Christmas Ever After has such a familiar tone and you are immediately transported to a Hallmark Christmas movie as soon as you start reading. From the big city girl, to the work related holiday timed getaway to rekindled romance. This book has the perfect amount of cheerfulness to help you welcome the holiday spirit with sprinkles of Santa.

Have you ever heard of a Christmas Camp? It’s a total immersion into the holiday season for guests enrolled in the “camp” (it’s usually a warm inviting Inn). Having written two previous books in the Christmas camp series, Karen Schaler brings us to a new holiday destination full of all the Christmas joy we’ve come to expect.

Riley Reynolds is a journalist turned romance writer. She’s had success with several books already and has quite a fan base. Unfortunately, her last romance novel was lacking the romance - likely indicative of a challenged love life. Now she is faced with a task of writing a Christmas novel: a very difficult challenge given that she has not celebrated the holiday since she was eight years due to the death of her father. As a publicity stunt, Riley has been instructed to host a Christmas Camp at the Inn run by her publicist’s friend Luke who needs the media attention in order to sell the Inn. The guests of the camp are there because they are fans of her books. Riley reluctantly agrees - she really has no choice since her publisher demands it. What she doesn’t know is that three of her longer term boyfriends will also be there, each trying to charm Riley back into their lives. Will Riley find the inspiration for her new book at Christmas Camp?

I really enjoyed this book. It’s full of Christmas goodness with all the hot chocolate, cookies, and romance one comes to expect from a holiday book. Riley’s character is well-developed and it’s wonderful to watch her grow from a woman trying to ignore the holiday due to personal loss, to someone embracing it and ready to make new memories. I loved all the Christmas activities and the fact the author highlights green initiatives and community good will in this book. As one would expect, the book is somewhat predictable but I’m perfectly fine with this. In this world full of chaos, at least I can count on the predictability of a great holiday book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hawktale Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

A Christmas Bachelorette story is about to commence for book author, Riley Reynolds with three ex-boyfriends from her past! Will she discover that one of these past loves is her true love or is she about to discover a new one at the Christmas Lake Lodge?

The author is about to take us on a journey of learning about looking at Christmas through the eyes of a non-believer and someone who needs to find her Christmas Spirit before she can truly appreciate a great love!

Have you found your Christmas Spirit if not then this is the book for you!
I would definitely recommend this book!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

I love to read Christmas themed books. This is a perfect book to get you into the Christmas spirit. I loved the characters and the setting of this book. It had everything I love about Christmas. The traditions were so much fun and the recipes sound so yummy. I can't wait to include them in our holiday traditions! I highly recommend this book, especially if you love Hallmark Christmas movies!


Thank you to Netgalley, Hawktale Publishing, and Karen Schaler for the digital arc I received in exchange for my honest opinion.

Romance writer Riley is in a bit of a writing slump. The sales of her last book were not great and her agent is not happy with her and if she doesn't turn things around her publishing house will drop her. The agent has the perfect solution, write a Christmas romance. The only thing is Riley has not celebrated Christmas since her father died with she was a child. Her publicist comes up with a plan, Let's have a Christmas Camp for some of her fans. They can help her come up with ideas for her new book. So off to Christmas Lake Lodge in the middle of Christmas Lake a beautiful winter town. The ex boyfriends of Christmas past show up at the lodge to surprise her each wanting her back. Trouble is she isn't interested in them any longer and there is someone new Luke the owner of the lodge. There's a little bit of the Bachelorette TV show around the ex boyfriend. Riley and the reader meet lots of new and interesting people during Christmas Camp. There's some recipes and activities included with the story so you can have your own Christmas Camp at home this year.

This book was so good!! It is full of the joy and wonder of Christmas. This is a fun fast read that I highly recommend. I loved reading Riley and Luke's story and I feel completely in love with Comet. If you need a pick me up, grab this book. It is uplifting and full of hope, love and Christmas joy! Thank you HawkTale Publishing via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This sweet romance is perfect for Christmas lovers everywhere. With a romance writer in career trouble, hunky nemesis plus ex-boyfriends, and holiday festivities galore, we have the perfect recipe for love in a magical setting. I'd love to go to Christmas Camp at this beautiful lake! Thanks to Netgalley and HawkTale Publishing for the advance digital copy.

A lovely quick read with plenty going on. This is the first book I have read by this author but I will certainly be looking for more. I am giving this 4 stars enjoy it as I have done.

Simply amazing. As I was reading this it was like watching a Hallmark Christmas movie. The Christmas imagery was simply stunning and so easy to picture. The book flowed so well that I finished it in a day and a half. The heart and Christmas spirit in this story is out of this world.
From the Christmas miracle at the start of the book with Santa driving the cab, to the perfect timing and insight of Comet the dog, always in the right place at the right time.
Reading about some wonderful people who genuinely loved Christmas, and not just the commercial giving of expensive gifts was lovely and made me wish I was sharing it with them. I want to inject some of this Christmas spirit and love into my family Christmas this year.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
4.5/5
I adored this book! I am that Christmas obsessed person listening to holiday music year round, with an ugly sweater in the making. I loved Schaler's earlier novel, Christmas Camp, and Christmas Ever After does not disappoint. Riley is an interesting character; like many characters in holiday books, she is in the "no-Christmas" camp. However, Schaler doesn't harp on this, and it isn't a negative at all. It works well as a framing device to introduce us as readers to the lodge's traditions. The only slight detractor is that Riley's past romantic interests kind of dominate the second half of the book- I would have loved if more time was spent on the Christmas camp activities.
All in all, this is a wonderful holiday read, and I hope that it also shows up on our Hallmark screens!

The latest Christmas book I finished was Christmas Ever After by Karen Schaler, another new author for me. This book was really enjoyable! I zoomed threw this.

The main character, author Riley Reynolds last novel was met with negative reviews and she ends up having to commit to writing a Christmas book for her next novel. For much needed good publicity and ideas for her upcoming book, she has to commit to being a co-host to a weekend Christmas Camp at a beautiful Lodge that goes all out for the holiday! It wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that Riley hasn't celebrated Christmas in years.

Luke, whose family owns the lodge, gets off on the wrong foot with Riley, after a tv interview goes awry, which makes for a rough start for the two of them.

Not only does the interview cause trouble for Luke and Riley, it also brings three of Riley's ex-boyfriends to the Christmas Camp, all with the intention of winning her back.

All of which makes for a fun, laugh out loud story! If you haven't guessed already, Riley and Luke might just make some special holiday memories themselves!

I loved it! Thank you to @netgalley for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#ChristmasEverAfter #NetGalley

Get ready for an explosion of Christmas cheer! Christmas Ever After is an abundantly fun and heartwarming Christmas romance.

This story is chock full of Christmas. Best-selling author Riley Reynolds' last book didn't sell as well as her previous books. Something is missing. Her publisher and agent task her with writing a Christmas romance next, which is a very popular sub-genre in the industry. The only problem is Riley doesn't celebrate Christmas and has no clue what to write. She's scheduled to do a Christmas Camp for her readers at the beautiful Christmas Tree Lake Lodge. She is expecting to have the whole agenda all set up for her but son of the owner, Luke Larchmont wants her input. That could be trouble since she has no Christmas traditions to share.

I loved reading about all the the special Christmas activities at the Christmas Camp. There's learning about the Christmas Lake Angel, the Christmas Lake Christmas Tree, baking Christmas cookies, special hot chocolate, an ugly Christmas sweater pageant and the Christmas ball. Riley has three romantic dates with her three ex-boyfriends who are trying to win her back. But Riley realizes she needs to look forward and sees Luke Larchmont in that future, the guy who has reintroduced her to a love of Christmas. Kudos to Comet, the dog who was always there to save the day. I loved this story!

Well this is definitely a 5-star Christmas themed read, which is really nice as often so-called Christmas books aren't really that Christmassy - not this one, this one is full-on Christmas, with snow, Christmas trees, a Christmas lodge, snowball fights, etc. etc. It really gets you into a Christmas mood!

Bestselling author, Riley Reynolds, writes romances but her last book didn't sell very well and she is now supposed to be writing a Christmas novel, but she hasn't celebrated Christmas for years, so writing the story and trying to hide the fact that she isn't actually 'Miss Christmas' proves hard initially.

Her publisher comes up with an idea to host a 'Christmas Camp' at the beautiful Christmas Lodge, helping both the owner's son, Luke, to have a last Christmas celebration at the lodge before they sell it, and helping Riley to get ideas for her new novel from the people who have paid to see Riley and be at the Christmas Camp.

But after an awkward TV interview where Riley is questioned about how she can write romance novels when she hasn't found 'the one' herself, three of her ex-boyfriends turn up at the Christmas Camp hoping to win her back with various dates, which she agrees to.

But Luke is the one that Riley keeps thinking about and as the story goes along, and her feelings for Christmas change, she sorts out her feelings for all her ex-boyfriends, and of course Luke.

An easy-reading, very enjoyable and romantic Christmassy book to get you in the mood for Christmas. It would make a perfect Christmas movie!

Christmas Ever After by Karen Schaler 4.5 stars

Oh this book reads like a Christmas #Hallmark movie! It’s so fun. Riley is like the grinch and has never celebrated Christmas for many years. As a way to save her career, she has to host a Christmas Camp at Christmas Lake! You can’t get more Christmassy than that!

To top that, she is placed in a room with Santa everywhere and a Santa sleigh for a bed! I’d love to see that in the movie. And oh! The Santa alarm clock says Ho Ho Ho! LOL! I really love the first half of the book. It gets slow then it picks up when her three ex boyfriends show up. Christmas Lake sounds like a beautiful place.

Luke sounds like an amazing man with a sense of humor too! I like Caylee and I want to try some of Maryanne’s Christmas Lake Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls.This is a quick and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it if you like Christmas and Hallmark movies!

Thank you #netgalley and @HawkTalePublishing for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance copy of Christmas Ever After, by Karen Schaler. I have read other books by Karen Schaler and loved them, I loved this book too. This book is about author Riley Reynolds who is writing her first Christmas book. Three of her exes show up at Christmas Camp, who does she pick?

An easy read but a bit too much going on - still not sure if I was reading too much into the ‘magic’ side of the story - the Santa taxi driver etc. But a lovely story full of Christmas cheer!

Christmas Ever After
4/5 Stars!

What a sweet, refreshing Christmas novel! So often, Christmas books can lack some of that Christmassy-feel, but not this one! This one has Christmas written all over it (literally) and it was such an enjoyable read.

I always turn to a good Christmas novel when I am in a rut, slump, etc. and this book did the trick for me!

After an awkward TV interview where Riley is questioned about how she can write romance novels when she hasn't found 'the one' herself. Pretty soon thereafter, three of her ex-boyfriends turn up at the Christmas Camp hoping to win her back with various dates, which she agrees to, but is in for a whirlwind of thoughts as she likes them all, but for different reasons!

This book is reminiscent of the Bachelorette meets Hallmark. I really hope that Hallmark takes the bait on this one and turns into a movie!

This will be a book that I purchase for family and friends and other fellow Christmas lovers!

Don't miss this one - it releases on 9/29/20!

This is the first book I have read by Karen Schaler. This book is about Riley who writes about romance and is told she needs to write a book about Christmas. This book was very good. I cant wait to read her next one.

A fantastic quick read. Great characters and plot. A first for me by Karen will be looking to read more.

Romance author Riley Reynolds, is not Miss Christmas, but after being forced by her publishing team to do a disastrous TV interview and and Christmas [Boot] Camp. Riley has to dig deep for the Christmas spirit and along the way meets wonderful new people and reunites with some old loves.

I was intrigued to read this novel given Karen Schaler's resume. It took a little to get into but once the setting became the Christmas Lake Lodge I was hooked. The place sounded absolutely magical and the small hints of Christmas magic with Comet and the Santa's all added to the overall Christmas magic feel. I am always on the look out for a Christmas novel to read curled up in front of the fire with hot chocolate. Schaler's book definitely had that cozy feel.