Hallmark movies frequently have nice scenery. This time it is a man made structure, the Hotel de Glace. I can't imagine staying there. Brr. But it would be so interesting.

The movie is pretty standard and no real surprises. Habree Larratt, as Sara, adds a little to the story as cute kids often do. Emilie Ullerup and Kevin McGarry connect as the leads. Ullerup's enthusiasm and optimism are a real plus for the movie.

All through the movie, I felt bad for Lana. She appears to be a nice person who has given much of herself for Craig and Sara. She lacks Jenny's excitement, but she's been close to the family for years. I cringed a little at how much Jenny's sister marginalized Lana and totally pushed Jenny to pursue Craig at Lana's expense. The trope of an existing rival is common in these movies, but it they don't usually seem so worthwhile as an alternative for the applicable lead. I'm a little old school in that I'm not a fan of pursuing a romantic interest who is already hooked up. And Jenny was a little wishy-washy about the issue.

{Additional edit to original review} After so recently watching and reviewing dozens of the season's Christmas romances, I have been repeatedly complaining about derivative and overused plot lines. This movie does at least a couple of original things. The obvious one is the ice hotel. The backstory of the lady lead's rival is a bit different. It's a bit different how the rival shines in front of everyone in one scene, in this case by her musical solo. And the scene of one of the members of the triangle seeing and misunderstanding a tête-à-tête between the other two has the roles reversed as it is the rival, not the heroine, who sees it and misunderstands at least what technically occurred even if she correctly understood the sentiments. Even the discomfort connected with Lana's pain is a bit out of the norm for these movies.

Jenny is a bridesmaid to her sister's destination wedding at a ice hotel. Meg, the bride, plans to set her up with Craig, the best man, only to find out later that he brought a plus one. Meanwhile, inspired by the place and the adventures Jenny plans to write a children's book to persue her dream: become an author (Bree O'brien, hello?)

The story was nice. No major plot holes to complain about. Generally speaking, it was a stardard hallmark movie. I really enjoyed it.

The best part was definitely the locations the shot at: the ice hotel was real, the landscape was breathtaking. That was a big contribution to the story. (Of course, it's a winter movie)

Emilie Ullerup always delivers enthusiasm with her characters which is greatly appreciated. I always enjoyed her performance. I'm glad they are giving her more lead roles. Regarding the rest of the characters, Kevin McGarry didn't let the spectator down with his performance as a single father (to an adorable girl Sara who filled the movie with joy and happiness). And the rest of the secondary characters were alright. (Wasn't the mother too young though?)

The chemistry between Emilie and Kevin was fine. Finally, I actually feel bad for Lana, "the plus one date", kudos to the actress for that.

Give it a try.

It was nice to see a very different and beautiful setting but storyline was just so so. I sometimes have problems in some Hallmark movies were attention details get siderailed. For instance Lana buys a champagne dress for Sarah to wear to the rehearsal dinner and Sarah walks in with a red dress. Then Lana walks up the stairs to the dinner, sees something upsetting and walks back out but the shot of the dinner table doesn't even have a place setting for her in the first place. The father says to the wait staff "we're just waiting for one more" and the one more he refers to is his daughter and not Lana. Nobody wonders where Lana is. Guess no one is supposed to focus in on the details anyway but just the characters.