Hallmark Movie Roundup: Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas

Title: Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas (2025)

Actor(s) You Know:
Mae Whitman (Parenthood, Arrested Development, Independence Day), Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman;  The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Plot:
Kate is an American who lives in a cute English village and was traumatized by her mother leaving her father when she was a teenager. She works in textiles in London and is single enough that her friends sign her up for a "12 Dates of Christmas" service. Based on a Jenny Bayliss book that I read a few years ago, enjoyed, and remembered little of except who Kate winds up with.

Trope(s):
    Royalty
    Alternate reality
    Small town ✔
    Fake relationship
    Family business getting sold/going bankrupt
    Enemies-to-lovers
    Best friends-to-lovers ✔
    Second chance ✔
    Stranded ✔

Meet Cute: 
Kate has a few in the series, but the primary one is with Richard, who was supposed to be Date #1 but couldn't make it. The other primary love interest is Callum, one of Kate's best friends. They kissed once as teenagers, but nothing came of it.

Rundown:
    Dead parents
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals
    Returns to hometown
    Is Santa a character? 
        Secretly or overtly?
    Cookie baking 
    Tree decorating
    Somebody hates Christmas
    Christmas festival in a small town 
    A literal competition
    Child plays matchmaker
    All work, no romance/life
    Kiss before the end of the movie ✔
    Interrupted kiss ✔
    Flashback to childhood ✔
    The leads literally run into each other
    Gratuitous shirtless scene
    Big Secret
    Wacky misunderstanding
    Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. ✔
    Someone pushing the leads together ✔
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate 
    Ice skating
    D-list celebrity ✔
    Enemy-to-friend storyline
    The love interest is an ex
    Career change
    Lying to each other
    Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
    Christmas pageant 
    End with a flash-forward

Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
Kate was frustratingly believable. She has a hard time trusting people after her mother left her father. At times I got annoyed with her for her self-involvement but I generally understood where she was coming from. She ultimately was a lot more understanding toward her mother than I probably would've been in her situation.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
Well, it is a (limited) series, so there was a lot more depth than what we get in a normal movie. Kate's father's relationship with Jane Seymour was also given a lot of space, and there was also a decent amount about Kate's career that I don't remember being in the book at all. Callum also has a bit of an arc with his pub/restaurant/bakery, as does other best friend Laura.

It still ends up exactly as you'd expect, though. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
I loved how supportive Laura's husband was; their relationship was super cute. I actually totally would watch a movie/show about Laura after the end of this show.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
I really liked that I found Richard to be a solid option for Kate for the vast majority of the series; I was actually a bit annoyed at his portrayal in the last episode because it didn't match up for me with his actions in the rest of the series. And I wish the Kate/Callum relationship was handled differently. I'm always a sucker for best-friend-turned-lover, and God knows I have my own issues with thinking people should be able to read my mind and act accordingly, but Callum's attitude and behavior was pretty off-putting. I was honestly rooting for Richard for most of the series, and wish the last episode had been rewritten to strengthen the reconciliation of Kate and Callum.

Thoughts/Other Notes:
I quite enjoyed this. I liked the book, and I liked the series. Opinion on Hallmark Movie Reddit seems mixed, largely because it doesn't entirely feel like a Hallmark production. It was a good binge watch for the end of the year for me. 

I do also kind of wish they had spent more time in Blexford. In the book, Kate only goes to London occasionally, where the series is very much split between the two (to the point that I joked to my husband that the series was produced by British Transport, given the amount of time spent on trains). And I also appreciated, as in the book, the variety of dates the service sets up.  

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Another in the "Don't Read While Hungry" series: Trigger warning for rugelach

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I quite enjoyed The Matzah Ball, by Jean Meltzer. Rachel is the daughter of a prominent rabbi and a doctor, has myalgic encephalomyelitis (a.k.a. chronic fatigue syndrome), and is in love with Christmas--to the extent that she makes her living as a Christmas romance novelist. She's told she needs to write a Hanukkah book, though, so she determines that she needs to attend the Matzah Ball, a party being thrown on the eighth night of Hanukkah by Jacob, who was her camp boyfriend when they were 10 years old.

Having read a bunch of holiday-themed rom coms lately, I particularly appreciated that both Rachel and Jacob are flawed. (And I really appreciated that the book does include both POVs.) A misunderstanding at camp affected both of them, but it's not like they've spent the last 20 years pining for the other. Jacob has issues from his upbringing and Rachel is pretty self-absorbed. The two of them together were good, though.

I also enjoyed getting a look at the life of more observant Jews; the description of the Shabbat where Jacob visits Rachel's parents, particularly, was illuminating. It brought me back to 2002, when I wound up booking a hotel in a quite Jewish neighborhood, staying on a Saturday night. (There was...not much available. Also, the elevators stopped on every floor!) I also found the discussion of Hanukkah interesting--how it is a minor holiday, but the characters brought their own depths and perceptions to it. And characters run the gamut from very observant to less; it all felt very inclusive and realistic.

A big highlight for me was Jacob's journey and him coming to terms with his past and family issues. He's truly more than just the love interest in the book; he has his own arc and adorable, supportive bubbe.

Recommend for a good late-year read. 

Yes, my friends and I have Hallmark bingo cards. And ours are correct.

⭐⭐⭐ 

My opinion of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas kept changing while I read it; I started out skeptical, grew to enjoy it, then got a bit annoyed with it again at the end. It's probably more of a 3.5, but I can't bring myself to round up to 4 stars.

Mally works in internal communications, but for various plot reasons, winds up being told to write a feature piece for the website she works for--she's a big fan of Hallmark-type Christmas movies, so is sent out to experience Christmas in a village and see how many tropes she can check off her list. But lurking beneath this light concept is the heart of the story, which is that Mally returns to her hometown for the first time since the death of her younger sister when Mally was away at uni.

I appreciated that author Hayley Dunlop didn't have Mally realize that Hallmark movies are bad; instead, Mally comes to understand why exactly people keep going back to them--the focus on family and community, the predictability that allows people to feel safe in a world of chaos and uncertainty. She finds comfort in them, she bonds with others over them. They're good!

I also mostly liked Mally relationship with Tom, her high school crush. Naturally it turns out that he had also had a crush on her. He winds up falling into the "too perfect" characterization that so often happens in these books, but the two of them did have really good chemistry. They were adorable.

(Also, oddly enough, this is the second book in a row that I've read where the male lead's father left the mother because the mother had MS.)

Mally's growth in her hometown is good. It was nice seeing her reconnect and her journey to begin to grapple with her sister's death 20 years earlier was well done. The whole family basically shut down after Livvie's death, which is wholly believable, and I liked how Mally started to reconsider their reactions, confront what had happened, and reevaluate. I particularly liked how Mally wasn't the only one who felt guilt about what happened.

I think my problems with the book largely revolve around the treatment of Elle, Mally's best friend. One of the tropes on Mally's bingo card (linked here) is "Annoying best friend," which is honestly opposite of what's on my own personal Hallmark bingo card--I tend to think of the friends in the movies being way cooler than the leads, and I have more than once wound up rooting for them. (Mally's bingo card, in general, is very different from my own list of tropes, which may have also colored my reaction to this book.) Elle moved in next door when Mally was in Year 9, I think, making her somewhere in her early teens. She does honestly seem like she was awful as a teenager, and Mally winds up coming to a fairly nuanced view of her, but others' perceptions--and her depiction late in the book--make me wonder what we're supposed to think of her, and how she affected Mally.

There is a lot of nuance in this book, which is a good thing. But it didn't quite hit the right notes for me. But still worth a read, I think. (Plus the writing was a bit clunky at times.)

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Three Wisest Men

Title: Three Wisest Men (2025)

Actor(s) You Know: 
My Boyfriend Paul Campbell, Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker (all three from a million Hallmark movies), Lochlyn Munro (Lucky 7), Margaret Colin (Independence Day)

Plot:  
This is the last entry in the Hallmark Wise Men trilogy about the Brenner brothers: Stephan (Campbell), Taylor (Hynes), and Luke (Walker). Stephan is overthinking wedding decisions for his upcoming nuptials, Luke's wife is pregnant with twins, and Taylor has been offered a job in San Francisco. Plus, their mother wants to sell the family home.

Trope(s):
    Royalty
    Alternate reality
    Small town 
    Fake relationship
    Family business getting sold/going bankrupt
    Enemies-to-lovers
    Best friends-to-lovers
    Second chance
    Stranded

Meet Cute: 
n/a

Rundown:
    Dead parents
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals
    Returns to hometown
    Is Santa a character? 
        Secretly or overtly?
    Cookie baking 
    Tree decorating
    Somebody hates Christmas
    Christmas festival in a small town 
    A literal competition
    Child plays matchmaker
    All work, no romance/life
    Kiss before the end of the movie
    Interrupted kiss 
    Flashback to childhood
    The leads literally run into each other
    Gratuitous shirtless scene
    Big Secret
    Wacky misunderstanding ✔
    Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. ✔
    Someone pushing the leads together 
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate 
    Ice skating
    D-list celebrity
    Enemy-to-friend storyline
    The love interest is an ex
    Career change
    Lying to each other
    Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
    Christmas pageant 
    End with a flash-forward

Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
I wasn't too bothered by any of the brothers, particularly. I did get annoyed at their various love interests for not understanding pretty basic stuff. When Stephan's father-in-law-to-be Bob shows up uninvited,  fiancée Susie takes her dad's side on everything; she's clearly annoyed at how wedding planning is going, which shouldn't be a surprise for her--Stephan's indecisiveness is one of his key character traits. Bob is awful and Susie should apologize to Stephan.

(Also, side note, Bob is played by Lochlyn Munro, who played one of Patrick Dempsey's friends in Lucky 7, which is an AMAZING MOVIE. Anyway, he is only thirteen years older than My Boyfriend Paul Campbell, and I kept being upset by this throughout the movie.)

Meanwhile, Taylor's girlfriend doesn't understand why he doesn't immediately leap at a job offer he's given; she's convinced that he might be hesitant about their relationship when it's clear that the issue involves moving from Seattle to San Francisco. This is a man who lives in his mother's (very nice) basement. 

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
This is very much not a generic movie--it focuses on family, and it's the third in a trilogy (and yes, we did have issues only vaguely remembering details from the first two movies). Christmas is very much a theme, with trying to make this the Best Christmas Ever Before Everything Changes, but there's a signature zaniness to the series that's absent in the generic Hallmark Christmas movie.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
n/a

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
A cute end to the trilogy. Campbell, Walker, and Hynes are the key to the series and they really are a delight; they do give off brother energy. If you like any of the leads, you'll probably like the movie. 

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀

A slightly imperfect production of the perfect musical

Guys and Dolls is the show that got me into theater. I mean, yes, I did also grow up listening to a compilation of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows, so the groundwork had been laid. I just remember attending an assembly in elementary school where the high schoolers came in and performed a bit from Guys and Dolls. Someone explained how choreography was done in counts of 8, using "The Crapshooters' Dance" to illustrate. I was hooked. So I am always delighted to see it performed, and the current production at Shakespeare more than does it justice. 

Guys and Dolls is frequently called a perfect (or almost perfect) musical. It's set in the...1950s? I guess? (it premiered on Broadway in 1950, but is based on stories written by Damon Runyon in the 1920s and 30s) and is mostly about gamblers and one particular do-gooder who's trying to reform them. When Nathan Detroit (Rob Colletti), who runs a craps game, bets Sky Masterson (Jacob Dickey) that he can't take Sarah Brown (who works for the local mission) to Havana, hijinks involving wonderful singing and dancing ensue.

I do have some quibbles with this production. It was directed by Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, who made some choices. The primary set is the Save-A-Soul Mission, and the show starts with it as a modern-day thrift shop. The other actors come in wearing modern attire and change into their flashier character attire, but Sarah (Julie Benko) starts and remains in costume. In the program notes, Zambello notes that "by introducing Sarah in a recognizable contemporary setting, we hoped to give her character a bit more gravitas" and that the idea of "haves and have nots" remains resonant and how she wants to "acknowledge . . . the reality of the wealth gap." I appreciate that Zambello doesn't want Sarah and the others at the mission to appear to be "cartoony do-gooders," but I think the show does that well enough on its own. The show isn't about the wealth gap or haves and have nots; the whole premise came off to me a bit awkwardly. (I will say that it came together nicely at the end.)

Particularly, honestly, because Benko does an amazing job with Sarah. Her voice, of course, is lovely, and I could see why people enjoyed her in Funny Girl--her comedic chops are on point. Actresses playing Sarah have to walk a fine line to avoid being that cartoony do-gooder Zambello mentions; she can't be too uptight, the audience needs to sympathize with her and her frustration at her own inability to connect with people. Sarah goes on a journey--moreso than any other characters--but the role itself isn't showy. Benko knocks it out of the park.

Hayley Podschun and Julie Benko in Guys and Dolls at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

Hayley Podschun's Miss Adelaide, engaged for 14 years to Nathan Detroit and working as a showgirl, is another standout. Unlike Sarah Brown, Miss Adelaide is always going to be a fun role whom the audience loves and "Adelaide's Lament" is always a highlight of the show. Even so, Podschun shines, finding both the brashness and vulnerability in the role.

The other real standouts for me are Calvin McCullough and Kyle Taylor Parker as Benny Southstreet and Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Nathan's sidekicks. I was always delighted to find them on the stage; "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" is, again, always guaranteed to bring down the house (this show is FULL of bangers, folks; you're missing out if you don't know it), but the two of them together are an absolute delight.

Dickey makes a perfectly fine Sky Masterson--charming, suave, great vocals. Unfortunately, I was a bit let down by Colletti's Nathan Detroit. I mean, he's fine, but doesn't quite project the likeability necessary for the role. This is a guy who's been engaged for 14 years with no plans for marriage, who runs an illegal craps game, who lies to his fiancée about said craps game, but you still enjoy him. Colletti comes across as just a touch too unsympathetically. I'm still rooting for Nathan, of course, but not as much as I do in other productions. 

My other quibble with the show is that it doesn't lean into the particular Runyonese of the show. There's a cadence to the dialogue, due in part to the fact that Damon Runyon does not use contractions in his writing. There's a flow to how the book actually sounds that I felt was lacking. Similar to the way I wind up thinking like Bridget Jones after reading or watching Bridget Jones's Diary, my brain shifts slightly after seeing Guys and Dolls into that voice.

This review is coming across as more negative than it should, I think. This production is still absolutely worth attending; I have plans to usher for it a couple more times and I am absolutely delighted at the prospect. Even with some minor complaints, it's hard to do Guys and Dolls wrong. I'm thrilled to see a major production of it staged. 

Hygge yes to this snowmance

>

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Copenhagen Snowmance is quite good; good enough that it makes me want to seek out author Pernille Hughes's other books.

Anna lives in London, but needs to pop over to Copenhagen to pick up her cat's ashes; she had left town abruptly a year-and-a-half earlier. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a Snowmageddon situation, trapped in Copenhagen due to a snowstorm, hotels all booked up by trapped travelers. So she winds up at her house--which she is now renting to Jamie, a Scotsman, who takes pity on her and lets her stay.

There's a level of complexity to the characters here that I appreciated. Jamie isn't The Perfect Man; he's made mistakes and he makes mistakes with Anna. Anna has a lot of baggage from her childhood (as does Jamie) and her recent heartbreak. She's in some denial about her life, which makes her a bit frustrating, but in a completely realistic way.

Even the situation itself made sense; the combination of a huge snowstorm and pre-Christmas travel means that it absolutely makes sense that Anna wouldn't be able to catch a flight back for a while. Anna and Jamie both treat the other with some caution at first, as one would when dealing with a perfect stranger. Their relationship built in an organic way, and as a destination romance book, this is aces--you will want to visit Copenhagen and eat all of the food described within. And even though the sex happens off-screen, as it were, Hughes wrote the sexual tension incredibly well; it honestly felt sexier than books I've read where it was all described.

So why not five stars? Some it's vibes, some of it's me being nitpicky. I went back and forth on it being written in the present tense; sometimes I liked it (it felt like a narrator reading the story to me, if that makes sense), but sometimes it grated. Though I loved the descriptions of Copenhagen at Christmas and all the food, the details at times felt a bit overwhelming, with just so many names being mentioned. And even at the end of it, I'm honestly not totally sure how I feel about Jamie; after he forced Anna to have tea with Maiken, who was AWFUL, good Lord, I don't know how much I'd trust him; throughout the book, he clearly sees his view of relationships (i.e., to never give up on them) as the Right Way To Do Relationships, and I think I'd need a lot more from him to show that he understands and won't do anything like that again. I'm not saying that Anna shouldn't be with him, and honestly, given her history, it's not like she's about to jump in and marry him right away.

A bit heavier than some holiday romances, but a lovely escape. Embrace the hygge. Recommend.

 

Holiday Rom Com Roundup: Lovelight Farms

Title: Lovelight Farms (2021)
**This is actually a book, but it read just SO much like a Hallmark movie, I had to review it this way.

Actor(s) You Know:
n/a

Plot:
Stella owns a Christmas tree farm and has entered an influencer's contest to be featured on her channels...and win $100,000. The only problem is that she said on the entry form that she owns the farm with her boyfriend. Who doesn't exist. Naturally she had to ask her best friend Luka, whom she's in love with, to be her fake boyfriend. 

Trope(s):
    Royalty
    Alternate reality
    Small town ✔
    Fake relationship ✔
    Family business getting sold/going bankrupt ✔
    Enemies-to-lovers
    Best friends-to-lovers ✔
    Second chance
    Stranded

Meet Cute: 
Ten years ago, Stella had recently lost her (single) mother. Leaving the hardware store in her little town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, she literally runs into Luka, who promptly invites her for grilled cheese. They've been best friends ever since, even though he lives in New York City. (His Italian mother is a teacher in the small town, so he has an excuse to be around a lot.)

Rundown:
    Dead parents ✔
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals ✔ (A very cute litter of kittens is found and adopted by one of the other employees)
    Returns to hometown
    Is Santa a character? 
        Secretly or overtly?
    Cookie baking 
    Tree decorating ✔
    Somebody hates Christmas
    Christmas festival in a small town 
    A literal competition ✔
    Child plays matchmaker
    All work, no romance/life
    Kiss before the end of the movie ✔
    Interrupted kiss 
    Flashback to childhood
    The leads literally run into each other ✔
    Gratuitous shirtless scene
    Big Secret
    Wacky misunderstanding
    Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. ✔
    Someone pushing the leads together ✔ (The entire town)
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic ✔
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate  ✔
    Ice skating ✔
    D-list celebrity
    Enemy-to-friend storyline
    The love interest is an ex
    Career change
    Lying to each other
    Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
    Christmas pageant 
    End with a flash-forward ✔

Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
I found Stella incredibly frustrating. Her (married-to-another-woman) father left her mother before she was born, and Stella's mother was a nomad who then died when Stella was in her early 20s, so she has an understandable fear of abandonment. And I totally get her being afraid to admit her feelings to Luka. But she's one of those Rory Gilmore-esque characters where the entire small town is overly invested in her life, and isn't aware of it.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
Umm. I mean, at least Stella realized she was in love with Luka the whole time, even if actually doing anything about that was terrifying.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
This is the first in a series; there are books about the two other Lovelight Farms co-owners (which I'm kind of tempted by? At least the one about Beckett, the tree expert).

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
I enjoyed the book less the more I read it. I think the ultimate problem is that the fake relationship was done for this social media contest, and the influencer didn't show up until about 75% into the book...and then was barely there. There was a LOT of time where it's like, "Let's just fake date...in private, too" and where it's just incredibly obvious how Luka feels. Solid premise that needed tightening up.

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Christmas at the Catnip Café

Title: Christmas at the Catnip Café (2025)

Actor(s) You Know:
My Boyfriend Paul Campbell (many Hallmark movies, Battlestar Galactica)

Plot:
Olivia, who works in marketing in California, inherits half-ownership of a cat café in New York State. The other half is owned by Ben, the local vet. Olivia wants to sell the café so she can have a down payment for a condo. In Oakland.

Trope(s):
    Royalty
    Alternate reality
    Small town ✔
    Fake relationship
    Family business getting sold/going bankrupt
    Enemies-to-lovers ✔
    Best friends-to-lovers
    Second chance
    Stranded

Meet Cute: 
Olivia first notices Ben in his vet clinic as she walks down the street; then he pops up at the cat café, where she's arranged to meet the other owner. Ben immediately susses out that Olivia wants to get rid of the café; Olivia is bewildered that he doesn't want to get rid of what seems like a bustling business. And then is again bewildered when the café employee overhears their discussion and takes away the coffee she had ordered.

Rundown:
    Dead parents
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals ✔
    Returns to hometown ✔ (Kind of; Olivia isn't from the town, but her aunt lived there and she spent time         there growing up)
    Is Santa a character? 
        Secretly or overtly?
    Cookie baking 
    Tree decorating ✔
    Somebody hates Christmas
    Christmas festival in a small town ✔
    A literal competition
    Child plays matchmaker
    All work, no romance/life
    Kiss before the end of the movie ✔
    Interrupted kiss ✔
    Flashback to childhood ✔
    The leads literally run into each other
    Gratuitous shirtless scene
    Big Secret
    Wacky misunderstanding
    Just. Talk. To. Each. Other.
    Someone pushing the leads together 
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate 
    Ice skating
    D-list celebrity
    Enemy-to-friend storyline 
    The love interest is an ex
    Career change
    Lying to each other
    Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
    Christmas pageant 
    End with a flash-forward

Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
Olivia is THE WORST. She comes into town, looking to force Ben to sell the cat café, and doesn't seem to understand why he and the café employees aren't happy about this. She's all, "There's a developer who wants to buy this, isn't it great?!" She seemingly wasn't in touch with her aunt at all because everything about the café seems to be a surprise to her. She just...doesn't seem bright. Paul Campbell is too nice to her. You can do better, Paul Campbell.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
There were many many adorable cats. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
Olivia's friend seemed fine. Ben's sister also seemed cool. I don't know that I need to spend more time with either.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
There is no romantic alternative, sadly. Otherwise I'd be rooting for her to get together with him.

Thoughts/Other Notes:
In addition to Olivia being the worst, the timeline in the movie makes no sense. Olivia is trying to buy a condo and wants the money from the café sale for a down payment, but we're supposed to believe that the condo is still available after the 3+ weeks she's in New York. At one point, we see an event is "December 21," but multiple days seem to pass and it's still not Christmas. I just don't know. This movie was frustrating. But I still love you, Paul Campbell.

Rating:
🧀🧀(mostly for the cats and Paul Campbell, who is very likable in this)

Hallmark Movie Roundup: A Keller Christmas Vacation

Title: A Keller Christmas Vacation (2025)

Actor(s) You Know: 
Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls, many things on Food Network and Hallmark), Brandon Routh (Superman, The Nine Lives of Christmas), Eden Sher (The Middle)

Plot: 
The Keller family--sons Dylan and Cal, daughter Emory, and parents Ben and Anne--go on a river cruise through Germany in Austria for Christmas. But many of the family members have secrets they're hiding...

Trope(s):
    Royalty
    Alternate reality
    Small town 
    Fake relationship
    Family business getting sold/going bankrupt
    Enemies-to-lovers
    Best friends-to-lovers
    Second chance
    Stranded ✔

Meet Cute:  
This movie largely is about familial relationships, not romantic. Dylan is in a relationship, but runs into a speedbump when his boyfriend William doesn't accept his proposal. Cal is dealing with the aftermath of a divorce; Emory is just single. Cal winds up clicking with a fellow traveler, while Emory starts crushing on one of the cruise crew members.

Rundown:
    Dead parents
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals
    Returns to hometown
    Is Santa a character? 
        Secretly or overtly?
    Cookie baking 
    Tree decorating
    Somebody hates Christmas
    Christmas festival in a small town 
    A literal competition
    Child plays matchmaker
    All work, no romance/life
    Kiss before the end of the movie ✔ (multiple, from multiple couplings)
    Interrupted kiss 
    Flashback to childhood
    The leads literally run into each other
    Gratuitous shirtless scene
    Big Secret ✔
    Wacky misunderstanding
    Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. ✔
    Someone pushing the leads together 
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate 
    Ice skating ✔
    D-list celebrity
    Enemy-to-friend storyline
    The love interest is an ex
    Career change
    Lying to each other
    Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
    Christmas pageant 
    End with a flash-forward

Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
I liked pretty much everyone! I got frustrated with them at times, but they all came across as very likable. Though Cal would drive me crazy with his constant talk of protein.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
This is very much not a typical Hallmark movie. The focus is on family, the conflicts aren't contrived. There were some things that were frustrating, as I noted--William was clearing holding something back from Dylan, the parents were acting oddly--but it all ultimately made sense. The new romances were as contrived as one would expect, and I can't imagine that Emory and Noah (the cruise crew member) will last...really, ditto Cal and his love interest. Neither of those relationships were given much depth. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
We got glimpses of BFFs/colleagues/sidekicks for each of the kids, but didn't get to spend enough time with them to get attached.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
Really quite good. Cal's and Emory's romances were as Hallmark-y as one would expect, but the writing and acting were solid. Also, this was clearly shot on location in Germany and Austria, so it was all gorgeous. Recommend.

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Adding to the "European Christmas markets" bucket list destinations

⭐⭐⭐

Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express is another entry in the "Sure, it was perfectly fine" Christmas romance genre.

After being left at the altar by Miles, Aubrey goes on their planned honeymoon, a Christmas-themed train trip through northern Europe, stopping at cities with Christmas markets and finishing up in igloos in Lapland, watching the northern lights. She immediately falls in with a bunch of other singles and is smitten with Jasper. Aubrey's job is planning luxury trips for couples; Jasper is a travel journalist.

The travel side of the book was excellent. The characters stop in Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and other spots, and Raisin does a good job of giving the vibes of the cities without sounding like a travel guide. They all kind of blur together, but I loved the look into the different foods and highlights of the markets. Doing a tour of European Christmas markets is very much on my bucket list, so this was perfect for me.

I also appreciated the growth in the characters. When Aubrey meets the other singletons, they discuss what's gone wrong in their relationships and readers can immediately see the issues (one immediately rejects dates over minor issues on the first date, one smothers objects of their affection, and so on), even if Aubrey doesn't. But everyone learns the error of their ways and sees how they were self-sabotaging, and Aubrey realizes that her life with Miles would involve having to make compromises.

Aubrey was immediately drawn to Jasper, but didn't jump into anything immediately; I thought her time spent trying to figure out her feelings and handling the fallout from being left at the altar made sense.

Upon boarding the train, Aubrey blurted out that her husband was dead (mostly so everyone wouldn't think of her as being jilted). To her credit, she does pretty much immediately try to say that no, he's not dead--but a running gag in the book is that nobody will accept it, assuming she means that he's still with her in spirit. It's actually pretty amusing because she does actually try. Except, of course, at the moment where Jasper gives her a perfect opportunity and she doesn't take it. Naturally this has negative consequences.

So why only 3 stars? Aubrey and Jasper were almost too perfect for each other, and even though I get annoyed in this genre when people get upset about being lied to, I felt like Jasper very much had the right to be annoyed at Aubrey letting him think Miles was dead--he was far too forgiving too quickly, in my opinion.Like, yay that they found each other but maybe it would've been good for Aubrey to realize that all relationships involve some level of compromise?

Also, I think I was supposed to find Princess (another of the passengers, who's convinced that her three husbands died because she was cursed) more charming than I did; same with the on-board attendant whose name I can't be bothered to look up. Plus, the book was too padded; I reached what felt like the climax of the book and realized it still had another 50 pages to go. It did also get a bit repetitive; ultimately, it feels like it could've been tightened up a bit

Still, I'm not mad at it. Perfect for this time of year.