Ivy Green is returning home after five years, but only because Hollywood has decided to film her Christmas screenplay in her hometown, and in the middle of summer! Also coming along for the ride is her boyfriend and future live-in Drew, who is the producer. What Ivy doesn’t count on is that her ex-boyfriend Nick, who she killed off in the screenplay, will be involved in the movie too. Not only are some of the scenes being filmed in Nick’s vineyard, but the lead actress seems to have a crush on him.
This sounded like a fun listen–Christmas in the Summer–but there are some things that did not work for me. The main character is 30 years old, but the dialogue and the narrator make her sound as if she’s in high school. The sex scenes are cringeworthy and could have been left out. The point of view sometimes changing to some of the lesser characters was off-putting. The romance between Nick’s mother and the movie set caterer is cute, but when Nick wishes it was just a one-night stand instead of love, that puzzled me. No son wants that for his mother. I felt the whole thing went on a bit long, with the same things happening over and over.
The characterization of the movie as a “career-maker” and a blockbuster did not match the description of the movie itself, which sounded more like a tv movie or Hallmark movie. I did think the ending was stronger than the rest of the book. The narration was acceptable overall. As I mentioned before I felt like Ivy’s voice was more high school than adult. The narration of the rest of the characters was fine. Overall, it’s an average rom-com with a decent ending and a lot of awkward and unnecessary moments in between. The “Christmas in Summer” theme was well conveyed.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Juliet Giglio is an associate professor of screenwriting at SUNY Oswego. Keith Giglio is a professor of screenwriting at Syracuse University. Their produced films include most recently Christmas in Tune, Dear Christmas, A Very Nutty Christmas, and Christmas Reservations. Their other credits include Disney’s Tarzan, Pizza My Heart, Return to Halloweentown, Joshua, and A Cinderella Story.
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Bonnie Reads and Writes 
I think a thirty year old sounding like a teenager would definitely be off-putting and cringy sex scenes – nobody wats that. It’s a shame since this story does look like a cute read. Oh, well! Excellent review!
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Yes it didn’t live up to that great cover!
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Good, honest review, Bonnie. Well done. 🙂
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Nice, honest review Bonnie. I was disappointed by this one as well.
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Yes, it’s a shame because the cover and the premise made it look like a sure thing.
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Sounds like a cute premise with a less than stellar execution. Nice honest review, Bonnie.
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Thanks Wendy. For a long time I only put up reviews on my blog that were four stars or more, and just put the others on Goodreads, but I decided to start putting them all on here.
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Well reviewed with right openion! Well shared
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What a shame this didn’t quite work – I’m very picky about narrators so rarely listen to audiobooks.
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[…] On Monday I reviewed the audiobook of The Summer of Christmas […]
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I had wondered about this one. I appreciate your thoughts.
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