Library & Movie Star Romance!

For a librarian who loves Christmas and the holidays in general, I was very, very excited about this book. I’m not usually a fan of second-chance romance, mostly because the men so rarely deserve a second chance if this was real life, so I was a little nervous about this. Luckily while not being my entire cup of tea I found myself enjoying this one. If this isn’t made into some sort of Netflix Christmas movie eventually, I will be shocked.

Lucy is the head librarian (director?) of a small-town library in the town of Mistletoe. Around the holidays, the town gets a visit from former resident and big-time action movie star, Dante West, who also happens to be Lucy’s ex-boyfriend. Dating as teens, Dante always had a dream of becoming an actor and promised to bring Lucy along on his adventure. Instead, Dante left her in Mistletoe and Lucy has been trying to pick up the pieces since.

Dante is a better person now than he was and wants to give back to the community that raised him. Thus, he is filming a new movie and asks to pay to use the Mistletoe library as a set. Lucy can’t refuse the offer, as the library desperately needs the money, and he has plenty of it. The two begin spending a lot of time together and their past flame begins to ignite.

The one issue I always have with books like these is good lord, why do these women allow things that happened decades ago to still control who they are as adults? No offense but seek out some therapy. Lucy isn’t too bad at dealing with it but I just cannot understand not dealing with things that happened 8 years ago so you can move on in life. I totally get old memories coming back when you’re in a situation like this but that feels different to still not dating after all this time. Other than that, Lucy is a pretty good character. She has a backbone, which I like, and I also like that Dante took responsibility for his actions all those years ago and worked to make a change to be better. They are a pretty good couple, and the side characters are mostly charming, especially Lucy’s younger sister; Tess.

This is the exact book you imagine it to be. Very sweet, very trope-filled, Hallmark movie in book form. The only thing I didn’t enjoy is that the relationship between Lucy and Dante reflected a lot on the past and I felt like we were told a lot more than shown it. For me, I don’t think Dante did enough to redeem himself in the grand scheme of things, but overall, this is a romance that will hit all the notes it needs to and breezes by. A good recommendation for anyone who loves a Christmas Romance.

Title: No Ordinary Christmas
Author: Belle Calhoune
Format:  Paperback
Pages: 318
ISBN: 9781538735985

Three Descriptors: Authentic, Likeable, Chaste

Read Alikes:
The Good Ones by Jenn McKinlay
Christmas at Silver Falls by Jenny Hale
Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler
Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber
Discovering You by Brenda Novak