Have you ever been stranded, and there was nothing you could do about it?
Wedding planner Jessica travels to a small Alaskan town to get rare, highly specialized bridal flowers for her high-maintenance client. When she arrives, she finds herself in a town that has an extremely low population, limited cell phone service, and archaic airplane service.
Due to a series of mishaps, she’s stranded, and it doesn’t appear as if she’s going to make it back home in time for the wedding. Her client is frantically awaiting these special Jingle Bell flowers and Jessica is anxious to deliver them. She has to. Her job depends on it.
Charming Matt grows the Jingle Bell flowers in his greenhouse. Matt shows Jessica around town, and even encourages her to enter the Jingle Bell Pageant.
Time is ticking and Jessica really needs to make it back with the flowers, and her colleague swoops in, trying to steal Jessica’s client away since Jessica is stranded in Alaska.
Can Matt and Jessica make their relationship work, especially since they live far away from each other? Of course they do! This is a Hallmark movie after all!
It was refreshing to see an inter-racial couple. Hallmark has really been working hard on their diversity, which is a good thing.
I’ve never seen the actor playing Matt (Ronnie Rowe Jr.) on a Hallmark movie before. Although Matt and Jessica looked cute together, I didn’t really see a strong attraction between them.
So, have you ever been stranded? If so, where, and for how long, were you stranded?
It’s Christmas, and due to a mishap, Margot, a famous pianist, is now able to spend the holidays with her family – at the Christmas Chateau. Coincidentally, during her stay, she runs into Jackson, who assists the chateau with their annual Christmas concert. This is a Hallmark Movie, so, you know that Jackson will need Margot’s musical talent to contribute to the concert’s repertoire.
Jackson is also a musician. He has his PHD in music and he’s awaiting news about a fellowship for which he’s applied. Jackson and Margot broke up years ago so that they could pursue their dreams.
There’s also a side romance between two violinists. This movie was full of music and wonderful Christmas scenery.
As mentioned in other blog posts, Luke Macfarlane is one of my favorite Hallmark actors. He’s so cute! He’s got such a nice, engaging smile, too. When he grins, he almost looks like he’s hiding a secret or something.
I thought this was a sweet movie to kick off the Christmas season.
So, have you ever taken a second chance on love? If so, were you glad that you did?
Speaking of second chances, if you like second-chance romance then try Loving Luke! It’s only 99 cents and is available as an e-book and as a paperback! Loving Luke is a sweet, second-chance romance that will lift your holiday spirits! If you’ve already read it, consider leaving a sweet review on Amazon and gifting a copy to a friend for Christmas!
Brooke is dissatisfied with her life. She’s a physical therapist. She’s unhappily dating her boss. When she breaks things off with him, things get awkward for them at work. I can imagine that it must be hard to work side by side with someone with whom you’ve recently broken up.
Brooke meets Nate while she’s shopping for a coffee machine for her workplace. Neither Nate or Brooke are interested in dating. Brooke has proclaimed that she’s going to take the summer off from dating. She wants to spend time focusing on herself, doing whatever she needs to do to be happy.
When Nate hurts his knee, he finds himself in need of Brooke’s healing skills. Both of them surprisingly find out that they have a LOT of mutual friends in common as they attend the same weddings during the entire summer.
Since Brooke feels awkward around her boss, she finally decides to pursue her dream, and open her own business. She has some obstacles to overcome before she can make this happen.
The feelings between Brooke and Nate were so vivid … so real.
Nate restores old cars. He’s inherited his business from his dad. He was so supportive of Brooke. He encouraged her to pursue her dream of opening her own physical therapy business. She admitted that she was afraid of failure.
One of the strongest scenes in the movie was when Brooke’s discovers a busted pipe in her home. This is a huge mishap since Brooke had been planning on spending her extra money on opening her new business – not fixing her busted pipe. When Nate arrives, he says, “Brooke, I’m so sorry.” There’s so much depth and emotion in his voice. You know he’s falling for Brooke, especially when she replies, “I’m just glad you’re here.”
He responds, “Me too.” They share a look, a look of, well…a look of two people who are attracted to one another!
After they were thrown together at each wedding, well…their feelings developed even more, in spite of their apprehensions.
I thought it was brave of Brooke to pursue her dreams.
As is typical of Hallmark, Brooke overhears Nate’s conversation – but she doesn’t hear the entire conversation – so she mistakenly thinks that Nate is not romantically interested in her.
I thought this movie would’ve been more realistic if Hallmark hadn’t used the convention of Brooke not hearing Nate’s entire conversation. The reason why I say this is because, well, the movie would’ve been so much STRONGER, if Brooke had simply confronted Nate about what she’d “heard.” I mean the man actually helped her with her dream by restoring her car for her and finding a buyer for it. Brooke needed that money and Nate really came through for her.
The way Brooke’s character was portrayed….well…I think she’d be stronger and more forthcoming near the end. After she “heard” Nate, I would’ve had a heart to heart talk with him that evening. Brooke should’ve said, “I heard what you said earlier about wanting to stay single. Not wanting somebody telling you what to do. What’s up with that?”
Then Nate could’ve told her that she’d not heard the entire conversation! Know what I mean?
It was sweet – Nate purchasing Brooke’s restored car, instead of selling it to the interested buyer.
So have you ever been fearful in pursuing your dreams?
Bittersweet Dreams was released on July first! It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited! Earlier, I shared an excerpt here. Bittersweet Dreams is the perfect romance for Hallmark movie fans! Hallmark movies often feature treats – like chocolate candies – and reading this romance will whet your palette for more! Grab your copy today! Be sure to tell all of your Hallmark movie friends, as well as your romance-reading friends!
So, do you like the taste of good, sweet homemade candy? If so, what’s your favorite flavor?
