Advent Reads Day 23: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

 Welcome to Advent Reads!

This is an event I have had on my blog for several years running now.  Each evening I feature a different holiday themed book. Think of it as your Book Advent Calendar! I post a variety of holiday books including romance, children's, middle-grade, mystery, paranormal, and I try to find some that are other holiday celebrations than Christmas too. I hope you will stop by each evening to see what new book I have for you!

Synopsis: "One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners..

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays."

My Review: I have had this book waiting on my shelf for a whole year and I finally got to pick it up. This was my first Christina Lauren and it did not disappoint. I loved the premise of a groundhog type day to perfect a Christmas holiday. I really appreciated how somethings that were kept alive for nostalgia and tradition reasons maybe need to be let go or allowed to grow into something new. So often we keep doing things because that is the way they have always been done and maybe that takes a bit of the magic away. While other traditions are what ties the family and the holiday feeling together and while this was done in a bit of a romance/chick flick manner, it does do a really good job of making you think about those things and the reasons we do them. I think this is one of those books I will be revisiting every few years to remind me it is not the way of doing things that matters but who we are with and our joy in being together.

My Rating: I may have read into this book a little too deep, but it was really what I needed to hear as we enter yet another Christmas that looks completely different from those before.  I give this one a rating of Four Paws!