Audiobook-Movie Review: The Christmas Cottage by Samantha Chase

The Christmas Cottage by Samantha Chase

Narrated by Stephanie Willis

Christmas Romance. Can stand alone.

I love a good corny Christmas novel. And I love Christmas movies. And I love reading books and then watching the movie after! So when I saw The Christmas Cottage by Samantha Chase was a Hallmark movie as well, I was so excited! After all, I really liked the Passionflix one, and I have loved the Hallmark Christmas movies I had seen. Let me start by talking about the book.

Lacey is an interior designer, and as maid of honor for her life-long best friend Ava, her job is to get The Christmas Cottage ready for her. The cottage has been in Ava’s house for generations, and legend says that a couple who spends the night together there will have true love forever. Ava is Bridezilla, providing Lacey with a binder of things she wanted done in the cottage, so Lacey decided to scope it out a few weeks before.

Ean is the best man, and Ava’s brother. Lacey humiliated herself at age 14 when she threw herself at him, and has avoided him in the 12 years since. He is supposed to help with the cottage but lives out of town and isn’t supposed to return until close to the wedding. But he decided to come to the mountain cottage. You can guess what happens, right?

I’m not going to tell you, but it’s a Christmas book, if you read them at all, you know what happens in winter cottages.

It was a decent story. Nothing special or memorable. Ava was a crazy person, accusing Lacey of stealing the magic from the cottage and she was planning to marry someone thinking that the magic in the cottage would fix all of her problems. The book felt very superficial. There was no real emotion, no scrooge foreclosing on a house, nobody dying, no adoption, not even a dog, and all the sex behind closed doors. It was ok, but not a book I totally loved.

The Narration:

Stephanie Willis did a great job with the narration. Her voice fit the character, she spoke at a good pace, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen her more.

The Hallmark Movie

Wait, was that really based on the book? They changed SO MUCH about the story for this movie, that if it weren’t for the names and the fact that I JUST read the book the day before, I don’t think I would have realized that I had even read the book. The movie was also not up to regular emotional hallmark standards. I figure if they changed that much about it, they would add some emotion, but they didn’t.

The Down & Dirty:

The Christmas Cottage was an OK, sweet, safe, non-emotional Christmas story. I can say the same about the movie. But if you like watching movies made from books and hope that they retain as much as possible, I think you should veer away from this. I would say it was “loosely based” on the original story by Samantha Chase.

Rating (for both book and movie): 2.75 stars, 1 Heat, 5 narration