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Christmas Eve Love Story

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Listening time: 10 hours and 31 minutes.

Annie Jones is stuck repeating Christmas Eve until she finds everything she's been missing in life in this heartwarming time travel Christmas romance for fans of Miracle on 34th Street, Groundhog Day, and Josie Silver's A Winter in New York.

Annie Jones works hard designing windows for iconic New York City department store Lawson's Finest. So when her Christmas window display gets upended by some rambunctious kids on Christmas Eve, the all-too-realistic store Santa gives Annie a little decorating tip on how to start over. With help from friendly security guard Braden Tate, Annie repairs the damage and heads home. But when she wakes the next morning, she's bewildered to find that it isn't Christmas day at all, but Christmas Eve all over again. 

Trapped in a time loop, Annie doesn't know how she'll ever make it back to the present. Luckily, she has an infinite number of chances to get things right. As little everyday choices bring her closer to Braden and to Christmas day, Annie starts to picture what her new life— one full of friendship, love, and community—could look like.

Praise for The Holiday

"Fans of Hallmark movies will appreciate this wholesome holiday offering." —Library Journal

"Baird excels at capturing the warmhearted and somewhat kooky dynamic… This is a delight." —Publishers Weekly

11 pages, Audible Audio

First published October 8, 2024

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About the author

Ginny Baird

64 books892 followers
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ginny Baird writes heartwarming contemporary stories filled with love, laughter, and happily ever afters. Visit her website to learn more about Ginny and her books. www.ginnybairdromance.com

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5 stars
505 (9%)
4 stars
1,667 (29%)
3 stars
2,302 (41%)
2 stars
851 (15%)
1 star
244 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 927 reviews
Profile Image for Sylvie {Semi-Hiatus} .
1,245 reviews1,747 followers
October 10, 2024
3.75 out of 5 stars!

*Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an E-Arc & an audiobook in exchange for an honest review!*

Awww, what a sweet and sentimental little Christmas story.

This book is for those who love the Christmas song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', just sayin'. *winks*

The story was adorable, it was like a Hallmark Christmas movie turned into a book. And bonus points, because 'Christmas Eve Love Story' was the first Christmas book I read this year, therefore it'll remain a special book for me.

I was also lucky enough to receive an audiobook arc for this book as well. I loved reading and listening to this book simultaneously. It made the entire experience more joyful for me.
————————
This is so exciting! I’ve now received and an early e-book and an audiobook for this book!! 🥹

For fans of Miracle on 34th Street, Groundhog Day, and Josie Silver's A Winter in New York.
This is sounding good already!
Profile Image for Heather Adores Books.
1,602 reviews1,883 followers
November 1, 2025
3⭐
Genre ~ holiday fiction
Setting ~ NYC
Publication date ~ October 8, 2024
Publisher ~ Dreamscape Media
Est Page Count ~ 416 (37 chapters)
Audio length ~ 10 hours 31 minutes
Narrator ~ Emma Faye
POV ~ dual 3rd
Featuring ~ Santa magic, time loop, groundhog day, time travel, no steamage

Annie & Braden work at the same department store. He’s a security guard and she designs the front window (how fun!). They never really met until they meet over and over and over again for a Christmas Eve do-over 12 times.

Each day is slightly different, but mostly the same things keep happening and Annie needs to figure out how to tweak things in order to get out of the time loop. 12 times is a lot y’all and felt like way too many with all the repetitiveness. I do like the thought behind it being 12 days of Christmas, but again just felt way to long to me.

Overall, there were some cute moments. I liked Christmas Day once we finally got there and the little twist that happened. It has full on Christmasy vibes, even with some Santa magic to put a smile on your face.

Narration notes:
While she did do a good job this would really have benefited with a male narrator since it’s dual POV. It's possible I would have enjoyed this more had I read and not listened.

Connect with me ➡ Blog ~ Facebook ~ X
Profile Image for Rigel.
433 reviews
December 10, 2025
I'm sorry, but wtf? How does this book have so many 4 and 5 star reviews? Am I missing something?

I could not find a single redeeming factor about this book.

First of all, the writing was so childish it made me physically ill. Annie, a 24 year old woman, acted (and had the voice of) a prepubescent child. Honestly, I should have quit based on that alone, but no, it was like a car crash and I just couldn't look away.

The love interest? Yawn. Moving on.

Plot? Repetitive. You can say that that's to be expected in a time loop story, which sure, I can concede that point, but only a small detail was changed every day. For example, she added a new decoration to the window, or engaged in a slightly different conversation with a side character. But in general? It was the same thing over and over for 400 pages.

Interesting idea, worst execution imaginable. If a boring plot was this book's only sin, I'd let it slide and read from this author again. But a writing style that makes me wish I were illiterate? Unforgivable.
Profile Image for Erin .
1,632 reviews1,528 followers
December 23, 2024
2.75 Stars

I finally understand why people give all types of wild points as ratings. This rating really stumped me. 2.5 stars was too low but 3 stars was too high. This book isn't bad...it's just boring.

With any Groundhog Day trope we are going to be dealing with the same day being lived over & over again but a good version should not be repetitive. Nothing happens over multiple Christmas Eves and the characters were flat and had no chemistry. Also how does this magic work?

This book wasn't for me but it's not a bad book. From reviews I've read people mostly enjoy this book. But I don't recommend it, if you have a similar Christmas book taste to me.
Profile Image for Christina O’Keefe.
300 reviews50 followers
December 10, 2024
I really enjoyed this book at first but it got a bit too repetitive and not enjoyable to read after a while
Profile Image for Samantha | samanthaslibrary_.
250 reviews45 followers
December 12, 2024
3.5⭐️ rounded down

This was cute but not my favorite. A Groundhogs Day style book but managed to feel wayyy too repetitive. At less than 50% through, we were already on our 6th repeat day and while I expect repetitiveness in these types of stories, having to read about the same (slightly altered) day TWELVE TIMES before we could move on was a bit much for me.

There were definitely elements I loved and characters I loved even more, but I just wish it was a touch shorter and slightly less repetitive. Overall though, it was a cute closed door romance.
Profile Image for sabrina.
300 reviews511 followers
December 12, 2025
Rating: 3⭐️
🫧 Vibes: holiday magic
🎶 Song: 12 days of christmas - pentatonix
📚 Would I recommend? meh
💬 tldr thoughts: cute but repetitive and childish

In the package:
📦 time loop
📦 found family
📦 christmas magic

Plot: Annie is trapped in a time loop and keeps repeating Christmas Eve over and over again until she finds everything she's been missing in life.

Thoughts: honestly, I probably would've DNF'ed this if I had to read it all in one sitting. Thankfully, it worked better as an advent calendar but I'm still not crazy about this book. The writing just felt very childish and a bit cringe considering the characters are all adults. I did enjoy reading about the character's pasts but eventually it just felt repetitive, which is expected since they're stuck in a time loop. Some parts were really cute like the friendships Annie formed with the people around her.

✩⁺₊✩☽⋆ follow me on tiktok and instagram⋆☾✩⁺₊✩
Profile Image for Teresa.
3 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2025
My Christmas gift to myself is DNFing this book 😔
Profile Image for Jenny.
518 reviews474 followers
October 6, 2024
This cozy, heartwarming Christmas romance has a unique twist—time travel! I enjoyed following Annie Jones, a hardworking window designer for the iconic Lawson’s Finest in New York City. Her journey begins when her Christmas Eve display gets ruined by some kids, and an all-too-realistic Santa gives her a strange tip on how to fix it. With the help of friendly security guard Braden Tate, she manages to put things right… until she wakes up to find it’s Christmas Eve again.

Annie’s time loop adventure leads to some touching moments as she gets to know her neighbors better and explores new ways to connect with Braden. I loved watching her grow and the “found family” she creates along the way. It made the story feel so wholesome. Braden is a wonderful love interest—kind, patient, and always there to lend a hand. The way their relationship develops, little by little, felt genuine.

But, as much as I liked Annie and Braden, I found the endless Christmas Eve repetitions a bit too much. It felt like the story dragged at points and got a little predictable. Still, the narrator brought the characters to life beautifully, making it easy to imagine myself right there in the snowy city. She made the scenes flow smoothly, even when the plot seemed to drag. It almost felt like I was watching a Hallmark movie unfold in my mind—cozy, festive, and filled with hope. It's a solid, feel-good holiday read if you’re in the mood for a cute, festive romance!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Profile Image for nichie j.c.
167 reviews146 followers
December 23, 2025
Aside from the entertaining “chapter a day advent calendar” gimmick, there was nothing redeeming about this. Annie was the biggest fucking dumbass I’ve ever had to live in the head of and her and Braden had sub zero chemistry. The tone was all over the place—constantly switching from “we need to save Christmas!!1!!” to in depth depictions of their trauma (that trauma being Annie’s parents dying in a car crash and Braden’s ptsd from the Iraq war). Just the biggest waste of my time.
Profile Image for Laura A.
612 reviews97 followers
September 1, 2024
Annie enjoys her job at the local department store. It seems that all the days are the same. This was a quick holiday read.
Profile Image for Jessica.
130 reviews
December 12, 2025
Sweet suffering cheesus.
First off, read the advent version and the only fun part was commiserating with my buddy readers.
This book was the cheesiest and corniest slop that even Hallmark wouldn’t pick up for a movie. Annie was a doorknob whose inner monologue got more and more insufferable as the chapters went on. If I had to read about her fixing chili one more gosh darn time I would’ve absolutely lost it. What love story? Was this really all about a fucking window display? There was no personality and no character growth (although the book really tried to hammer in that this woman had grown somehow. Lies.) and I felt NOTHING BUT ANNOYANCE. Also wtf did Annie keep talking to her neighbors like it wasn’t freaking weird that she knew what was going to happen? I can’t. I caaaaaan’t.

I hate it.
Spare yourselves.
Profile Image for Mary.
2,252 reviews612 followers
December 15, 2024
Whenever I start a book involving time loops, I am always worried it will get too repetitive and I won't like it. Thankfully, that was not the case for me with Christmas Eve Love Story by Ginny Baird and this heartfelt and funny read made me want to tackle her backlist immediately. (I did see some complaints from other readers regarding repetition, but I didn’t feel this way at all). I adored Annie and the setting of Lawson’s in NYC gave me some serious Elf vibes minus the silly elf aspect but with a suspiciously real (or is he?) Santa. This had all of the Christmas cheer that I expected from a book set on Christmas Eve and the budding romance between Annie and Braden made me oh-so-happy.

I also loved this one on audiobook, and I couldn’t have asked for a better narrator for Annie than Emma Faye. She felt like the epitome of our FMC, and I loved her voice and pacing very much. I didn’t find any flaws in her narration, though I wish she would have changed up her voice a little bit for Braden. I honestly wish he wouldn’t even have had a viewpoint and throwing him into the book just occasionally was very odd and unnecessary. On audio it was downright confusing, so I could have done without that piece of it. However! That was just a small blip in an otherwise perfect holiday read and I found it absolutely adorable. Read this if you enjoy Hallmark Christmas movies, found family galore, and magical realism!

I received an advanced listening copy of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Profile Image for Stephanie ((Strazzybooks)).
1,432 reviews113 followers
December 30, 2025
3.5

This was a sweet and festive. I enjoy stories (especially set around Christmas) with the time-loop/ Groundhog's Day/repeating day vibes. Sometimes the characters were irritating, especially the (occasionally dickish) annoying MMC, but overall I enjoyed the listen.
Profile Image for Mariah Hatch.
212 reviews2 followers
December 25, 2025
https://youtu.be/PR2XYraqyqs?si=AMYCe...

Without a doubt the worst book I have ever had the deep misfortune of reading. Spare yourself the agony of reading about the two dumbest people in the world attempting to get themselves out of a time loop concocted by a mall Santa. Which hey, by the way—

WE NEVER FIND OUT WHAT IT WAS THAT BROKE THE LOOP

WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK

Was it literally just meant to last for 12 days?? Surely it wasn’t about getting the Christmas window right??

WHY DID WE SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON THE GODDAM CHRISTMAS WINDOW??

I hate every character and everything that happened.

Braden and Annie’s idea of flirting is saying things like “snow is christmassy.” Annie is supposed to be an incredible visual artist but doesn’t consider things like having more than one stocking up in her Christmas window display. Braden is constantly getting flashbacks to his time in Afghanistan that ends up going completely unacknowledged??

I recognize that by virtue of the book being about a time loop there’s going to be a lot of repetition but still it literally was just the same thing every day.

Also Annie and Braden were too stupid to figure out how to prevent a pair of children from destroying the window display every day despite it happening at the same exact time 12 days in a row. They never even considered putting up a barrier??

Annie and Braden are perfect for each other because no one else is the planet is as dumb and boring as they are. I hope they never procreate.
Profile Image for Angela.
27 reviews
December 12, 2025
the writing wasn’t the best but it was still a really cute and cozy read, and i loved that sarah and i read it together 🥹
Profile Image for KellyJ1028.
542 reviews79 followers
December 12, 2025
3.5 stars


This book was so cute & I loved reading it advent style.
This was a perfect read for the holidays!
Profile Image for Michelle Roy.
11 reviews2 followers
December 28, 2025
I almost DNFed this book because the story was much too repetitive for me. I liked the found family aspect, but the romance was a bit lackluster.
Profile Image for Melanie.
415 reviews14 followers
October 8, 2024
3.75 stars

Annie works at a department store where she is the assistant visual artist that keeps the displays beautiful. Unfortunately, her boss is firing her because the store is losing money. She is also in a big fight with her best friend. She doesn't know any of her neighbors. She embarrasses herself in front of her crush. And on top of all that, the display she's been working on gets trampled by little kids running wild in the store. In summary, Annie is having a bad day. So what if she gets a do over? But not just any do over, she gets to repeat the day until it is just right, but she has to figure out what needs to be fixed first and she drags her crush in this too.

I thought this book was really cute. I thought the premise was fun and the different ways of figuring out what needs to be changed was enjoyable. I had to deduct a star because the book does get repetitive and feels really long sometimes which was unfortunate because I enjoyed most of it, it was just in the first half that the book felt really long. Once you get to the second half the pace improves. I do recommend it, since I thought the book was really uplifting and charming. Plus, I thought the narration was absolutely phenomenal! Emma Faye does a great job at reading the book and I am going to look for more books she narrates.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Ginny Baird for giving me the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Shannon.
8,383 reviews425 followers
October 7, 2024
3.75 rounded up

I love a good Groundhog day/timeloop romance and this holiday themed one that has a Department store window display artist repeating December 24th over and over until she gets the window scene just right was a heartwarming, feel good read with the perfect amount of magic and whimsy. Perfect for fans of Tessa Bailey's Window shopping (minus the spice). This was also good on audio narrated by Emma Faye. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Profile Image for Sofia.
4 reviews
December 24, 2025
So cute - loved it as an advent calendar - perfect to get you in the Christmas spirt!
Profile Image for Sierra.
182 reviews
December 16, 2025
2.5🌟

I rlly loved the adventure calendar concept of this book but the content was not delivering. I don’t think time loop romances work for strangers to lovers. I think this would have worked best as a women’s contemporary fiction w a romance subplot. I also would have liked a more satisfying ending for Annie and Tina making plans wasn’t enough like r they too good? Also I would have liked to see a one month later or more kinda vibe in an epilogue- which it didn’t have which was so strange to me and I think it could work obviously just not in this book. I wanted to see an update w Brandan w the neighbours but mostly w Tina. Also wayyyyy to long I understood the 12 days of Christmas, 12 chapter sections for opening but again it was too long and I think it could’ve been done better
Profile Image for Jordana 🤎🫧🧸🎧.
71 reviews3 followers
December 11, 2025
This book started cute and cheesy but I didn’t mind bc it’s a x mas hallmark story but by day 6 it just kept repeating itself. We get it she’s stuck in a time loop but it’s the same dialogue EVERY SINGLE TIME I’m convicted the author copied and pasted the story for each chapter. The magic part is never explained and all girl had to do was be more social and fix her god damn widow display 😒
Profile Image for ✨🌙 Bibliophile_Shelley 🌙✨.
264 reviews11 followers
October 1, 2024
I hate to say I did not enjoy this book. However, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was way too cringey and repetitive. It made it feel almost impossible to complete. I ended up having to give up on it at about 60ish percent. Sadly, did not enjoy.
Profile Image for Patricia Rupell.
174 reviews85 followers
September 22, 2024
Christmas Eve Love Story is a Groundhog Day-type story set in a department store in New York City. It was a sweet, cozy read with found family, which I loved, and Christmas magic. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Bevany.
671 reviews14 followers
October 7, 2024
It was a very sweet Christmas version of Groundhog Day. I listened to the audiobook version, and I liked the narrator. This is a clean romance no smut, very hallmark movie type of story. My favorite part of this was the found family aspect along with the romance.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 927 reviews

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