Some people are Christmas people, but Jill Jacobs is most certainly not. She hasn’t been ever since her hometown love broke her heart on Christmas Day three years ago. After that, Jill moved to L.A. to pursue her dream of becoming a screenwriter. She hasn’t been home in years to avoid her ex, but this winter she finds herself back in drab, suburban Illinois for the holidays.

After one very hazy night, Jill wakes up to a hometown that’s filled with jolly neighbors, covered in pristine white snow, and shimmering with the smell of nutmeg. She realizes that this is more than just a bad hangover… she’s stuck in a Heartfelt movie. One set in her town, starring real people from her life, including her family, her high school crush (uber perfect, owns a bakery, and definitely a Christmas Person), and of course, her ex —handsome as ever and now exclusively clad in plaid flannel.

The only way out of this bizarro world is to complete the plot of the movie, including a holiday bake off and a cookie-sweet love story. To get home in time for Christmas, Jill must act out a picture-perfect holiday romance with the one that got away, all while her ex watches on. Fa la la la freaking la….

I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

I usually hold off on holiday books until after Halloween, but sometimes deadlines make the call for you. A couple of my Christmas ARCs are due this month, and I was in the mood for something light. So there I sat, sweating it out in 92-degree heat with a broken AC, doing my best to get into the Christmas spirit. It felt ridiculous at first, but once I got into the rhythm of Christmas People, I forgot all about the weather.

At the center of the story is Jill Jacobs, a woman who is decidedly not a Christmas person. She hasn’t been since her ex broke her heart on Christmas Day three years ago. These days, she lives in L.A., chasing her dream of screenwriting, avoiding both her hometown and her ex like the plague. But life has other plans. After one hazy night back home in Illinois, Jill wakes up to find herself living inside a full-on Christmas movie. And not just any Christmas movie. It’s filmed in her hometown, starring her friends, her family, and, of course, the two men she least wants to deal with: the ex and the nice guy high school crush who happens to run a bakery.

The setup leans into every Hallmark trope you can think of: small-town charm, a holiday bake-off, cozy snowy streets, and a love triangle brewing under twinkly lights. What makes it shine is Jill’s voice. She’s funny, sharp, and a little bit over it. Her commentary on the ridiculousness of her situation kept me grinning (and sometimes laughing out loud). She knows she’s trapped in a cliché, and half the fun is watching her resist it, while still, inevitably, playing along.

Iva-Marie Palmer doesn’t reinvent the holiday romance wheel here, but she doesn’t need to. The joy of this book comes from how fully it leans into the tropes while winking at them. It’s meta in the best way: a Christmas romance about being trapped in a Christmas romance. And Jill’s reluctant journey toward accepting the magic of it all is just as sweet as the cookie-cutter setup promises.

I have to call out the audiobook here, too. Patti Murin’s narration was spot-on. She nailed Jill’s dry humor and made her feel even more alive. It’s one thing to read Jill’s snark on the page, but hearing it performed with perfect timing elevated the experience. I ended up reading the ARC while listening to the audio, and it was the perfect solution to a balmy day.

If you’re not a holiday-romance person, this probably isn’t going to convert you. It’s unapologetically festive, sentimental, and a little bit absurd. But if you, like me, keep your TV tuned to Hallmark Christmas movies starting the day after Halloween, you’ll eat this one up. It’s pure, frosted holiday charm.

Put this on your holiday TBR. Bonus points if you read it while sipping hot cocoa and watching the snow fall. Even if, like me, you’re sweating in September with a busted air conditioner, the holiday magic will sneak up on you anyway.