[A quick note: This was read as a book club read with Sunrise Bookworm Candle Company. While we were only supposed to read about 1 chapter per day, I ended up finishing it two weeks early because I was enjoying it enough that I didn’t want that slow pace. Also, the cover is way too cute!]
When a strange wish leads to a stranger time loop, Mae finds herself re-living what might be the last Christmas in her favorite holiday cabin. Mae loves her found-family. These are the people she’s spent every Christmas with since birth, crowded into a cozy cabin in Colorado. When time finally gets the better of her, she decides to live in the moment, embrace her spontaneous decisions, and be the authentic self she’s always hidden, even if it means confronting her life-long crush.
Admittedly, this was a really fun and very different holiday read. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, initially. But it was easy to fall into, and sucked me right in. Because it wasn’t 100% romance geared, the romance didn’t start immediately. But there was still plenty going on, namely the crazy time loop Mae got stuck in.
I love that so many Christmas books have a theme. This one was all about being your authentic self, taking the chance, living in the moment, and being spontaneous. Mae was always too afraid to embrace her feelings. She harbored a crush on Andrew, the older of the two brothers she grew up around. But she was always too afraid to do anything about it. When she gets stuck in the time loop, she decides, “What the heck?!” In fact, because the loop keeps repeating itself, she loses a lot of her fear over big decisions, like quitting the job she hasn’t been happy at.
The romance is really only present in the second half of the story, and while there are a couple of sex scenes, they’re mostly “closed door” or glossed over, which kinda bummed me out. You know me, I like it steamy!! But it was really cute, I just wanted more of it. That, ultimately, is why it didn’t get 4 stars. I really LOVEEEEDDD the way the romance tied up at the end, though. That was my favorite part. And omg, the epilogue? I’m a huge epilogue fan with romance books. And this epilogue?? WAY TOO CUTE!! Overall, this was one of the more fun holiday reads I picked up this season. 𝐌𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝟑.𝟓/𝟓⭐️