In a Holidaze

Christina Lauren

Oct 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

This instant New York Times bestseller from Christina Lauren will wrap you “in its cozy, jolly embrace like a beloved holiday sweater” (Entertainment Weekly) as Maelyn Jones discovers what happens when Christmas wishes comes true.

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 spend at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born. 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, metal collides, and 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.

“Take one lovably flawed heroine, add a doting boy-next-door hero, and sprinkle in a cozy family holiday, and you have the recipe for a delicious time-looping romantic comedy” (Library Journal, starred review) that will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.

Ratings and reviews

Content Rating: 18+ Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Holiday Published: October 6th, 2020, by Gallery Books In a Holidaze will wrap you up in a warm blanket of Christmas happiness and love. I am usually not a huge fan of holiday books; however, In a Holidaze has changed my mind. Christina and Lauren have written a lovely story with fabulous characters that you will enjoy getting to known. This book has a Groundhog Day vibe, but I was thankful that it was short-lived and not throughout the whole book. One amazing cozy cabin in Utah, a group of friends, cemented by the college experience, and their grownup children have been meeting on December 20th to spend Christmas together. You can feel the love between all these people, but this Christmas looks like it will be a bit different. Mae, Theo, and Andrew have grown up together and are best friends. However, Mae has been in love with Andrew, or is it, Theo, since she was thirteen years old. Oh, did you think I was going to tell you who she loves and ruin all the fun? And of course, to make things interesting, Theo and Andrew are brothers. Mae makes a silent plea to the universe: Universe. “What am I doing with my life? Please. I want…” “So Mae askes the universe, simply: ‘Can you show me what will make me happy?’” Mae makes a terrible mistake, but not too worry she gets the opportunity to rectify the error twice. As Mae lives this week over two times, a remarkable change takes place. She sees what is essential in life and learns the importance of taking a chance and going after what makes her happy. So, between boardgames and snowball fights, I was happy that the central theme of this story was Mae finding herself and finding love and not the whole groundhog theme, which, in my opinion, has been overdone. The story was cute and fun, but the characters made this book and warmed my heart. In a Holidaze turned out to have all the warm feels we have all come to expect from these two wonderful authors. If you are looking for a heartfelt, sweet, emotional read with a touch of humor, to get you into the Christmas spirit a little early, look no further; you have found your next read, In a Holidaze. * Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published. * ** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Christina Lauren. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. **

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.

If you read/hear this once, you’ll hear it a hundred times I’m sure...This is like a Christmas edition of Groundhog Day. Except Bill Murray’s got nothing on Maisie! Maisie’s got quite a bit of drama and angst on her plate as the Christmas holiday comes to an end. I have to admit, I didn’t expect this to go the direction it did and watching it all through Maisie’s point of view was like a wacky sleigh ride over some treacherous hills. I enjoyed her so much as she is a heroine seemingly created from my perfect heroine list. With her quirky ways, a bit scatterbrained when in an awkward position, suffering from unrequited love, and beyond committed to her family both from blood and by choice, she won my heart almost from the very start and burrowed herself deep in there where she’ll reside as one of my top favorite heroines. Actually, I fell in love with every character in this story. There isn't one of them that didn’t make me smile, laugh, tear up or experience another emotion somewhere along the way. This chaotic group of characters reminded me so much of my own family even as they were experiencing growing pains just as we all do when it’s time for change. I don’t want to spoiler anything here but I will say that I was engaged from the first page and read this in one sitting. It’s a fast paced book with enough steam to cause my hot cocoa to boil, if I weren’t drinking iced tea. Add a perfect epilogue and I’ve just finished my first seasonal read. Anything following this is going to have some pretty big boots to fill.

About the author

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, The Unhoneymooners, The Soulmate Equation, Something Wilder, The True Love Experiment, and The Paradise Problem. You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram.