Christmas People by Iva-Marie Palmer ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

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.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

September 2025; Macmillan Audio; 9781250415783
audio (9h 56m), ebook, print; holiday rom-com

If you are ready to get started on your Christmas reading, then you will want to add this book to your list.

A few years ago, I watched on PlutoTV "A Christmas Movie Christmas". Because it was played "live" on the streaming channel I usually turned it on and different parts on the movie would be airing. I think it took me 3 or 4 times before I finally watched the movie from start to finish. It was a cute movie and worth the watching the whole thing. Why am I telling you all this? 

I picked up Christmas People, expecting something similar. And there were similarities but Iva-Marie Palmer put her own spin on it. What I wasn't expecting was the language - I don't know anyone in real life who uses the F word so much. Maybe Palmer was trying to contrast Jill in "real life" with the Jill in Sweetsville. However, I was listening to the audiobook and I often walk through my neighborhood while listening to my book - without earbuds so I can still hear cars. So I had to cut it off a few times when children were nearby. It was also a bit spicier than I prefer in my Christmas rom-coms.

Jill is a screenwriter who is struggling to get her career started. She is offered to pitch a story to Heartfelt (think Hallmark) for a Christmas movie. Jill doesn't see this as a way to jump-start her career, but more as a resignation that she will never really make it in Hollywood. All the predictability and flannel and cliches, and did I mention flannel?, just are not her thing. Christmas is not really her thing either.

Fate has other plans for her, and after a night of drinking, she wakes up in Sweetville - a Hearfelt-ified version of her hometown. To say she isn't happy about it would be an understatement. She tries all kinds of non-Heartfelt-approved things to try to kick herself back to reality. 

We get to see most of the Hallmark, I mean Heartfelt, Christmas movie tropes playing out in various characters inhabiting Sweetville. She realizes she has to write the ending of her own Christmas rom-com in order to return to reality.

Christmas People is a cute book. I like that it poked fun at the tropes and predictability we see in Christmas books. I think a lot of people want the predictability and silliness at the holidays, even if we roll our eyes at the interchangeability of the plots. 

I'm not a big fan of the love triangle tropes, and I was afraid this one would turn into that since Jill is convinced she was supposed to end up with her high school crush instead of her ex-boyfriend.  Thankfully, for me, it really wasn't a love triangle plot. 

I felt like a lot of time was spent in reality before the story entered the alternate universe of Sweetville. I would have liked to have gotten to that point a little quicker. It went on for so long that I started to think I had the plot wrong, as there were parts of her hometown in reality that could be Heartfelt-worthy. 

The audiobook was well done. Patti Murin did a great job with the various characters, and I could follow the story easily. 

Buy Christmas People at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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