A Novel Noel

Hold on to your seats, it starts out with a Hallmark familiar plot, a NYC worker, this time its a Book Editor, Harper, (Julie Gonzalo) who is burned out and needs a break from her job. She takes a break by working in a small town bookstore incognito for a month. There's a clashing of personalities between Harper and the owner's son, Sawyer, (Brendon Penny), as they each have very different ideas on how to make the bookstore more successful. The plot is well written and there are several surprises in the script. There's some entertaining moments as Harper gets involved in the town activities (reindeer games, singing carols at the pub) and as she makes friends with the locals. The Christmas Bingo Game is a fun element. Julie Gonzalo is Hallmark's best female actress, she puts a spark in the characters she plays in all of her movies, and also makes them authentic and relatable. At first Brendon Penny annoyed me but that had more to do with the way the script was written and how Sawyer's character evolves as he opens up to Harper, and he becomes more likeable. There's good chemistry and we experience the romantic feelings grow between the two leads. I love the couple of surprise twists in the story line. An enjoyable and entertaining movie.

Whilst there are - as some previous reviewers have correctly pointed out - some oft-used tropes in "A Novel Noel", the pairing of Hallmark veteran Brendan Penney (of "Chesapeake Shores" and the "Vineyard" movies fame) and the Julie Gonzalo saves the movie from being another run of the mill production.

Once they get past the initial bickering phase (if you watch enough of these movies, you know what I'm talking about!) their characters mesh together perfectly.

There's also a great and eclectic cast of secondary characters, some really nice, festive scenes (including a singalong at a pub and a scene with a Santa Claus) and Hallmark's impeccably-decorated sets.

Not a movie I'll probably watch again, but not one I hated, either.

The perfect storm of trying to recover from the 2023 writers and actors strikes combined with Hallmark's breathtaking avarice funneling resources away to other revenue streams has created a very disappointing season so far. This movie is one of the few I enjoyed enough to watch twice.

With a plot similar to Lifetime's quirky 2018 "Christmas Around the Corner", the. Bookstore setting gives it an automatic appeal. And while some of the plot developments were easy to see coming, the appealing cast made it an enjoyable watch.

My only issue was that the final denouement seemed a little awkward and rushed, but since that would describe the entirety of most other movies this season, I can't complain too much. Definitely worth watching.

Woo, some of these reviewers are grumpy like the male lead 😂. Yes, this story has been done before, but what movie hasn't. I'm going to search if you can work in a bookstore and live in the apartment above. Sounds like a delightful opportunity to me. The male lead is really grumpy for a while, so that was a bummer for me. I actually thought the main lead was the author, but had someone else portraying her. I believe that story has been done too 😂. The reindeer games were fun. There wasn't much chemistry between the two, but I still enjoyed it. The pub owner and bakery gal are fun characters. I must say, I was blinded by the twist. The two characters help one other move over a hump. There's a fun Bingo idea. Cute movie.

This movie has some common elements in terms of a struggling bookstore, a burnt out publishing editor, rookie writer needing a push, and newbie shakes things up to help profits. It is also a bit unusual in that the editor appears to have paid to work there and live above the store as a kind of vacation. As another reviewer pointed out, there was one other movie almost exactly like that, but that's the only one I can think of.

I enjoyed this movie probably because I was tolerant of how annoying the two leads were with each other for a little bit too long. The reason I tolerated it was because I am very familiar with both Gonzalo and Penny. Their characters eventually connect and I got invested in their relationship. Beyond that though, the story doesn't stand out. The secret identity, if you will, of Harper comes out to Sawyer before halfway which is a bit unusual. There is a bittersweet twist towards the end.

The basics in acting and dialogue were decent, you might even say good.