In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren – A book review

I am a bit late to review this one. I read In a Holidaze during the holidays and this is my second book by Christina Lauren, so I had some expectations. Did the book meet my expectations? Read my book review of In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren to know more.

About In a Holidaze

Book Name: In a Holidaze

Author: Christina Lauren

Genre: Fiction – Romance

Characters: Maelyn and Miles Jones, Andrew and Theo Hollis.

Setting: Utah, The USA

Plot Summary of In a Holidaze

Twenty six year old Maelyn Jones is on her yearly Christmas vacation with her family and their friends. But this might be the last year for that tradition and she is heartbroken about her life.

Her job seems to be a dead end, she moved back to her hometown after her parents’ divorce, her 13 year long crush doesn’t reciprocate her feelings and her one happy place – their Christmas cabin of 17 years is about to be sold.

In a moment of desperation, she wishes that life would show how her how to be happy. And their car rams into another. AND she wakes up a week earlier to celebrate Christmas all over again.

Does she get what she wanted this time? Read In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, a romantic Groundhog scenario set in a holiday background to know more.

Book review of In a Holidaze

As I mentioned already I really liked reading Christina Lauren’s other book, The Unhoneymooners and I knew what I was getting into. And that is exactly what I wanted for my holiday fervor.

In a Holidaze didn’t fail me on that. I loved their Christmas traditions. Also, I really like the Groundhog scenario in general and to do it on a holiday background made it more engaging.

I somehow thought Theo and Mae were the actual pairing initially and that he will have his redemption. And I never was able to change my mind about Mae-Andrew after that. So sadly, this friendship to love trope didn’t work well for me.

I liked Maelyn and her character was the only one fleshed out well. And the first 75 to 100 pages were really interesting and fun to read. But the middle part seemed dragging and too slow for a romance.

I love a large family, don’t get me wrong. But there were far too many characters to enjoy it and there was not just enough time for any sorta character development for each of them. All the adults kinda rolled up into one after a while.

What worked for me

• I loved that I read In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren during the holidays and it helped me stay in the holiday fervor for a longer time.
• The set up and the characters, especially one of the adults, reminded me of the Fuller house characters – in a positive way.

What may have been better

• There were too many characters in the family to actually like any of them in particular. I wished these characters were fleshed out better.
• I wish there was some explanation into why this groundhog/ time travel thing was happening to Mae out of nowhere.

Content warning

PG-13, Car accidents

Bottom line

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren is definitely a fun holiday read with a time travel element to it. Sadly the romance part and character development left me wanting for more.

Similar book reviews

• The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
• The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
• The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
• One Day In December by Josie Silver

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Let’s chat

Have you read In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren? What are your favorite holiday romance reads? Do you often try to read based on seasons? Let us talk.