Christmas at the Movies: The most heartwarming, joyful and cosy book to curl up with this Christmas

by Anne Marie Ryan

'I adored this magical heartwarming family story with my two favourite ingredients at Christmas - movies and the Cotswolds!' Helen Rolfe

'This was such a beautiful and sweet romance!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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A Christmas film festival. Can this be their second shot at happily-ever-after?

Every December, Sarah and James run a festive film festival in their struggling indie cinema. But this year, Hollywood comes Plumdale when a film crew shoots a movie in the village!

Close to her breaking point, Sarah jumps at the exciting opportunity to work with the handsome and charming director on the script. Screenwriting had been her dream until she put it aside to help run the cinema and raise her children in the Cotswolds.

Worried that he took his wife for granted, James decides to put the festival together on his own, choosing films to remind her of everything they've shared and how much he cares. But with the community and Sarah enthralled by the movie production, James is going to need a Christmas miracle to save both his marriage and the cinema...

Charming, funny and heartwarming, Christmas at the Movies is the perfect Christmas romcom full of community and endearing side characters.
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Praise for Anne Marie

'A heartfelt and lovely Christmas tale for book lovers everywhere!' Jenny Colgan

'A Christmas story that would be right at home on the Hallmark Channel' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'This book will. Make you believe in Christmas miracles' Nancy Thayer

Genres: Christmas, Romance

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2025

About the author

Anne Marie Ryan works as a book editor and has written several successful children's fiction series under a variety of pseudonyms. THE SIX TALES OF CHRISTMAS is her first novel for adults. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Anne Marie now lives in west London with her husband, two daughters and two kittens. When she's not reading or writing, Anne Marie plays tennis and acts in amateur dramatics (much to her family's embarrassment).

Reviews

[Lotta Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for this ARC! All thoughts are my own!

Yeah, I know some people don't like when I do this...BUT... this was a DNF for me.

I can't put my finger on what it was but I just didn't really vibe with the writing style or the subject matter. I just couldn't seem to get into this one. It could also be that I have been ill for the last two weeks and that might be the reason I have less patience for books right now ...

It had Christmas vibes but it wasn't the cosy story that I wanted so I just lost interest and decided to stop.

Thanks for reading!

🤍🤍🤍

[Rhianna Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really is a hug in a book (if a hug isn’t something that makes you feel deeply uncomfortable). So cosy and heartwarming. As someone who passionately loves both Christmas and the cinema, a Christmas book centred around a small,independent, family run cinema really is a great combination for me. Definitely one of the better Christmas books I’ve ready so far this month (I think I’m up to maybe 7 or 8) but that doesn’t mean it’s setting the world alight. Just really cosy. 🎄

[Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas at the Movies is like if someone put Love Actually in a snow globe, shook it once, then gently placed it on a dusty shelf next to a stack of Hallmark DVDs that time forgot. It’s cozy. It’s gentle. It wants you to believe that a struggling marriage can be saved with the power of curated movie nights and just enough twinkle lights. And honestly? Sometimes I’m here for that. But this one didn’t quite stick the landing... like a snowflake trying to do parkour.

We’re in Plumdale, a village so aggressively charming it probably has a law against ugly boots. Sarah and James run a crumbling indie cinema and also, fun plot twist, their marriage is held together with vibes and projection tape. They’ve got kids, history, a whole adorable backstory built around their love of movies... but now? Sarah is burnt out, James is clueless, and their joint passion project is bleeding money faster than a failed Kickstarter. It’s not giving “power couple,” it’s giving “friendly coworkers who forgot to file for divorce.”

Enter: the chaos. A Hollywood production rolls into town to film a Christmas movie (because of course it does), and suddenly Sarah is flirting with her screenwriting dreams and maybe also the handsome director. Meanwhile, James is out here having a midlife crisis via spreadsheets and rom-com lineups, trying to win her back with the cinematic equivalent of a mixtape. And while I do love a man who weaponizes nostalgia, it’s giving desperate energy instead of swoony grand gesture.

The book hops between timelines, giving us little flashbacks to Sarah and James’ origin story... their meet-cute, their wedding, the heartbreaks that tested them. And while those moments are sweet, the structure ends up doing a lot of the emotional heavy lifting that the present-day plot... kinda forgets to bring. Like, Sarah is clearly yearning for something more, but we spend so much time in everyone else’s business (side characters galore!) that we don’t always get deep enough into her head to feel the ache.

Also... there are approximately seventeen side plots and village personalities sprinkled like festive confetti, and while they’re cute, it’s a lot. We’ve got a neurodivergent son navigating high school, a teenage daughter discovering romance, a town buzzing with film crew chaos, and at least three background characters who sound like they escaped from a Bake Off tent. It’s charming... until it’s exhausting. I wanted more focus on the central couple and fewer detours into Plumdale’s Weirdest Christmas.

And that third act? Oh, it’s sentimental. We’re talking over-the-top grand finale featuring emotional speeches and cinema magic and possibly a snow machine. Which is fine! That’s the genre! But I found myself half-invested, half-mentally designing a new seating chart for the theater, because the pacing started to drag like a sleigh stuck in slush.

Still, there’s a warm heart under all the Christmas glitter. Anne Marie Ryan clearly loves her characters and the magic of movies, and when this book hits, it hits. The flashback scenes feel like vintage film reels of a love that once burned bright, and I did find myself rooting for James, even when he was being an oblivious peanut. I just wanted a little more tension, a little more bite... a little less saccharine comfort and a little more “you hurt me and I still want to fight for us” energy.

This is for the softies who want their Christmas reads to feel like drinking hot chocolate with a pinch of emotional yearning. Sweet? Yes. Comforting? Mostly. Memorable? Meh. Like a background movie playing while you decorate the tree... nice to have on, but you won’t be crying over it next year.

Merry Mayhem Prize: For Most Likely to Fix a Marriage Using a Rom-Com Playlist and One Last Shot at Dreams™

Huge shoutout to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for giving me access to this book and letting me emotionally spiral in a Cotswold cinema. I regret nothing... except maybe how hard I judged James’s spreadsheet energy.

[Rachel Gilbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a lover of films and Christmas books then you will absolutely adore this story.

Sarah and James are obsessed with films, and own an independent cinema that shows indie films, that is struggling a bit financially. From their first meeting, films have been present in their lives at all they key moments.

And in between the present day storytelling chapters, we get chapters highlighting their story to this date, including things like their meet cute, their wedding, children and various health struggles of family members.

But things could be about to change when a festive film is being shot in the village, but anything that sounds too good to be true, really does tend to be.

I loved the sense of community in Plumdale, I loved that they had a highly sensitive child and seeing how he is dealing with the move to high school. As well as his older sister's attitude and first possible crush / love. It's a real family affair this story and I really enjoyed getting to know all of them.

And with the way James uses this years Christmas Film Festival, it is one of those books that will certainly leave you smiling and a believer in romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, which I found highly entertaining and really enjoyed all of the characters present.

Thank you to Orion and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

[WhatFrizRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah and James own the Picture Palace, but their life just isn't picture perfect anymore. Will they figure it out? Or will this Christmas be the Christmas that ends it all?


This is a real cosy little festive read that covers so many issues women go through in their lives, without feeling heavy or preachy. The characters are relatable - Sarah is a middle aged mum that has made her sacrifices, experienced the anxiety and all the bits in-between. She has two children who couldn't be more different to each other, a feminist mother who she's pretty certain is perpetually disappointed by her and she feels stuck in a rut. Her story is one that has been told before, but this is in such a real and clever way using flashbacks and films to frame her life. It's not a taxing read, although a little emotional at times (I cried!) it is ultimately uplifting and with enough of the 'out of the ordinary' that it feels a little escapist too..

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the setting—Cotswolds town with an old movie theater dedicated to keeping cinema attendance alive while building community and serving others. Sarah and James own the local independent theater that caters to small town life and family. This is a good ideal, but not lucrative. Enter a film director who wants to shoot in the area and offers Sarah, a frustrated script writer, a chance to revisit her passion for writing. As Sarah throws herself into this new task, James begins to wonder if he has taken Sarah for granted, and whether the demands of the theater have driven a wedge into his marriage. The Christmas film festival gives it an especially cheerful feel and the resolution will leave readers feeling full. Perfect for fans of Hallmark movies!

[LaBibliodeCaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter was an instant draw for me. I love romcoms, I love novels that contain flashbacks. And overall, it's a nice, lovely book, with tons of popculture references. However, the execution wasn't exactly what I expected. The characters were a bit boring, and from a narrative perspective, the pace felt uneven. The parts set in the past felt more compelling than the sections set in the present.
In summary, I have some mixed feelings.

[Julie Brookes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a "feel good" book, plenty of family problems to solve, the two main characters were really lovely and the whole thing was well written, the story was set in current time and jumped back and forth to give the back ground of the story, this is my first by this author and it was a good start.

[Eve Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely heartwarming book!! I absolutely sped through it - it felt so digestible and the setting was lovely - and feel truly immersed in festive cheer now, despite Christmas still being a ways away. Will be recommending to my book club as our christmas read, and would recommend to anyone else looking for something to cheer themselves up!!

[Michaela Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok book but I was bored reading it, I nearly dnf'd it after 3 chapters but I hate myself when I do that. I couldn't bring myself to like the FMC or the daughter. And there were far to many side characters that I struggled to remember who they were and way they were relevant to the story. I preferred the insight of previous years than I did the present day story.

[élie Kouzmenkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written, cheerful narrative - looking forward to Ryan's upcoming works!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of a movie loving couple who met at the movies one Christmas Eve. This story goes back and forth in time as they buy a movie theater in a small town and work to save it. Sweet story.

[Renel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybeeeee 3.5 stars for just the present chapters but unfortunately not for the throwback chapters (especially the more recent ones)

[Anya Bhargava · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid holiday christmas book! perfect for the plane