Faking Christmas

July 7, 2023

Laurel Grant worries she's always making a mess of things, but she's working on herself and takes comfort in knowing her twin sister Holly supports her no matter what. Writing a monthly column for Buckeye State of Mind, a magazine promoting fun happenings in Ohio, was a step in the right professional direction. Then, three days before Christmas, Laurel arrives in the office to find Gilbert, her boss, in crisis after his wife left him. Impulsively, Laurel invites Gilbert for the Grants' traditional Christmas Eve Eve celebration, forgetting her column was written as if she were living the cozy life of her sister at Meadow Rise Farm. Worried she'll lose her job, Laurel convinces her family to play their parts from her column. When Laurel's nemesis Max arrives, he's tapped for the role of her husband, and Laurel might just keep her job and find love in the process. Winfrey's (Just Another Love Song) holiday story is full of lovable characters who feel genuine in their relationships and offer introspection and witty dialogue. VERDICT Anyone who's ever enjoyed a quirky heroine, a Hallmark Channel movie, or the classic Christmas in Connecticut should rush to pick this one up.--Stacey Hayman

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Starred review from August 28, 2023
With a keen eye for both the wacky and the wonderful, Winfrey (Just Another Love Song) rings in the holidays with a clever comedy of errors. Laurel Grant falls into a dream job at an Ohio tourism magazine, where she writes a monthly column about her “simple, hardworking, sometimes chaotic life on the farm” with her husband and kids. There’s just one problem: it’s not her own life she’s writing about, but that of her much more together twin sister, Holly. So when her boss announces his desire to see the farm and invites himself over for the family’s annual Christmas Eve Eve feast, Laurel’s in a pickle. Luckily, Holly’s ready and willing to help Laurel pretend to be the lady of the manor, even recruiting her husband’s best friend, Max, to pose as Laurel’s husband. Complicating the charade is the fact that Laurel hates Max with a passion—and when a blizzard strands all at the farm, they have to pretend to be in love all the way through Christmas. It’s enough time, in fact, for the ice between Laurel and Max to melt and tender feelings to arise. The sweet romance blooms organically amid the chaos and Winfrey uses it as a vehicle to touch on deeper themes of loneliness and self-esteem. The results are utterly adorable. Agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management.

November 1, 2023
A 30-something magazine columnist pretends to be her homesteading twin sister in Winfrey's Christmas caper. Laurel Grant is a hot mess--or, at least, the Old Laurel was. Six months ago, the New Laurel Grant officially left the "Hot Mess Express" and now lives a productive life as a columnist for Buckeye State of Mind, a local Ohio magazine. There, she writes about her scenic life running a nearby farm with her doting husband and two kids, and her boss, Gilbert, is none the wiser that he's reading one giant lie. Well, more a stretch of the truth: Laurel doesn't have a husband or kids, but Meadow Rise Farm does exist, and Laurel does work there...as the social media manager. The farm actually belongs to her twin sister, Holly, and her husband, Darius, who make homemade soap and cinnamon rolls and are the complete opposites of the free-wheeling, scatterbrained Laurel. But when Gilbert, heartbroken that his wife has left him for their accountant, invites himself to the farm for the traditional Christmas Eve Eve dinner, Laurel enlists her sister to help keep her precarious ruse afloat. At the farm, she's convinced she can play the role of loving wife and mother to her sister's family, until Holly reveals that Laurel will be fake-married to their other holiday guest, Max Beckett. Max is Laurel's self-proclaimed nemesis and a professional grump--how can she pretend to be married to someone she completely loathes? However, when a blizzard traps the Grants, Max, and Gilbert in one throw-pillow-heavy farmhouse, Laurel realizes she may not hate Max or a well-balanced life as much as she imagined. In Winfrey's latest rom-com, opposites attract amid festive holiday fun. Max and Laurel are quintessential enemies to lovers--"You yourself are a headache designed expressly for me"--and Gilbert excels in his role of pitiful and fatherly comic relief. Winfrey mixes up a tale of tenderness, mischief, and friendship as inviting as your favorite Hallmark movie. Holiday hijinks and fake dating make Winfrey's romantic comedy a cozy classic.

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