It’s cute and has banter throughout the book. There is a back-and-forth between the main characters that really lends to the ark of the relationship of the story. It’s a fun book.

There is definitely room for improvement for future writing for these authors. You can surely tell this was a first time writing as there are too many instances of jumping within the plot with no depth to our characters and no building up of each point in the story.

I love that this is a book about screenwriters by screenwriters. I also love the behind-the-scenes of making Christmas movies in July.

RETAIL


THE SUMMER OF CHRISTMAS
Juliet Gigilo; Keith Gigilo
Romantic Comedy

Ivy and Nick are thrown together after five years apart, as Ivy’s new movie is being filmed in their hometown. They are not quite sure what to do around each other plus they have both moved on… or have they?

This is a sweet clean romance. While It has some sparks and a few very awkward moments, it is just very cute and funny with no steam or spice. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I liked it. It was a sweet love/hate story. I’m glad I read it but it definitely took me a while to get into. I don’t know some of the characters just felt off. I think there were too many moving parts to focus on.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I read it as part of a Christmas in July prompt and it just didn't hit for me.

No solo la trama es pesada, sino que la protagonista también.
Se gradúa, quiere mudarse pero su novio no, el novio la deja. Pandemia. Hace un guión sobre su relación solamente por despecho y, en el mismo, mata al novio. Consigue que le compren el guión, arma la película en el pueblo donde creció, consigue un nuevo novio.
En fi, es un second chance en donde los personajes secundarios son muchísimo más interesantes que los portagonístas.

This was a first time read for me by the authors. It was a fun and entertaining small town, second chance romance. Ivy is a screen writer and has returned to her home town to film her Christmas movie which is based on her high school sweetheart and first love, Nick, who broke up with her on Christmas. Ivy is currently in a relationship with her movie producer, but coming face to face with Nick again, stirs up all those feelings that she bottled up years ago. Not to mention a little jealousy creeping in when Nick starts getting friendly with the actress who is playing Ivy. Then things start to really get interesting.
The story was a cute, enjoyable, and angsty romance with delightful characters. A very Hallmark-like story. This is a sweet and quick read, glad I had the chance to read it.
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Although I love the cover, this one was good not great. It just fell a little bit flat. It's a closed door, friends to lovers to enemies to lovers storyline. I did laugh out loud at a few parts and the characters were okay. As I said, it just didn't hit the right notes for me but it was a quick, cute read.

3.75 stars, rounded to 4. This is a really cute story! Ivy is a LA screenwriter whose script finally gets picked up for production slated for July. The catch is the movie is about the Christmas-time breakup between her and her long time boyfriend, Nick, and the film location is back in Ivy’s hometown in Upstate New York. It is heartbreaking for Ivy because she had thought Nick was the one, but he dumped her during is last visit to LA five years earlier, after telling her he had met someone else. To complicate matters, Nick is just as handsome and wonderful as he was when they were growing up, the producer on the film is Ivy’s new boyfriend Drew, and Amari, the actress hired to play Ivy gets on Ivy’s last nerve. Will Ivy find true happiness? Is Drew right for her or was Nick her true love? Is her career taking off with this film or does Ivy’s antics on the set ruin her chances for a Hollywood future?

I would recommend this book as a summer read, it is perfect for a vacation or on the beach. It is fun and well done.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so much fun to read but also annoying, in a good way, with everything that happened. I really love where this book was taken place at as well as the entire plot and subplot. I enjoyed every moment with this book. (full detailed review up on my goodreads)

The Summer of Christmas was a fun, easy read. I enjoyed both of the main characters and the plot. It would make a cute Hallmark movie!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley.

The POV seemed too scattered. It is a limited third-person one minute, omnipresent the next, and judgmental third person in another. Quite confusing at times.

I wanted to like this book more. The premise sounded like a great Christmas book, with the plot focused on a screenwriter who used her relationship with her ex-high school sweetheart as a basis for the script. The production is greenlit, and the setting relocates to her hometown, where her ex still lives with his family. Complicated feelings arise as Ivy is forced to face her ex-boyfriend for the first time since their break-up, and the lines blur between the actors and reality.

While it was a pleasant read, I had trouble connecting to the characters and the writing style wasn’t for me. It’s clear that the authors have experience in script writing, and that showed in the novel. The pacing was off for me throughout the book, and I felt there more going on than necessary in the book; it would have been much better to keep the focus on Ivy and Nick.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a fun rom-com read, perfect for the beach or at Christmas time!
What worked? The side characters!! So many amazing background characters in this one that added funny genuine moments to the story.
The love between Ivy and Nick definitely shone through their history and present as well.
Highly recommend to all romance lovers - closed door!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for a digital reader's copy in exchange for a honest review.

The cover and title of this book screamed holiday romance. The synopsis promised a hollywood-esque romcom of a second chance love in a summery winterland. Not a single element delivered for me. The first 6 chapters or so were choppy. It was a lot of telling a story, telling a lot of the back story. It read like an outline to a screenplay and came across as underdeveloped. I almost DNF'ed it. I persisted since we're getting to the second chance July Christmas romcom, right? Nope. At times there was a ton of descriptors and information that I felt wasn't necessary for the story. There are so many characters and "relationships" forming amongst them. It was hard to pinpoint who were the leads or even second leads and unfortunately I was bored. The spice level is sugary and the characters weren't really developed. The majority of them annoyed me and a handful of them were outrageously unrealistic. It seemed they were there as filler. The holiday romance was non-existent. These are grown adults acting like they're in middle school on a Christmas movie set. Towards the end of the story, a realization that perhaps Christmas themes should be happening in a book titled The Summer of Christmas. So there were attempts to add traditional Christmas items: holiday songs, "Christmas Carol" trope, miracles but they all were forced and rushed. The film references were random and felt out of place. They didn't add to the story not everyone will make the connection with the references and mentioning them was a bit pretentious for my tastes. There was a lot of hints of everything, just nothing substantial.

Although this book was not for me, those who enjoy Hallmark or Lifetime holiday movies may enjoy this one.

The Summer of Christmas unfortunately fell flat for me. The plot felt disjointed and I just didn't connect with the characters. Fans of Hallmark movies might enjoy this one!

This was a fun, unique Christmas romcom! I enjoyed it. Overall, I would definitely recommend it!

I received an e-ARC (and won a physical ARC) from the publisher.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO THE SUMMER OF CHRISTMAS BY JULIET GIGLIO AND KEITH GIGLIO?

I picked up The Summer Of Christmas by Juliet Giglio and Keith Giglio because I liked the cover and thought the book looked like fun. Also, the setting is somewhat local to me and I am a SUCKER for local books. I went for audio because it was just sitting there on Hoopla and I knew I could get through it way faster by listening.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
The Summer Of Christmas opens with a breakup — Ivy is getting dumped by Nick for a vinter from Cornell. Ivy stays in LA and pours her heartbreak into writing and trying to make it in the film industry. Eventually, her dreams come true when her screenplay is picked up and so, production begins on a movie loosely based on her relationship with Nick. The movie ends up filming in Ivy’s hometown of Geneva, NY which is by the Finger Lakes and genuinely does exist. And so, Ivy keeps running into Nick but she’s also kind of got a new boyfriend. The filming takes place over the summer, but the movie is a Christmas movie.

WHAT DID I THINK OF THE SUMMER OF CHRISTMAS? HOW ABOUT THE NARRATION?
I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. You see, I am a sucker for holiday themed books. However, I had previously read an audiobook set during Christmas that had a lot more heart than this book. And then, I listened to yet another Christmas themed book which blew this one out of the water. My thoughts are that I never felt attached to the characters. I found each person in this book to not be very likable which is fine, but just didn’t seem to endear me. The audiobook was narrated okay — some pronunciations of local towns were wrong which bothered me a little. This just wasn’t the book for me and that’s okay.

ON A SCALE OF ONE TO BUDDY THE ELF, HOW MUCH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT DOES THE SUMMER OF CHRISTMAS HAVE?
Given that this is set during the summer, there’s more Christmas than expected — as that’s what the screenplay is about. Some of the scenes were fun. But, overall, after listening to The Summer Of Christmas, I didn’t feel like super into the spirit. Maybe this would have been a better summer read — and that’s okay.

Its not Christmas and I finally read Summer lol. Just a cute fun light little rom com Thank you Harper for the Sourcebooks for my honest review.