title: Christmas People
author: Iva-Marie Palmer
publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
publication date: September 30, 2025
pages: 304
peppers: 3 (on this scale)
warnings: vomit and binge drinking, head injury
summary: Jill is not having much success as a screenwriter in LA; in fact, her only potential job is to write a Hallmark-like script. Though she doesn't want to run into Grant, her ex, in her hometown over the holidays, she accepts her parents' invitation to come home for a visit. After a drunken interaction with Grant, she wakes up in a Hallmark-ish movieland version of her hometown. She has to figure out how to get back to her real life.
tropes:
- screenwriter
- second chance romance
- high school crush
- big city girl returns home
- It's a Wonderful Life experience
what I liked:
- some great dialogue
- funny use of romance tropes
what I didn’t like:
- the female main character's self-esteem is annoyingly low
- the female main character spends almost the whole book telling herself something about her ex that he repeatedly tells her isn't true; she doesn't believe him.
- the female main character spends almost half of the book with a male interest who isn't the male lead.
overall rating: 3 (of 5 stars)
As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.