Christmas Ever After

By: Karen Schaler

Narrated by: Katie Schorr

Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

From Karen Schaler, the writer of the Netflix phenomenon A Christmas Prince and Hallmark’s Christmas Camp comes this new heartwarming holiday romance. Mamma Mia meets The Bachelorette in Christmas Ever After...

While promoting her next novel, a Christmas love story, author Riley Reynolds is caught off guard when she’s asked during a live national television interview how she can write about romance when she still hasn’t found “the one” herself. Scrambling for an answer, she quickly answers that she has had great love in her past and that love inspired her novels.

Little does she know that this one offhanded remark will turn her world upside down. Three of her ex-boyfriends see the interview, and each, believing she’s talking about him, shows up for her Christmas Camp book event at the Christmas Lake Lodge, determined to rewrite his happily ever after with her!

Over the festive weekend, Riley’s old boyfriends compete to win her heart, pulling out all the stops while planning the most romantic Christmas dates on the planet. Despite herself, Riley starts falling for each guy— - again - but for different reasons. As Riley revisits each relationship and discovers more about herself, she embraces the magic of Christmas and finally finds true love and her own Christmas ever after...

Bonus content: Christmas Ever After includes delicious original Christmas recipes and fun holiday crafts and activities.

©2020 Karen Schaler (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Love the story

I love the story and the other two prior to this from the same author but the narrator singing in my ear no thank you. I’m a big Christmas movie book lover but certain narrators can ruin a story.

A fun & inspiring Christmas story

I loved this story - it could definitely be a Hallmark movie. It’s clean with lots of fun Christmas activities and heartwarming romance.

delightful story

The characters are interesting. The setting is lovely. The narrator needs more variety vocalizing characters.

cute story

sweet read for Christmas fans. Humorous. A little on the too sweet side but not enough to make me hit delete. Totally G rated.

Cute, Predictable but Enjoyable

I agree with other reviewers about the male voices, but the story was fun and I thought it would make an adorable Hallmark movie.

love Christmas stories!

I loved it. I even caught the movie. The narration really added to the story. A wonderful holiday story.

incredulous drinking game

First of all the author used the word "incredulous" way to many time in this story.
The narration was great but the story was super predictable and one dimensional. it was just O.K. for me.

Beautiful writing, very festive but story lacked for me

This is def a very Christmas oriented book unlike some that claim to be about Christmas and are barely festive at all. Christmas remains prominent throughout and the writing is beautiful. The narrator has a very pretty, enjoyable voice but I did not feel she differentiated the characters enough. The main character was hard for me to relate to at first bc I love Christmas but I did enjoy her evolution.

I liked that this book was told in third person perspective but I thought it was a strange choice to give Luke one or two perspectives and then nothing more. Seems like it should have been all or nothing to me. I was very hooked in the beginning bc I am an aspiring writer myself and I love Christmas. I am also a hopeless romantic so I was excited to see how the story transpired after Riley’s disastrous interview.

(Spoilers) The set up is exciting but sadly, the old bfs do not show up until more than halfway through the book and I felt like the ending was much ado about nothing. She goes on one date with each of them and despite her seeming chemistry and past with all of them somehow falls in love with Luke whom she barely spends any time with. What’s worse is that the three guys all vying for her affection are let down gently in ONE monologue and somehow take it very well, no hard feelings despite their grand gestures of coming all this way to win her back. This was very surprising and unrealistic to me.

I personally would have focused more time on Luke and Riley’s relationship and less space on minor characters like Mike, Kayley, Paul etc. And the buildup to the christmas camp was so exciting but it felt like that was barely delved into. I really would have liked more scenes with Riley and Luke. I personally felt like I knew some of her exes better than I knew him.

Despite my criticisms, the descriptions are beautiful and the writing is very imaginative. I def felt in the holiday spirit throughout and I enjoyed watching Riley embrace Christmas once again despite her sad past. I would def recommend this book to any fans of this author, Christmas or romance 🎄♥️❄️

How would your Christmas Ever After look like?

For Riley Reynolds, successful romance novelist, there is no Christmas. No traditions, no real memories no celebrating since the death of her father when she was 8 years old. So, when her publisher states her next book is to be a "Christmas Romance", it's difficult to have the mantra, "Write what you know". To help with that she is scheduled by her publicist to attend a Christmas Camp with selected fans to engage in a week of fun-filled holiday activities. The owner of the Lodge, where the camp is to take place, comes to New York to meet her after an interview on National TV; but when Riley walks out early on the interview, Luke is forced to fill the remaining minutes and isn't too pleased. Thus sets the stage for an enjoyable, albeit, predictable romance, misunderstandings, and unforeseen troubles, between our two main protagonists.

This story is a quick, holiday read. It has that typical Hallmark formula, so if you enjoy those types of books and movies this will be pleasing to you.

There were a couple of things I didn't quite understand. One, is that Riley was being billed as Miss Christmas, despite the fact she knows very little about the holiday. That's a publicity ploy; but what is confusing is that the title and Christmas Camp are to generate her good press. She has bad press because she had ONE book that wasn't as good as previous novels? C'mon. How many authors who write a series hit it out of the park 100% of the time? None. So all the 'negative press' and the threat of losing her publishing deal over one book is a little over the top. The second would be the character of Riley herself. Why Ms. Schaler did you write a woman who has the intelligence of a turnip and the maturity level of a 15 year old? I found that very annoying. Riley has traveled all over the world, rubbed shoulders with elite of high society and she comes across dumber than a post.

Katie Schorr does a nice job narrating. Might have been better to have one female & one male narrator though. This is a middle of the road entry into the genre. Pretty digestible; but could have had better characters.

The story could have been 3 hours shorter

The book drug on and on. Way to long. The story line was sweet and nice, but took too long to get there. I stopped listening with 3 hour to go.