Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

From the screenwriter of the Netflix Original viral hit, A Christmas Prince, comes another heartwarming holiday story about a beautiful Grinch who’s determined to get her dream job even if it means spending a week at a Christmas Camp where she discovers an unexpected love.

Haley Hanson’s idea of the perfect Christmas is escaping to the Caribbean to work so she can avoid all the traditional Christmas distractions. Over the years, she’s sacrificed her personal life to climb the corporate ladder at a prestigious Boston advertising agency. Now she just needs to land a coveted Christmas toy company account to make partner. But first, her boss, Larry, thinks she needs a holiday attitude adjustment, so he ships her off to a Christmas Camp at Holly Peak Inn to help her find her Christmas spirit.

Arriving at the charming mountainside inn, Haley meets the owner’s handsome son, Jeff, and feels an instant spark, but resists the attraction, refusing to be distracted from her goal of doing all the required Christmas tasks as fast as possible so she can get back to work.

At first Haley struggles with all the traditional Christmas Camp activities. It’s not until she finally allows herself to slow down, live in the moment, and let Christmas back into her heart, that she begins to grow closer to Jeff. But when he finds out Haley’s come up with a plan to help his dad save the struggling inn while he’s been trying to convince his dad to sell it, their relationship takes a serious holiday hit.  Now it will take the magic of the season to bring these two hearts together.

After reading Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler, I 100% want to go to a camp based around the theme of Christmas. I cracked open this book expecting to like it. All of the summary had indicators that this would be the right sort of book for me to give a shot. As it turns out though, I LOVED this book. It was absolutely like indulging in a Hallmark Christmas movie, but in book form.

Karen Schaler’s Christmas Camp follows main character Haley Hanson. She is an advertising expert and puts together these great brand campaigns. However, she is now gunning for the role of partner at her firm. This means that she will need to land the Tyler Toys account and pitch it to her boss. Only, she has a reputation around the office for not being a Christmas fanatic. Still, she begs her boss for the opportunity to make the pitch for the account. He responds by telling her she needs to go to Christmas Camp and discover the spirit of Christmas within. And so, because work is so important to her – Haley goes to the camp.

Each day at camp has a word with activities that surround the word. At first, Haley is a reluctant participant and does not fully give herself up to the camp. Her goal is to check as many things off the list as possible just to get her certificate. With some help, she eventually finds herself slowing down and enjoying the season. She also finds the possibility of love at the camp. You see, she has this intense attraction to the owner’s son, Jeff. Meanwhile Jeff is trying to get his dad to sell the camp and move to Boston to be closer to him.

On the whole, I think that Christmas Camp was one of my favorite books that I read during the holiday season. It has all that I look for – romance, an interesting setting and characters who are dynamic. I look forward to reading more from Schaler.

On A Scale Of One To Buddy The Elf, How Much Christmas Spirit Does This Book Have?

Okay, so at first the main character of Christmas Camp, Haley, is basically phoning it in because she really wants the job of advertising partner. BUT THEN, magically the Christmas spirit hits and all is amazing. So, on the whole this hits the Buddy end of the spectrum.

Other reviews of Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler:

• Into The Hall Of Books – “positively dripping with Christmas“
• Books And Bindings – “mild and sweet holiday storyline“
• Saturday Nite Reader – “gave me all the warm and fuzzies“

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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