REVIEW: The Summer of Christmas by Juliet Giglio and Keith Giglio

The Summer of Christmas by Juliet Giglio and Keith Giglio: When Nick ends things with Ivy, she rewrites the end of her script to give his character a timely death. After five years, her script is finally picked up, but a bomb is dropped on Ivy when the producer wants to make the movie in her hometown where Nick still lives.

Nick hasn’t been able to forget about Ivy. He even tried to create a new wine to forget her, aptly named “Poison Ivy,” but nothing has worked. When word spreads that she is coming back to shoot her movie, he doesn’t know what to do or think.

The book is very one dimensional. I wish we had more of the character’s inner thoughts to understand the reasoning behind different decisions. It feels like we are completely on the outside looking in. It also switches perspectives randomly throughout the story. Honestly, we’re lucky I powered through the book, because I almost gave up multiple times. It was very hard to follow.

There were parts of the story that I felt could’ve been expanded on to fill the space and make it more entrancing, but instead there are a lot of disjointed storylines that never feel they resonate with the reader. I wish the story would’ve solely focused on Nick and Ivy and their feelings instead of hopping around to the other cast members, people in the community, people in the crew, etcetera, because it made the entire story confusing. I also didn’t like how they handled things like the pandemic or questioning sexuality. They seemed like things that were thrown in to try to be more well-rounded.
 

Book Info:

Publication: July 5, 2022 | Sourcebooks Casablanca |

Experience a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Christmas movie in July in this charming romantic comedy by writing duo Juliet Giglio and Keith Giglio!

Ivy Green, an up-and-coming screenwriter, can only watch as her life is turned upside down. Her script, based on her love story with her high school sweetheart, Nick Shepherd—who broke up with her days before Christmas five years ago—is being filmed in her hometown! In the middle of summer, during the month of July, the production crew creates a winter wonderland Christmas.

Now back home, Ivy is forced to face Nick for the first time, which he isn’t too happy about. To complicate matters, Ivy isn’t sure of her relationship with the producer, the town is overflowing with movie stars and adoring fans, and worst of all—the actress playing Ivy develops a crush on the real Nick! Now, with renewed and confusing feelings about Nick, Ivy is determined to see if there is anything left between them, but in the end, Ivy will need to re-write her life script to get back everything she thought she lost.