Debbie Mason's "Christmas in July" Reads Like a Hallmark Movie!

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Debbie Mason's Previous Book Inspired This Hallmark Movie

Do you remember the 2018 Hallmark movie, Welcome to Christmas? It's the one where Madison Finnigan's boss sends her to Christmas, Colorado, to scout a location for a new ski resort. While she's there, Madison has a fender bender that strands her in the town. She falls in love with the area, and the sheriff. Welcome to Christmas is based on Debbie Mason's novel, The Trouble With Christmas.

Image: Crown Media, United States LLC

In Mason's Christmas in July, you will bump into Madison and Sheriff Gage again, but they are minor characters. The focus of this novel is on Grace and Jackson Flaherty, and it is book two of Mason's Christmas series, which currently boasts seven volumes.

This series will remind you a little bit of Christmas in Evergreen, but the characters are deeper, the dialogue is better, and the action is spicier. It's a book with substance.

Christmas In July Plot

Grace Flaherty's husband is a military hero who is missing in action. He's been gone for well over a year, and Grace has given up hope of ever seeing him again. Just as she's about to give him a symbolic good-bye from her heart so she can move on with her life, she receives word he's been found, along with the rest of his fellow captives, including a beautiful and buxom brunette.

There's just one problem--Grace's husband, Jack, doesn't remember her or their young son, and Maria, the sultry reporter whom he'd rescued, isn't letting him go easily.

There's one thing Jack didn't forget--how much he hates the town of Christmas and wants to leave.

In his absence, Grace has built a very successful bakery. She is passionate about her craft, and the close-knit townsfolk are a huge support network for her and her son. She is as adamant about living in Christmas as Jack is about leaving it. Grace wants to put down even stronger roots and eyes a vintage Victorian Home on......Sugar Plum Lane!

As Jack regains his memory, he realizes how much he loves his wife and wants a second chance. Grace loves her husband with a deep passion, but so many obstacles come against their relationship--Maria, guilt from her sister's death, the demands of the bakery.....

In typical Hallmark fashion, everything culminates in conveniently happy endings all around, but it happens naturally and doesn't come across as shallow, trite, or artificial.

By the end of this story, you will feel like you live in Christmas, Colorado, and are watching the action first-hand.

Mason has masterfully developed her characters while juggling multiple story lines and twists that makes this novel an engrossing page-turner without the reader feeling heaviness from the conflicts. Christmas in July isn't as G-rated as a Hallmark movie, but it remains tasteful and not lewd.

I Saw This Hallmark Actress As The Heroine

I started reading this romance as I would any other, but from Mason's skillfully articulated description of Grace Flaherty, from her looks to her poise, Nikki DeLoach appeared in my mind. I didn't try to match a Hallmark actress to the book, but if this book were adapted into a Hallmark movie, DeLoach would be an ideal pick for the lead.

As for Jack Flaherty, try reading the book and see if your imagination matches him to a familiar Hallmark male lead.

Check Out Debbie Mason's Christmas Series

If you aren't already a fan of Debbie Mason's masterful storytelling, just read one of these books from her Christmas series and you will be hooked.

My Rating

Many romance novels are ultra light and airy, contrived, and too fake to be relatable. This isn't one of them. It's one of the few romances I've ever read with real substance.

Christmas in July offers hope that relational distances can be bridged, and that lost love can be found once again.

4/4 Hearts
💖💖💖💖

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