It's no secret that I LOVE Christina Lauren books so I was beyond excited when I was able to score an ARC of In a Holidaze from Gallery Books (thank you), out October 6th!!

In a Holidaze was Groundhog Day meets The Butterfly Effect. After a crazy Christmas week with her family (and family friends turned family), Maelyn Jones's world screeches to a stop as a bomb was dropped right as everyone left. On the car ride to the airport with her family, she sees a quick glimpse of a wreath before she finds herself back on a plane.

After waking up, Maelyn must relive the week she just had, as though sent back to change the outcome. How many times does she have to live through the crash before she'll get it right?

In a Holidaze is the perfect book to curl up with this holiday season. It was light, airy, and such a breath of fresh air in the year 2020. I loved this book SO much it may be a staple for all Christmas seasons to come. I may actually read it again this year when it gets colder out. THAT is how much I loved this book.

As always, a huge thank you to Gallery Books and Christina Lauren for allowing me to read this before the rest. I absolutely loved it and quite literally cannot want for the next one!

In A Holidaze was cute - and officially my first Christmas book of the year. If you’ve been wishing for a new Groundhog Day but for Christmas, this may be the book for you!

I enjoyed the romance and loved the epilogue. But there were parts of the plot that I felt were really unnecessary and I didn’t feel like the Groundhog Day device really worked here. I would have liked it a lot more without the Theo plot line.

Thank you to Gallery and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I love it when a book sneaks up and surprises the heck out of me. IN A HOLIDAZE, from writing duo Christina Lauren, is one of the best holiday romance books I've read. Like the best presents under the tree, IN A HOLIDAZE filled with so much to love! There's:

- a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi (TIME TRAVEL!!)

- friends that are family that you want to spend time with

- holiday traditions that warm your heart

- friends to lovers’ romance that's sweet AND sexy

- character growth that makes me a little teary-eyed

- characters you miss as soon as you read the last page.


- just enough angst to make the ending as emotional as can be


I'm still grinning like a fool. Maelyn Jones is definitely one of my favorite characters written by Christina Lauren. At 26, Maelyn thinks she has it all together--except for her 13 year-long, seemingly unrequited, crush on Andrew Hollis. When everything appears to go wrong during the traditional Christmas gathering with Maelyn's friends and family, she makes a wish while driving to the airport at the same moment she sees another car crashing towards hers. When she wakes, her holiday has reset to day one. Thus, begins Maelyn's personal Groundhog Day.

IN A HOLIDAZE beautifully, sometimes humorously, sometimes a bit achingly sad, takes readers on Maelyn's journey to discover what brings her joy. Over and over, with each reset, Maelyn is forced to decide what makes her happy. Throughout this journey Maelyn discovers herself and what she means to those that love her.

All of the characters of IN A HOLIDAZE are delightful and bring so much to the book, most especially Andrew, who Maelyn has loved from afar for years. He's sexy, steadfast, and just a little clueless when it comes to Maelyn. Maelyn’s parents and friends round out the cast of characters providing humor and loving support that warms the heart.

I have no doubt that IN A HOLIDAZE is a book I know I'll come back to each year to start off the holiday season.

Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze is a perfect holiday rom com with a fun, engaging premise. Maelyn Jones is relishing her holiday tradition of vacationing with her family and friends in a cabin in Utah—every year, she joins her now-divorced parents, her younger brother, and her parents’ college friends and their families to celebrate the season. Maelyn loves everything about this annual gathering, especially the faithfully-followed traditions and time with her long-time crush, Andrew.

This Christmas, however, Maelyn has made a mistake: in a drunken moment, she made out with Andrew’s younger brother Theo. Now, Theo won’t talk to her, Andrew thinks they’re together, and Maelyn finds out that Andrew and Theo’s parents are selling the cabin, meaning the end to the traditions she holds so dear. She’s bemoaning her life situation on the way home with her family when they hit a deer, and . . .

She wakes up, back at the cabin, on Christmas Eve again.

Yes, it’s like Groundhog Day! Maelyn has the chance to live her Christmas vacation over again, searching desperately to get things right, to save her holiday traditions, and to figure out how to win Andrew.

I’m a sucker for this trope—who hasn’t wished for a do over at some point?!—and for the balance of comedy and serious soul searching from this fabulous writing duo. I’m a big fan of Christina Lauren’s books, and I felt as if this was a real return to form, hearkening back to some of my Christina Lauren favorites.

If you’re looking for a holiday romance with a lot of heart, this is the perfect book to add to your Christmas reading list!

In a Holidaze is a fun, romantic comedy to put you in the mood for Christmas magic! It is a romantic comedy filled with what if's and brings up questions of controlling our own destinies and changing the outcome of events if one could! Mae and her family have been spending the holidays with Andrew's family for as long as she can remember, but the Christmas is different! Will this be the last holiday she gets to spend with Andrew and his family? Will she find the words to express her true feelings for the one she loves? One can only find out by reading the book. It is wonderfully written, warm and funny!

I find the plots of Christina Lauren books to be rather predictable. I, generally, do not mind as I am not often looking for something that shocks or surprises me. And when it came to this particular novel, where a woman is forced to live the same day on loop, I anticipated some repetitiveness. What bored me, however, was the build up to Andew being Maelyn's true love. I still don't fully understand what it is about Andrew that made him such a desirable partner, other than he was not Theo. Sure he was kind, but what else? On top of this, I found Maelyn to be incredibly annoying. Confusing as it was, Maelyn and Andrew became a happy couple and the reader was treated to a nice epilogue that featured an engagement.
All that to say, this was a fine afternoon read and satisfied my quarantine need for one romance read a week.

The perfect holiday read, brilliantly written! I completely enjoyed this book, it was not your usual Christmas story at all, I loved the twists and turns and just when you think you know what is going to happen, another plot twist pops out at you. This story was well executed and the character development was amazing. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a Christmas story with a fun twist!

At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get into this book, but oh boy was I surprised. Maelyn Jones is a woman in her mid-20s who gets stuck in a Groundhog Day like situation around Christmas time at the cabin that she always spends Christmas with her own family and their best friends. Maelyn has always had a crush on Andrew, the almost 30 year old son of her parents’ best friends, but she ends her (first) Christmas vacation making out with Theo, Andrew’s brother.

Once you get over the initial weirdness of the premise, this book settles into a satisfying rom com love story that I could not put down. The book has a satisfying ending to a story I was not sure about at the beginning – would highly recommend. Plus, the idyllic Christmas setting in Utah made me feel warm and cozy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. View is entirely my own. I really enjoyed this book. It put a smile on my face in a year that does not have many chances for adventure or joy.

Groundhog Day here we come! I’m not a huge fan of the whole time loop trope but I love CL so wanted to give this a try! I def want to re-read this book closer to Christmas!!

The good:

I loved the family dynamics even though they were hard to follow at times.

Benny was amazing!

I found myself laughing and cheering for Mae through out the book!

The time look trope was unique!

The not so good:

Where was the passion!! The steaminess?? I feel like this has been missing from the latest CL books and this book def could have used it. I wanted something more than what we got.

Overall a fun holiday book that would fit right in with the hallmark Christmas genre.

I am usually one to hold off on reading Christmas stories until after Thanksgiving, but I will always make an exception for Christina Lauren books.

This was such a cute holiday romance that really got me excited for the holidays. It was the perfect balance of sweet and steamy with two characters I really liked. Maelyn always looks forward to her family getting together with their friends at a cabin in Utah, but this year she seems to be in a time loop living the exact week over and over again. She can’t seem to figure out what message the universe is trying to send her. Maybe when she finds the courage to confront her feelings for a special guy in her life, maybe then life will return to normal.

The Groundhog Day storyline made me feel a little crazy in the beginning, but by the end of this book I felt all warm and fuzzy. I loved the close knit family, the cozy setting and the fun traditions. This one is available on 10/6 and I definitely recommend picking it up if you are looking for a heartwarming holiday romance. Thank you Netgalley and Gallery books for this advance reading copy.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren was a fun read. There are many funny points where Maelyn couldn’t help herself and blurted out what seemed like weirdness to her family. Only her family couldn’t understand because Mae was caught in a loop of reliving the holiday, until she got it right.

Maelyn and her brother and divorced parents along with special friends from college have celebrated every Christmas together forever. Each day has a theme and fun times spent together. The only problem was Mae knew she had lived this day before.

I liked how the disparate people made a family that loved and cared for each other. I loved how they spend the time together making memories and enjoying each other. To me that was the best part of the story although I did love the magic between Maelyn and Andrew and their love story.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren was a fun holiday read with a wonderful contemporary love story.

This was so much fun to read & it got me into the Christmas holiday like now! Things haven’t gone as planned for Maelyn Jones - she lives with her parents, hates her job, and forget about romance. It’s Christmas and her family always vacations in Utah in the same snowy cabin every year. Once she gets on the plane it’s one mishap after another - reminds me of Groundhog Day! Can she break free? This is funny and in the spirit of CLa. The characters are like able and relatable and it certainly feels like Christmas! Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

In A Holidaze was one of those feel good holiday books that can be read any time of the year. I had so much fun reading this one and enjoyed the heck out of it. It has that magical holiday vibe and I couldn't get enough.

Mae is living her own version of groundhog's day. After a holiday that wasn't so magical, she wants to get her life together and be happy. She wishes she could change some of the things that happened on her holiday, and it turns out she can. She's stuck living the same time period over and over again with the guidance of her family friend, Uncle Benny.

One of my favorite things about this book was the found family/family traditions of the holiday season. It made me yearn for the days my family had all kinds of holiday traditions when I was a kid. I also found the heroine relatable and loved the hero so much! Andrew was fantastic. There were so many swoony moments and moments that made me laugh.

Christina Lauren is a fantastic writing duo and this is another hit for them. This book made me happy and I can see myself re-reading it every holiday season. If you're looking for a easy read that will keep a smile on your face, pick this one up!

This was the sweet rom-com I was looking for. I’ve always been a sucker for a good Christmas story and this certainly did not disappoint. Maisie and her family always meet with her parents’ college friends at the cabin for
Christmas. This year awkwardness ensued when Maisie got drunk and had a horrifying make out session with one of her oldest friends Theo. The problem is she’s always been in love with Theo’s older brother Andrew. To make it worse as they are getting ready to leave Andrew’’s parents announce they will be selling the cabin. On the way to the airport Maisie asks the universe to show her what will make her happy one second before she’s thrust into her own holiday version of the Groundhog’s Day. This book had me laughing and crying as I was glued tot he pages eager to see how it turned out.

This was my first book by the duo that I have heard so much about. The book started off interesting, although I don't think I am so much a fan of the Groundhog/ time loop story line as I found it just kind of frustrating at times.

I think the overall premise of Mae trying to find what will make her happy in life to be a story line that held a lot of promise, but I just didn't think the execution worked for me. I did think the book starting flowing better once Mae and Andrew started getting cozy, but the conflict towards the end of the book with them too brought about more frustration for me. I did really enjoy the epilogue but didn't quite understand how all of a sudden the time tràvel story line just ceased to exist and was no more, unless I just missed something. This book was just so so for me.

This is book is like a perfect Hallmark Christmas movie. If bundling up by a fire, while sipping hot chocolate to watch a holiday romance is your jam- you are going to NEED to read this book.

I was a little worried that it was going to be too cheesy in the beginning, but who am I kidding I’m a sucker for curtsy romances. I adore it, I love it, give me more! Yes, the ending was maybe a little too sweet, but honestly, it left me feeling happy. And at this moment in time, a feel-good book is just what I need.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Maelyn Jones' life is stuck in a rut and now it seems it's stuck in repeat mode. Mae is back living with her family; hates her job; and has no dating life to talk about. The one thing Mae does look forward to every year is when her family goes to the cabin in Utah owned by their family friends, the Hollis' and two other families. They have been spending the same week there every year for her entire life of twenty-six years....and for the last thirteen years she has had a big crush on one of the Hollis' boys.

When Mae makes one of the biggest mistakes of her life, she wishes she could have a redo. It turns out she gets one....over and over again! It will take some crazy moments for her to figure out what is going on and to be able find her happy ending, but she eventually does.

I just loved this story and couldn't put it down. All of the characters in this story are such fun and unique in their own way. I really enjoyed the path that Mae had to go on to find her happy ending but it was so worth it. Great story and I highly recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I chose it because I recently read The Unhoneymooners by the same authors, and I loved that book. I started reading without really looking into the book, and was a bit disappointed to see it was a "groundhog day" style story, as that doesn't interest me much. But as the story got going and we saw Maelyn try to figure out how to get out of the time-loop she seems to be stuck in, I got pretty sucked into the story. However, I found the story started to lag about two-thirds in and I grew bored with it and though it felt a bit too easy/forced.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery for the arc of this book in exchange for a review.

I enjoy this author’s books and was looking forward to this. I thought the story of the group of friends that gathers for Christmas every year was cute but also unrealistic (do they not have family they visit with?). Maisie is the main character and unfortunately due to the theme of the story I don’t feel like I got to know the character.

This book has a Groundhog Day type premise where the time on vacation is continuously repeated. This is not explained well and didn’t even need to be in the book. It could have been a better story if that was omitted entirely.

Beyond that it’s Maisie having a lifelong crush on one of the family friends.

I feel like there was a lot of disconnect in this book and it fell flat for me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
What a crazy book! And, not in a bad way. I will admit that it was “out of my comfort zone” and about 25% through I was a bit like “huh? WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?” But I was eventually laughing, thoroughly enjoying, not caring that I was a bit confused and even crying some serious happy tears.

This book gave me all the Christmas and snow vibes and I’m always here for that. I read this in one weekend and now I want the holidaze (haha?) here stat.

This follows quite a few characters (but they are easy to learn, know and remember!) but the two main ones are Maelyn and Andrew. Their families (along with others) get together every single Christmas for a “friend/family” vacation at a cabin. They have the same traditions every year, eat the same meals, do the same things.

…. but what if things could be different? What if things can change? Take a different path? What if more happiness could be found? What if dreams can come true? What if love interests can become a reality?

And they certainly do. About 3x over. As Mae seems to be stuck in a time loop. And she relives this vacation over. And over. And over. Each time something a little different happens. She is stuck in a time loop/time travel situation. This is the part of the story, at first, that had me going like “what is HAPPENING here?” Was she dreaming? Was she okay?

I love the idea of re-living for happiness.
This book was so cozy (man, I am so excited for snow), funny, a little risqué and very unique. I’m a big fan of these authors and they did not disappoint.

*Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for chance to read!
(Being published October 6th, ’20)