Ginny Baird

Oh goodness! Where to start? I finished this book and I had happy tears streaming. I love Ginny Baird. She never fails to leave me happily destroyed.
In, “An Unforgettable Christmas,” we meet single mom Angie and her family, Pepe, Elena and Lita. Angie works in a jewelry store for a boss, Sam, who keeps his distance ... from everyone, including his own father. When Sam has an accident that causes memory loss, Angie brings him home to care for him.
This is such a lovely story! It is show more filled with tradition, love, kindness ... all the things that make Christmas the best time of the year! I sigh just remembering it. I adore Angie and her family. I fell in love with Sam, David, Ernesto and Ken. I am hoping to see them all finding love.
I love how Ginny Baird captured Angie’s home life and the way it is heavily influenced by her Puerto Rican heritage. It meant a lot to me to see an accurate portrayal instead of just a nod at her culture. I could smell the food through my Kindle. Haha. I seriously was left in need of some pollo con gandules, which is my favorite dish. There is a recipe in the back for Arroz con Pollo which is pretty much how I was taught to make Pollo con Gandules. My Arroz con Pollo has a more Mexican style to it as that’s where my influence is. Still, I did try the Arroz con Pollo in the book and it is a very tasty recipe. I tend to make sofrito ahead and I use a lot of sazón so this recipe was interesting for me. It was simple to make so, if you haven’t made this recipe before, don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. It only looks long because you are making a seasoning rub. A helpful hint I have for you is to increase the dry seasoning ingredients and mix in a jar to keep on hand. You will probably want to make this again and again.
I enjoyed every moment I spent with this book. It has been a challenging year for me and, at the time I was reading, some of the worst days occurred. This had me reading at a much slower pace as I stretched it out as long as I could. I needed to be, mentally, in the world the author created. If not for that I would have finished this book in a day or so. I recommend this book if you are in need to be swept away to a home filled with love, family and the spirit of Christmas.
Thank you to NetGalley, Hallmark Publishing and Ginny Baird for providing an electronic copy of this book for review. I voluntarily reviewed this book and purchased a copy because I loved it so much! I know it is a book I will turn to again. show less

First sentence: Annie Jones hurried out of the snow and in through the employee entrance at Lawson's Finest in her red knitted pom-pom hat and peacoat, clocking in on her department store app, and---ahh!--almost mowing down Santa.

Premise/plot: Annie Jones is entering the twilight zone. Mostly. This holiday romance features a time loop [on Christmas Eve] where the heroine has twelve chances to make a good 'first impression' on security guard, Braden Tate. Of course, that isn't the only thing show more she must get right to make it to Christmas morning. There are twelve cycles of Christmas Eves. Some things change. Some things are inevitable.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I did. Did it *need* to be 416 pages? Probably not. Honestly I think it would have been better at about 350-ish pages. However, the repetitiveness helped me at times get caught back up of the story. The truth is, I started this one in mid-November, it got moved in the library stack, I forgot about it completely, then picked it up yesterday and read the rest of the book. So I read the first half of the book in one sitting and the last half of the book in one sitting--but three weeks in between. Again, I enjoyed this one. If this was a movie, no doubt, I'd watch it--probably again and again depending on how well it's done. show less

This lovely Hallmark Christmas romance was a cozy mix of Christmas romance X REGARDING HENRY, the movie where a powerful lawyer loses much of his memory after a shooting and has to start over, becoming a much kinder version of himself in the process. In AN UNFORGETTABLE CHRISTMAS, Angie works as an accountant in Sam Singleton’s jewelry store. Sam has had trouble with relationships his entire life and is estranged from his friends and family. When he slips and falls on some ice just before show more Christmas, he retains some memories from early childhood, but none of the ones from the recent years of his adult life. With no close friends or family able to care for him, he is sent home with Angie. Sam’s personality changes entirely after the accident, becoming warmer, kinder. I loved seeing him connect with Angie’s family and son, and the way he reconnected with his own family and estranged friends. Of course, the looming question is… will he regain his lost memories? This was a lovely Christmas romance with some interesting complications! show less

All in for Christmas by Ginny Baird
Holiday contemporary romance with a touch of magic.
Paige Pierce teaches English in Piney Mount, Virginia and she’s just introduced a reading program with dogs for struggling students. Her career is going great, but her home life is a bit lonely. She has ornaments from her mother, but no tree. She hasn’t dated anyone since college and surprisingly he’s a surprise guest at school’s faculty holiday party. Dean Burton will start in the new year as a show more physics teacher.
Paige is caught in a bit of a time loop. She remembers how good she and Dean were together. He was her best friend. He left for a job opportunity before she graduated and she’s wondered if they would still be together if he hadn’t left for that job.
That night as Paige goes to bed, she writes in her dream journal “relationship with Dean”. When she wakes up she’s in an alternate world where she and Dean are married with two children, a dog, and little extra money but they are happy. With a child climbing on the bed and on top of her, clearly this isn’t a dream. Now what? Who will continue her program to help slow readers? Her mom is cancer free in this world. Is she ok in the alternate world? Is this her life now or is she going to wake up on Christmas back in her apartment alone?

A bit of magic and Paige is falling again for Dean. She’s finding it easy to love the children too though their very presence means she wasn’t able to finish her college degree.
Thought provoking dilemma. Try to stay in this alternate world where memories are scarce but love is all around, or go back and start new? He’s single still and interested.
What should she wish for?
A holiday story filled with love and joy. I loved the story, their progression, the romance, the children. Not the choice in the end. I understood it. But didn’t agree. show less