From my favorite movies..

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I can see reading other reviews that some love the movie, and others where kinda "mehh" about it. I am a single dad and usually watch these movies with my teen daughter. I have also reviewed several other Hallmark Christmas movies since I started getting hooked on them in 2016. Others in their reviews have outlined the plot so I shall not touch on that in my comments and instead focus on our impressions of the movie. Speaking for both of us, we really enjoyed this movie. We found it more realistic and relatable then many of the other hallmark holiday season themed movies and we thought the chemistry between the leads was great. I have never been a Rachel Cook fan, and even in this movie it took a bit of time to warm up to her, although at the end of the movie I thought she looked very pretty. On the other hand I have always really liked Niall Matter in these types of movies - he fits into the characters they have him portray very well and we thought he hit a home run in this movie. My daughter is reminding me we saw him as the lead in another Hallmark holiday movie last year which we also enjoyed.There were many occasions during the movie where we laughed, and otherwise we always had a smile on our faces. It was an enjoyable movie. I think most Hallmark fans would be charmed by this movie. We felt this movie deserved a very good rating. Please note we rate relative to the genre. For a Hallmark movie this was a home run, and so it gets a 9 in that context.

Rachael Leigh Cook was wonderful, as usual. She developed her character and actually gave her emotions that you could feel. The story was original, The writing was good, even most of the casting was good. Niall Matter is another story. He could be well cast as a best friend, cousin, brother, but NEVER EVER the male lead in a romance movie. He has played opposite several really good actresses always the same result. Absolutely no chemistry between them. He can skate, and read lines but his portrayal is flat and without feeling. The necessary chemistry is missing. Maybe Hallmark can use him in a mystery, but his performance in this one ruined what could have been a good movie. my score...1

I was looking forward to all of the 2018 Winterfest movies. So for the only one I've liked is Love on the Slopes. (Though I have high hopes for Winter's Dream with Dean Cain).In Frozen in Love, I found the female lead, Rachel Leigh Cook, really annoying. I love books and bookstores and libraries, but she was just ridiculous with her adament clinging to the past and refusal to do anything to help her bookstore modernize and survive. Her immediate antagonism for a guy who just wants a freaking cup of coffee comes off as extremely bitchy and rude. For the first half of the movie, she was just so over-the-top snotty. Yes, I know romances need to show character growth, but in this case, it was too extremely and unrealistic. and it made me dislike her character so much, I didn't want the guy to fall for her. I never felt the chemistry between these characters. Nor did it make sense to me a big time jock would fall for this small-minded, snobby woman. Why? The male lead (Niall Matter) was good despite this. I would definitely watch another movie with him as the co-star.The plot is also problematic. A famous bad-boy athlete is paired with a little indie bookshop as a PR stunt to help his rep? Why? This makes no sense to me. And then the way he dumps the store at the end -- a typical romance "angst point" ruse -- just didn't work. It didn't make sense that his team manager would put him on this PR stunt in the first place, and then pull him out of it at the last moment. Wouldn't that further hurt his rep?Overall, this not one of the better Hallmarks. There are plenty of others to watch. Take a pass on this one.

Mary Cartwright (Rachel Leigh Cook) a book-store owner struggling financially, and suspended hockey player Adam Clayborn (Niall Matter) needing to clean up his bad boy/hot temper attitude are paired together to achieve their objectives. The story is solid and the supporting cast is entertaining, especially Mary's brother Tyler Cartwright (Niall Matter).While I am a fan of Rachael Leigh Cook and Niall Matter I don't feel that their chemistry was very convincing. I still give it a solid 6 but it isn't anything that I will look forward to seeing again.1/13/2018 --- Victor J.