Book Review: Christmas Ever After

It's not that I'm trying to rush us through 2020, I'm just trying to rush us through 2020. Christmas is my favorite holiday but I hate that I'm not super excited about it. If you follow me on Instagram you'll see I'm starting to get my card list organized but I think it is really just because I know I'm going to move at snail speed doing anything this year so I may as well start early so I don't get overwhelmed. A great way to get started early? Read a Christmas book of course!

Christmas Ever After - Karen Schaler

While promoting her next novel, a Christmas love story, author Riley Reynolds is caught off guard when she’s asked during a live national television interview how she can write about romance when she still hasn’t found “the one” herself. Scrambling for an answer, she quickly answers that she has had great love in her past and that love inspired her novels. Little does she know that this one offhanded remark will turn her world upside down. Three of her ex-boyfriends see the interview, and each, believing she’s talking about him, shows up for her Christmas Camp book event at the Christmas Lake Lodge, determined to rewrite his happily-ever-after with her! Over the festive weekend, Riley’s old boyfriends compete to win her heart, pulling out all the stops while planning the most romantic Christmas dates on the planet. Despite herself, Riley starts falling for each guy- again-but for different reasons. As Riley revisits each relationship and discovers more about herself, she embraces the magic of Christmas and finally finds true love and her own Christmas ever after…

Bonus Content: Christmas Ever After includes delicious original Christmas recipes and fun holiday crafts and activities.

I will just start and tell you that this is a solid 4.5 stars for me but I also want it to be turned into a Hallmark movie. If anyone from Hallmark is reading this, you need to scoop this up for a movie because this was fun from the start all the way to the finish. I could not put this down, I found myself smiling throughout and laughing quite a bit. 

If you are a fan of Christmas, THIS IS YOUR BOOK, because I don't know that the author could have included anymore Christmas into it. We have Christmas Camp on Christmas Lake, Santa is everywhere, and I absolutely mean everywhere, and everyone is literally bursting with Christmas cheer is a bizarrely comical way. Completely ironic for Riley, who isn't a fan of the holiday after her dad passed away and took her Christmas cheer with him. Riley is clearly having the worst luck and after a TV appearance gone wrong, she feels a lot of pressure for this camp to go well and above expectations and to put out her next novel about a Christmas romance that blows away her last book failure. 

Easily the best part? Sure, the romance is fun and I liked it, but this is like Scrooge but with romance. She is visited by her ex-boyfriends and learns about what went wrong but also how she can do better. I loved Luke though, he's the down-to-Earth guy charged with running this camp and working with Riley, but he doesn't get a great first impression of her. He definitely has a sense of humor throughout and that's what keeps his character moving forward for me. 

Overall, I really liked this one. I would definitely read more from this author and I am so glad this was my first Christmas book of the season! The best part? The author is donating a portion of each book sold towards support libraries and independent bookstores! Of course, your local bookstore should be the first place to look for this gem, but in a pinch Target, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon carry it as well. A huge thank you to TLC Book Tours and Karen Schaler for having me on this tour (and the sweet note in my book, Karen)!