Holiday rom-coms: the bookish edition

Grab your reading socks!

For several years, I debated applying for this annual bookstore contract on a remote Maldives island. The successful candidate runs all the literary programs at this luxury resort for free board and a modest salary, and you’re not allowed to wear shoes or read a newspaper, which seems like a dream right now.

That’s why I kinda bought the premise of A Novel Noel (2024), about a big-city book editor, Harper (Julie Gonzalo), who decides to take a break from working on blockbuster franchises to volunteer at a small-town bookstore over the holidays. Except there are no beaches or spas, and no pay. Anyone who has worked retail over the holidays knows that this is a total (clever) scam! Especially when the handsome but cranky owner has made it clear he doesn’t want any part of his family business as he slowly turns the shop into a wine bar. Harper had me howling on the couch when she said that mixing wine and books was a terrible idea and that with a little more passion, book retail could stand on its own. (I’m Team Malbec-Murder Mystery.)

This is a good one to have on in the background while you’re baking or if you’re trapped in a slanket and can’t get up. I do give it props for being one of the more realistic of the publishing rom-coms, especially Harper’s complaints that her job as an editor is more about sales sheets and marketing plans. For that reason, I give it 🧣🧣🧣.

A few more to bookmark…

A Christmas Cruise (2017): This one receives an extra mystery scarf because it stars Vivica A. Fox as a workaholic magazine writer/editor who has no life or time to work on her own book because she’s too busy writing crap for others. But it loses said scarf because in its original marketing, all the images pair Vivica with The Bachelor’s Nick Viall, who only has a few stunt lines, instead of our leading man, Kristoff St. John, which changes everything! (For those who weren’t weaned on Young and the Restless, that’s Neil Winters.) But then it gains that star back because Vivica was 53 when she made this ridiculous tropical cruise plot almost believable. For her star power it gets an overly generous holiday🧣🧣🧣.

The Noel Diary (2022): I liked Justin Hartley on This Is Us, but this movie, about a bestselling author who has to wrap up his estranged mother’s estate and meets a woman looking for her birth mom, didn’t give me the same feels. It’s fine but I just kinda shrugged at the end. I think Hartley needs an ensemble for support and I need to know less about his personal life. Perhaps he should try out for Finding Mr. Christmas. 🧣🧣

Creating Christmas (2023): What is this thing about kids’ publishing and Christmas Eve deadlines (see: Elf). A picture-book author must meet his holiday deadline otherwise he’ll lose his deal. The problem is that he’s been a jerk since his illustrator partner left him and apparently it’s very “unique” for illustrators and writers to be true collaborators (a weird point made several times). Anyway, it turns out that his editor’s sister, schoolteacher Harper, can draw. Back to Elf: I only accept that level of Christmas enthusiasm from Buddy; Harper should dial it down a few gingerbreads. Another slanket watch that has its moments. I did enjoy the brief scenes of “collaboration” and the use of words like “mixed media.” 🧣🧣🧣

Confessions of a Christmas Letter (2024): Settie Rose wants to win the local family Christmas letter contest and so she hires a reclusive Mexican author to ghostwrite, but now the nosy neighbours think that he is engaged to her daughter. Hijinks! With Angela Kinsey (The Office), Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas) and an appearance by Brian Baumgartner (The Office), I had higher comedic hopes for this one, but the laughs were awkward and didn’t pick up until too late. Wouldn’t watch again, but it’s actually sweet once it gets going. 🧣🧣🧣