I am all about a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie, where you know the ending before it starts, and that's okay. It's a feel-good movie and I am here for those! This book had me feeling like I was surrounded by just that! A feel-good Hallmark Christmas movie and I loved it. That is, until about 75% in when it jumped the shark and lost me. Anything can happen in a book, but this got a bit too unbelievable, and I was just ready for it to end at that point. I gave it 3 stars because I liked the majority of, just wish it had a different ending!

Ivy has dreamed of being a screen writer for a long time when a cute producer decides to buy her book and make the movie in her hometown. The only catch is that is where her ex, Nick, still lives and her movie is based on her relationship with him...except for the part where he dies in a snow mobile accident. Nick was not wanting to see Ivy again, but as she is back home longer, his feelings start to change. Now Ivy has two guys to choose between.

I thought it was cute, it just wasn't my favorite.

It was decent, but disjointed and not my actual cup of tea. I expected more from it I think. The different characters sounded the exact same and it was hard to remember who we were following.

I received an audiobook ARC of this novel.

The story: I found the story to be hard to follow, in the sense that the sentence structure was all over the place and the pacing was hard to understand. In the first chapter, she is with Nick. By the 4th, moving in with someone else, without any indication of how long had actually passed? Everything felt too fast and unexplained in the novel.

The narrator was great, however. She sounded bubbly and made Ivy seem so friendly!

I thought maybe listening to this book would make me like it more. The sentences are really choppy and the main character is kind of juvenile. I just wasn’t into the story. Idk this one fell flat for me. I did think the narrator did a decent job. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to listen and review this book.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca, Dreamscape Media, Juliet Giglio, Keith Giglio, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book in return of an honest review.

Ive Green, an up and coming screen writer seems to have it all. Living in LA, her childhood sweetheart is coming to visit and she just wrote a screen play that won an award. That is until Nick Shepard breaks up with her. Ivy spends the next five years trying to sell her screen play and when she finally does, it is going to be filmed in her hometown where Nick still lives in the middle of summer. Ivy is now in a relationship with the producer of the movie, but will seeing Nick for the first time in five years bring up long lost feelings?

I love Christmas and Summer, so I was pumped to receive this ARC. I enjoyed the premise of the story, but I felt like most of it was just okay. There was over explanation of changes due to COVID and the movie industry. It was a fun quick listen, but just didn't hit the mark for me.

Ivy has written and sold her first screenplay, an autobiography of her lost love. Ivy met Nick during Christmas, and he broke off their relationship, leading to her writing "When Joseph met Mary," as she was not over the breakup from 5 years ago.
The story takes Ivy and the production team to her New York hometown, where she reunites with her family, friends, and Nick. While filming, Ivy and Nick try to come to terms with their breakup. Will they get back together, or will Ivy choose to be with her current beau, the producer, Drew? That's the question that everyone is betting on in town.
Overall, not a bad romance, but I didn't like some of the dialogue-- way too cheesy for my liking.
The cover art was cute, and the narration was reasonably well executed.
Disclaimer: This is a Net Galley ARC review.
⭐⭐⭐

Sadly, this one didn't work for me. I struggled to connect with the characters, and found myself skimming through around 50% in, This novel also leans heavily on pop culture references, which will be difficult for many readers who might not have seen all of the films mentioned.

A high school sweetheart romance gone wrong...but then some more wrong. Ivy and Nick grew up loving each other until both have plans post-college on opposite sides of the country. Parting on not great terms, they each start their lives - Ivy a screenwriter, and Nick working at his family winery.

Fast forward a few years later, their paths cross again in an ironic and funny way! The plot of this story was really interesting to me; I liked all the elements of romance for many characters and anger for others. I did find myself feeling frustrated at several points in the story because of the choices of the characters; it's always hard when it seems like there is an obvious good choice but the character chooses to do something completely different. I always felt myself dying for the ending - I just wanted to see everything come together!!

The characters were fun, and I definitely enjoyed the story! I think would make for a great summer read!!

3.5/5

Summer and Christmas, two themes I love, so a combination of the making of a Christmas movie in a small town, during the summer sounds perfect for me. The premise of this second chance romance set in a relatively small town where everyone knows everyone else's business immediately attracted me. Ivy Green is an up and coming screenwriter, who was dumped by her boyfriend, Nick Shepherd, five years earlier on Christmas Eve. He wanted to stay in New York running the family vineyard, while she wanted to stay in Los Angeles working as a screenwriter. She was shopping around her movie about her life, when she finally gets an offer to make it into a movie. It seems like a dream come true, until she finds out that it is going to filmed in her hometown, during the summer. She is in a relationship with the producer of the movie, but when she sees Nick, she realizes there are still unresolved feelings there. She is in high demand now, especially as the two actors playing Ivy and Nick are big names. Can she get through the filming of the movie and move on to her next project?

I had mixed reactions to this story. It was a cute second chance romance with some great characters, but also some characters that really grated on my nerves. Ivy was conflicted throughout most of the book. She was following her dreams, but always seemed to regret what she left behind. She had a wonderfully supportive family who I really liked. Nick was the son the family depended on. He loved what he did, but also had regrets about Ivy. At times I felt for him, at others, he frustrated me. The actress playing Ivy was terrible. She seemed narcissistic to me, which made some of her actions a bit unbelievable. There was a lot of angst in this story, due to miscommunication, stubbornness and unresolved feelings. This was a promising story that held my interest, but did not live up to the premise. A few too many relationship issues with various couples and lots of interference by others made it less enjoyable than I had anticipated. The audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Cottle made it easy to listen to. Listening at my normal speed of 1.5 made it just over 7 hours of listening time while driving and doing some gardening and yardwork, made the time fly by. If you enjoy an angsty second chance romance, then you will love this book.

DNF 40%

I wanted to read this because the plot sounded really intriguing and perfect to read during this time.

But I can’t get through anymore of this. The writings not good, the characters are unlikeable and immature. The pacing is rather choppy, the POV is confusing to follow.

Loved the idea, but the execution was poor.

This story had a very cute idea too it, but I think that it really lacked on the execution. Emotions seemed to be missing and it was just hard to get invested in the story. It was written in a very short way. I could see this be a movie, but a lot more emotion and depth would need to be brought into it.
Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly expected to love this and hit that preorder button but right out the gate book reads mom looks good for her age.. shes fit.... this is not ok and weird why is it that someone looks young if they are fit.... i think that linr shoukd be taken out as most people see yoing as a way of being etc.... i would not recommended this book disappointed

This book was fun and definitely got me in the Christmas spirit in the middle of the summer. I loved Ivy’s sprint and personality in this book. I also loved how much she enjoyed Christmas. I enjoyed how Ivy took something sad that had happened to her and made it into her next script. This book was very lighthearted and joyful. I would definitely recommend it to others whether it’s Christmas time or summer time.

This was a perfect Christmas in July read! great characters, small town setting and cute, fun banter! Oh and wine! Pretty much everything that makes a great book. The narration was so enjoyable and easy to list to as well. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this one!

(2.5 rounded up to a 3)

The Summer of Christmas is a debut romantic comedy novel by Juliet and Keith Giglio. The ebook version is 320 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at ten and a half hours and is narrated by Elizabeth Cottle. We follow multiple characters with third-person points-of-view.

Ivy Green just sold her first screenplay, based on her first love which ended poorly when he dumped her right before Christmas--her favorite holiday. Her movie producer boyfriend surprises her by deciding to film in her hometown, in July, though the movie is set around Christmastime. Nick Shepherd--the aforementioned high school sweetheart--is not pleased to see her again over five years after their breakup, partly because she kills off his character in her script. Things get even more complicated once the actress playing Ivy's character starts crushing on the real Nick.

I agree with several other reviewers in that this book felt very choppy and disjointed at times. A lot of the prose is written in very short sentences. While the whole thing is written in the third-person, it jumps back and forth between different forms of that point-of-view. The authors mainly write screenplays, and that really shows as in scripts you don't have to worry as much with transitions but in novels you really do. This would have been much better as a movie, where we can see the emotions on the actors' faces instead of reading things on a surface level.

The characters weren't really believable, either. There's a rather ham-fisted story line where a side character realizes that they may be queer, but it really came out of nowhere and didn't have a trail of breadcrumbs to make it seem real. Overall, I liked the concept of the book but not the execution.

The cover is super cute! The book is a pretty quick read, and would be good as a palate cleanser between other heavier stories (which is what I ended up doing when I read this). If you like Hallmark movies, you may enjoy this one. It's also not very steamy at all, so if you don't like that in your romance books you may want to try it.

Tropes in this book include: friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, small town romance, Christmas in July

CW: COVID mentions

Special thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

I love a cute Christmas story. I really enjoy cute Christmas chick lit. This one was okay but I have high expectations. The plot had my interest but the story fell a little flat for me.

It took me awhile to finish this audiobook because the title and cover totally had me thinking it was going to be one thing and it totally was another.

It is a second chance romance but I felt the story was all over the place. I wish the storyline kept in one direction and I kept trying to understand where this book was going to end which they way it did I was disappointed.

Not one I would listen/or read again.

Ugh. No unfortunately this has a great cover but nothing great inside. Hard pass from me. Better luck next time.

3.5 stars

this was a fun little RomCom reading. it was a quick read, with the obligatory miscommunications, misdirections, and misunderstandings.
Ivy and Nick break up in the worst possible (for Christmas-loving Ivy) way. Afterwards, she pours her heart into a screenplay detailing their relationship. When the screenplay is sold, and the movie is going to be made, the production crew choose nowhere else but Ivy's home town!!! Cue the meet-not-so-cute of the previously in love couple, her current boyfriend, his new interest, some down-home truths, and some delightful side characters (I would LOVE a Griffin book BTW).
As intimated in the book blurb, we get a HEA, but just WAIT until you see what happens!!