Book or Movie? "A Shoe Addict's Christmas"

I'm only a year late on this one! I actually just spotted it in my drafts—I wrote most of it last year but never finished it!

A Shoe Addict's Christimas is a novella by Beth Harbison (part of the Shoe Addict series) and a Hallmark Channel movie starring Candace Cameron Bure, Luke Macfarlane, and Jean Smart.

Noelle is not a fan of the holidays and to make matters worse, she is at a crossroads in her life when it seems that love and adventure are no longer possible. When she stays late at her job in a department store on a snowy Christmas Eve she accidentally gets locked in after closing. She isn’t too concerned about the prospect of spending the night in the store…until a woman appears out of nowhere and tells Noelle that she’s her guardian angel. Soon Noelle finds herself camped out in the shoe department facing several “ghosts” of Christmases past, present, and future...Will visiting the holidays of yesterday and tomorrow help Noelle see the true spirit of Christmas? And will the love she has longed for all her life be the best surprise gift of all?

A Shoe Addict's Christmas is a short, quick, Christmas read. At just over 150 pages, it can be read in an evening, and it's quite enjoyable. What it is not, however, is a romance. Noelle's love interest, the guy that she keeps missing because of her choices, is barely in the book. It ends with the hope of romance, but that's it. Knowing that Hallmark was adapting Shoe Addict for its Christmas lineup, I assumed that lack of romance would be rectified. And it was!

As Christmas approaches, Noelle is at a crossroads in her life when it seems that love, a connection with her father, and her dream career are out of reach. When she stays late at her job in a department store on a snowy Christmas Eve, she accidentally gets locked in after closing. She isn’t too concerned about the prospect of spending the night in the store… until a quirky woman appears out of nowhere in the shoe department and tells Noelle that she’s her guardian angel. Soon, Noelle finds herself revisiting Christmases past, present, and future as she must work with her new neighbor, a handsome, Christmas-loving firefighter, to plan the annual Christmas Charity Gala. Will visiting the holidays of yesterday and tomorrow help Noelle take new chances and discover the true spirit of Christmas? And in realizing that the only thing standing in her way of leading a fulfilling life is herself, will the love she has longed for all her life be the best surprise gift of all?

First of all, it appears that Hallmark's publicity people took the book's description and just added a few things to it for the official Hallmark description 🤣

This movie is so fun! It does contain more romance than the book did, but the best part—by far—is Jean Smart's Charlie. Also, there's a mystery regarding the man Noelle would have married had her life been different, and I totally fell for the filmmakers' trick (I know other people didn't, but I appreciated it!). I enjoyed this movie so much, and it ended up being my second favorite of all of Hallmark's new 2018 offerings.

So ...

Book or Movie?

Movie. Absolutely no question about it! (Book: 3-1/2 stars; Movie: 5 stars)

Read my review of the novella.
Buy the novella. (affiliate link)
Buy the movie. (affiliate link)

Did you watch A Shoe Addict's Christmas? What did you think?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."