Read This:
Time for me to Come Home by Dorothy Shackleford and Travis Thrasher
Watch This:
Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas on Hallmark
Why We Made this Selection and Background Knowledge
Julie: Nothing at all before we started researching Christmas-themed books/movies to cover for this podcast. It was a pretty quick pick though once we saw the Blake Shelton connection. Also found out that it’s spawned a spin-off like every year since the original came out.
Claire: Came across it in our research for December books. Thought it would be cool to read/watch something Blake Shelton had a hand in.
Before you say which you liked better, did you read the book or listen to the audiobook… because it matters.
Julie: Read on Kindle
Claire: Audiobook narrated by MacLeod Andrews. New to me narrator, a good voice. Picked up some Matthew McConaughey vibes from him at times
Overall Opinion of the Book
Julie: Cute, easy read. The plot reminded me a bit of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Kind of missing some of what you’d expect from a romance novel. Would you classify this as romance? Or is it a subgenre of romance?
The dialogue was hard to follow. Like more difficult to follow than Normal People with the no quotes. It’s like they both spoke in the same “voice”. There was no distinction in their phraseology or humor. I had to go reread whole convos to try to figure out who said what. For this reason, I wish I’d listened to the book.
Claire: The very beginning, like before the airport bathroom incident, was a little slow for me, but I get why it was needed. The rest was good and also very predictable. I will say I love it when one person is famous and the other person has absolutely no idea who they are.
I just have one problem with this book… Anyone who knows anything about country music knows a Christmas album is basically every artist’s second album. It’s like an unspoken rule of country music. And Heath already had eight studio albums, so this Christmas album was going to be his ninth? Not buying that.
Overall Opinion of the Movie
Claire: Like 15 minutes into the movie I realized there was no way I wouldn’t like the book better. The one thing I was looking forward to didn’t happen. And then the second thing I wanted to see didn’t happen.
Julie: The book was 1000% better. They completely changed Heath’s personality from being funny to being mopey.
Which was better?
Julie: The Book
Claire: The Book
Ranking…
- Was the outcome the same in both the show and the book? Yes
- Was the main character/primary narrator the same in the show and the book? Yes
- Was the primary conflict the same in the show and the book? Yes
- Would you read the book again or recommend it to a friend? No
- Would you watch the show/movie again or recommend it to a friend? No
Overall rating: Claire – 5/5, Julie 4/5
