Book or Movie? "The Goodbye Bride"/"Christmas on My Mind"

While many of this year's Hallmark Christmas movies were based on books, I only read one of them—it's one that I first read years ago and then sped read right before the movie's premiere: Denise Hunter's The Goodbye Bride, which was adapted into Christmas on My Mind.

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!

Book or Movie? "The Second Sister"/"Christmas Everlasting"

A whole passel of Hallmark's Christmas movies this year are based on books. I'm not really willing to spend money to read the books, so as of now, it looks like I'll only be doing "Book or Movie" posts for two of them: Christmas Everlasting and A Shoe Addict's Christmas ... because those are the two I could get from my local library.

Book or Movie? "Coming Home for Christmas"

Now that Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas is back, it's time to restart my "Book or Movie" series! This first post is actually about a movie that premiered on Hallmark Channel during the 2017 holiday season, but I didn't get it written then. I just rewatched the movie today, so I decided it was time to get this review written 😊.

File this under "I don't know when else to tell you so I'm doing it here": I've decided to do mini review/hot takes of all the new Christmas movies I watch this year on my Instagram stories. So follow me here, and then let me know if you agree with my takes on the movies!

Book or Movie? "Runaway Romance"

It's been a while, but I'm back with another Book or Movie post ... and, for the first time since I started this project, it doesn't feature a Hallmark Channel Original!

It is still connected to Hallmark, though, if a bit tangentially. The book/movie is Runaway Romance. I reviewed the book last year, and the movie premiered on UP (a Hallmark-esque cable channel) in January ... and now it's available on Hallmark Movies Now, Hallmark's streaming service.

Book or Movie? "Once Upon a Prince"

Five years ago, I read (and loved!) the first book in Rachel Hauck's Royal Wedding series, Once Upon a Prince. Earlier this year, I heard Hallmark was making it into a movie. It's been so long—and so many books—since I read it that I couldn't remember much about it, aside from the fact that I loved it! I decided a revisit of the book was in order before the movie's premiere. I finished it just in time, as I wrapped up the book Saturday afternoon, and the movie premiered Saturday night!

Book or Movie? "The Sweetest Heart"

Here we go with another Book or Movie post ... and, wouldn't you know, it features a Hallmark Channel Original 🤣.

Book or Movie? "A Dash of Love"

So far, all the entries in this series have been books and the Hallmark movies that are based on them. This one's a bit different ... though not perhaps in the way you'd expect. Someday, I'll do a Book or Movie post about a book/movie combo that's not connected to Hallmark, but today is not that day 🙂. What makes this entry different is the movie came first, and then a book based on the film was written.

Book or Movie? "Unleashing Mr. Darcy"

Welcome to the first "Book or Movie?" that doesn't feature a Christmas book/movie combo!

Unleashing Mr. Darcy is a book by Teri Wilson and a Hallmark original movie starring Ryan Paevey and Cindy Busby.

Book or Movie? "The Mistletoe Inn"

Why yes, I have read/watched another book & Hallmark movie pair! This one is The Mistletoe Inn, and it's the most enjoyable pair yet! (See my thoughts on Miss Christmas and Marry Me at Christmas.)

Book or Movie? "Miss Christmas"

Last week, a Christmas book popped up in one of the free book newsletters I subscribe to. Nothing unusual about that—free Christmas books are a dime a dozen this time of year. But this one caught my eye because of the elongated title: Miss Christmas: A Heartwarming Romance and 2017 Hallmark Film. (It's still free as of this writing, by the way.) It's a stupid title but brilliant marketing—Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas is wildly popular, so proclaiming a book's connection to Hallmark in the title is sure to catch a few eyes. It did for me, anyway!

Book or Movie? "Marry Me at Christmas"

I've often heard this saying, and I'm sure you have, too: "The book is better than the movie." While I've found that to often be the case, I can think of a handful of movies that I enjoyed more than the books that came before them. The Time Traveler's Wife is always the first example I think of, but I could come up with several others.

Now that Hallmark Channel has started showing Christmas movies, it's giving me ample opportunity to compare movies to the books they're based on.