? She is the defending champion after all!

Joy agrees to stay and help with the decorating even though she hasn't actually celebrated Christmas in years after the death of her mother. This is where Ben enters. Ben is the small town guy with the good heart who helps everyone in town. At first, Joy and Ben don't exactly see eye to eye and spend most of their time butting heads but, the more time they spend together the more they find in common with each other. Add in a cute little girl from the neighborhood and you have all of those magical holiday moments that I was talking about before.

Overall, I enjoyed Christmas Joy. It had that classic holiday romance feel. In fact, there is actually a Hallmark movie based on this book that I have a feeling I will be watching very soon. I just love those movies - no matter how predictable or badly acted. So, if you're like me and love Hallmark and happy Christmas, you'll like this book too!

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jermar

Joy has her life all planned out, she knows what she wants. She wants to be the best market researcher in her firm and she really wants that promotion. She keeps telling herself that work is all she needs to be happy. She does not want to do relationships, they only bring pain. And she has had enough pain to last her a lifetime. She lost her mom over twelve years ago but it feels like yesterday. But sometimes life gets in the way of our plans, and when her Aunt Ruby falls and breaks her ankle, Joy has to go help her aunt until she can return home. Joy has not seen her aunt in a while but since she is her only family left, she knows she has to go and help her.

Ben is a hospital accountant who is good friends with Ruby. He loves life and he loves Christmas and he loves helping people. He could not be any more different than Joy. When Joy comes to help Ruby, he meets her and is intrigued by her. But he has already had a bad experience with a “city girl” and that ended with divorce and he does not plan on making that mistake again. But Joy and him are spending a lot of time together and, again, sometimes life gets in the way of plans.

The characters are well developed and well rounded. I enjoyed getting to meet all of them and getting to spend time with them. It was great to see how all of their relationships evolved. I really loved the Christmas theme in this book and it made me smile while I was reading it. I felt like I was watching a Hallmark Christmas movie while reading this book, which was a good thing.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted women’s contemporary. If you in the mood for a holiday read, this is the book for you. This book could also be read by a young adult, it is a clean read. Grab a copy and enjoy.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
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I went into this not expecting to love it, and the beginning almost proved me right. But the characters and their Christmas traditions just won me over. Ben, Joy and Molly were all so perfect for the story, and Ben and Joy had just the right amount of friction and sparks.

Christmas Joy is a charming holiday story and sweet romance. It has great characters and a touching storyline

This was a very sweet story and a great christmas read. It was a feel good book to remind us what the holiday is all about and it was nice to see how it helped the character find herself again.

Christmas Joy is a sweet book to read at the holidays. Of course, it's a bit predictable, after all, we can't have a sad Christmas book. So you know it will have a happily ever after ending. Which for me, felt like the last few pages were kind of a quick ending.

I did like the Christmas spirit throughout the book. Enjoyed imagining what the decorations in the house and throughout the town looked like! There were a few times when I felt as if we had rerun the cookie baking too much and I lost interest. But then the author would perk up things and my interest returned.

Overall, it's an enjoyable romance set at Christmas.

* I was provided an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.