November 25, 2013

Upcoming Movie Review: "Let It Snow" - A Genuine Hallmark Holiday Treat

Let It Snow,” starring Candace Cameron Bure, Jesse Hutch, and Alan Thicke, premieres Saturday, November 30, at 8/7c as part of the Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas.

When a resort executive is sent to a newly purchased lodge in Maine with instructions to turn it in to an ultra-modern resort, she finds a charming, successful lodge loaded with holiday spirit and makes a connection with the owner's handsome son. Will she stick with her boss/father’s plans to tear everything down or find a way to save what she has come to love? (~from HallmarkChannel.com)

Movie Review: Falling in Love With the Magic of Christmas

Snow may fall, but hearts melt in this warm holiday story about family, love, and the magic of Christmas.

When Stephanie Beck, self-proclaimed “grinch” arrives at the picturesque Snow Valley Lodge in Maine at Christmas, she is far from the warmth of her Arizona high-rise. Her job: to make recommendations to her boss—who is also her father and the property’s new owner—for tearing down the family-owned lodge and starting over from the ground up with a trendy hot spot for singles. 

But arriving at Snow Valley Lodge at Christmas makes Stephanie’s job increasingly difficult. As she lets herself take part in the lodge’s daily Christmas traditions like hanging ornaments, making gifts for the children’s hospital, sampling delicious treats, building gingerbread houses, lighting the Christmas Tree and singing carols, taking a horse drawn sleigh ride, she can’t help but feel drawn to the love and feeling of family here, something she hasn’t felt in a long time.  

Soon, not only does Stephanie fall unexpectedly in love with Christmas, but also with Brady, the lodge owners’ son. Stephanie’s growing desire to understand this enchanting winter wonderland and why its guests return every year for Christmas forces Brady to see the simple beauty surrounding him and to remember what he once appreciated about this lodge that his family has run for generations. Suddenly, Brady isn't sure about the direction his future was heading. 

And neither is Stephanie. Her future depends on her ability to change the charming, family-loved lodge to fit her company’s hip, happening brand, but she can’t find it in her heart to do that. Her father pressures her for a decision, but any decision she makes will require a heartbreaking sacrifice. Her heart and her job are on the line. Has her time in Snow Valley melted her heart enough that she can hear what it’s telling her?

“Let It Snow” is a charming story about love, about family, about what a gift people are to one another. It reminds us not to take anything for granted, including simple family traditions. It reminds us to see the love we have right in front of us, and if necessary, to allow our hearts to say things left too long unspoken. A genuine Hallmark holiday treat!



~Movie Review by Camille Eide
Author of Savanna’s Gift, A Romantic Christmas Novella

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. . . .

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

I've published five novels and 2 novellas (more about those on my website.) I've been writing all my life, but decided in 2007 to get serious about being published.

I love action movies and Jane Austen. (she’s dead, I know. I found that out when I tried to get her to endorse my novel)

They let me play Bass guitar and sing in a worship band.

I can produce 4 dozen homemade cinnamon rolls in a flash for a crowd of drooling young adults. Or publishing house editors.

I used to have a Harley. Now we have seven grandkiddos. Decent trade, really.

I am a proud Grammy. Don't even think about taking candy from my babies.

I hate shopping (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a girl)

MY ROOTS:
I've lived in Oregon all my life, spent time in Eugene (Go DUCKS!), Springfield, Reedsport, and Smith River. Which is not really a town, but a river, about 70 miles long, a tributary of the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon.

Although it's not a town, it is a community with a strong sense of pioneer history. It's cool to say you've lived there, especially if you lived there during the days when you had to take a boat to school. No joke! The old farmhouse my grandfather and my mother grew up in still stands, nestled into a narrow, pasture carpeted valley, complete with a swimmin' hole and its own 'crick'. It may turn up in one of my novels.

There's a rumor that my ancestors had a connection with the Mafia back in Sicily. I used to fantasize as a kid about a big black limo with tinted windows pulling up and whisking me away from school. Ahhh. So THAT'S why I'm having so much trouble conjugating my dangling participles now.

NOT RANDOM: I am challenged by the truth and amazed by the grace of God. And it's either in spite of or because of that grace that I hold a PhD in Learning Stuff the Hard Way.