Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Once Upon a Christmas Carol  By  cover art

Once Upon a Christmas Carol

By: Karen Schaler
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Ryan Paevey, full cast
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.95

Buy for $14.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Celebrate the magic and music of the season with this scripted holiday romance by Emmy Award-winning writer Karen Schaler!

Rachel Rinehart’s Christmas season is on the brink of disaster when her record label suddenly drops her, threatening to end her music career. Then she receives a mysterious Christmas card, and everything starts to change....

Inside the card are lyrics to a classic Christmas carol urging her to return home to Crystal Falls, the snowy mountain town she left behind 15 years ago.

Once she arrives in Crystal Falls, a stroke of fate brings her face-to-face with her first love, Matt Meyers, who’s now a devoted single dad. Rachel continues to receive mysterious cards filled with Christmas carol lyrics and clues she must follow—all leading her back to Matt. Is it the work of a hometown matchmaker, or could it be Christmas magic? And will the music and majesty of the season help Rachel discover where she truly belongs?

Now available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.

©2022 Karen Schaler (P)2022 Audible Originals

About the Creator and Performer

Karen Schaler, "A holiday publishing darling…" (Entertainment Weekly), is a three-time Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, author, journalist, and national TV host. Schaler has written romantic comedy Christmas movies for Netflix, Hallmark, and Lifetime including the Netflix sensation A Christmas Prince, Lifetime’s Every Day is Christmas starring Toni Braxton, and Hallmark’s Christmas Camp, where Schaler wrote the movie and novel. Schaler’s new novel Love Always, Christmas and novels A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale and Christmas Ever After are also Audible Exclusives. Schaler credits her passionate and prolific writing style to her background as a national TV correspondent, where she has traveled to more than 68 countries. From being the first journalist in the world embedded with an Apache helicopter unit in Afghanistan and ground troops in Bosnia to going undercover as a crime and investigative reporter to creating her own empowering Travel Therapy TV series, Schaler draws from her unique life experiences for her storytelling.

About the Performer

Brittany Pressley is an NYC based voice actor. She has narrated over 500 audiobooks and can be heard on many national TV commercials. She is also a series regular on two Netflix animated children's cartoons. She has won 18 Audiofile Magazine Earphones Awards and is the winner of a 2018 Audie Award for Best Middle Grade and a 2022 Audie Award for Best Thriller/Suspense. She is a proud graduate of Columbia University.

About the Performer

After a successful career launch playing fan favorite Detective Nathan West on ABC's longest running soap opera General Hospital, Ryan Paevey quickly became a staple in the Hallmark Channel family. From his debut in Unleashing Mr. Darcy (2016) to countless Christmas films and the summertime hit Two Tickets To Paradise (2022), Ryan has been an integral part of the network, starring in over a dozen films and recently signing a multi-picture deal. In addition to his expansive Hallmark repertoire, Paevey has also made guest appearances on FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine and BET’s Games People Play. When he's not on set, Ryan can be found in his shop working on his latest jewelry collection for his company, Fortunate Wanderer, seeking outdoor adventures on his motorcycle, or tackling a new video game.

About the Performer

Mia Sinclair Jenness began her professional career at age six playing the iconic Little Cosette on the 25th Anniversary National tour of Les Misérables, a role she went on to originate during its Broadway revival run. She continued to shine on stage, appearing in multiple Broadway shows, including Les Miserables, Matilda, and Mary Page Marlowe. In addition to roles on Raven’s Home, Blue Bloods, and Orange Is the New Black, Mia stars as Powder in the Emmy Award -winning television series Arcane and can be heard daily as Nancy in the Emmy Award-nominated Disney Junior series, Fancy Nancy, based on the popular book series. She will next appear in the feature film The Storied Life of AK Fikry based on the bestselling book by Gabrielle Zevin. Previous work for Audible includes three season of Letters from Camp, The Disappearance of Emily Downs, and multiple multi cast Audible Originals.

About the Performer

Jim Seybert records audiobooks in a studio on California’s Central Coast. He’s a member of two Improv Comedy teams, and spends his summers as the PA Announcer for a collegiate league baseball team in San Luis Obispo. He has recorded more than 100 books.

About the Performer

Pam Ward, a member of the Founding Board of the Collaborative Theatre Project, has been a working actor her entire adult life and as a result has had many other types of jobs, including the traditional (waitress) as well as private detective, classical musician, marketer for Costco, and television talk-show host. Pam records audiobooks to put food on the table and has won the Alexander Scourby Award from the Library of Congress and Earphones from AudioFile Magazine, in addition to being named one of the 'Best Voices of 2014' by AudioFile. Gathering experience from years of performing in everything from community theater to touring dinner theaters to off-broadway and summer stock, she has grabbed every opportunity to learn and grow. Although she lacks the formal credentials of her fellow board members her professional background in film, television, music, theater, voice work and commercial audiobooks has given her a wealth of practical experience that informs her work.

About the Musicians

With performances and recordings featured by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Gramophone, New York Classical Review, American Record Guide, Fanfare, and more, Carl Patrick Bolleia has performed as pianist and historical keyboardist throughout North America, Europe and China, at venues including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Merkin Hall, NJPAC, Bargemusic, le poisson rouge, and Spectrum. Dedicated to contemporary music and historical performance, he holds the Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School and the Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University. His large scale commissioning project of works for diverse keyboard instruments, entitled tintinnabulation.bloom, features inaugural compositions by the world’s leading composers, including Frederic Rzewski, Tyshawn Sorey and Stephen Hough. He is Director of Music at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Boonton, NJ and Assistant Professor of Music at William Paterson University, where he is Director of New Music and Coordinator of Piano and Keyboard Studies.

About the Musicians

Violinist Katherine Fong has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2000. A native of Amarillo, Texas, she began playing at age four. Katherine leads a multifaceted existence as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, soloist, entrepreneur, studio musician, and mother. She is founder and spokesperson for Luxitune for which she has designed bejeweled fine tuners for string instruments. She is always learning new trades from studying sketch comedy to learning manuscript editing. Since 2017, Katherine has served as personnel manager of the Apex Ensemble, based in Montclair, New Jersey, which pairs outstanding Juilliard and other NYC area conservatories with members of the Metropolitan Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. Katherine received a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory and continued her studies at the Juilliard School, where she received her Master of Music degree. She is a proud Upper West Side mommy to Zeke (age 10), Lila (age 7).

Featured Article: The Best Festive Rom-Coms to Cozy Up to This Holiday Season


If you're the kind of person who watches every single holiday romantic comedy that arrives on Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix each season, then this list of holiday rom-com listens was made for you. From cozy snowy cabins to magical holidays spent exploring new places, from young adult to older protagonists, these holiday rom-com audiobooks have a little bit of everything to add a bit of holiday cheer to your listening this winter.

What listeners say about Once Upon a Christmas Carol

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    668
  • 4 Stars
    239
  • 3 Stars
    185
  • 2 Stars
    49
  • 1 Stars
    30
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    747
  • 4 Stars
    191
  • 3 Stars
    92
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    17
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    608
  • 4 Stars
    219
  • 3 Stars
    175
  • 2 Stars
    42
  • 1 Stars
    26

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Total Hallmark movie

This story would have beem right at home on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries during Christmas time. It was so sweet and it wrapped up so nicely.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

The story was perfect and uplifting. Someone else mentioned the narration. You have to listen to the entire story to understand the point of the narration. Everything has a purpose in this story. I love the sound effects and atmospheric scenes. If you want to escape to a friendly, hopeful, positive place with a mystery and romance and challenges to overcome, this is for you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

ugh

So, so cheesy! I finished it, 'cause mama didn't raise a quitter, but it was horribly difficult to continue on.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A super cute, short Christmas listen!

This was a fantastic story to listen to! And a great reminder of what is really and always influential, family, happiness, and love. I needed this reminder! Great voices, great singing, and music! Ah, my heart is happy and full of Christmas cheer!🎄❤️🎧

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartwarming!!!

This was a beautiful story!! I loved the performances and the narration was great. I loved the storyline and I wish that it could have been longer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful music and story

I enjoyed this story! It was a bit cheesy, but I like a little cheese at Christmas time. The full cast made it interesting and gave it more dimension. I thoroughly loved the music that was woven into the story. These short stories are perfect for a listen while getting a task done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

what a joyful book! perfect for Christmas

Loved this Karen Schaler book, what a joy to listen to this audible. Great narration, great story line, a book that I'll listen to again this Christmas season and every December! Music was fantastic also, very talented singers, pianist and violinist. The music at the end was a surprise happy bonus. A+ on this book in all areas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

3D Full Cast like graphic audio

Love this cute story from Ms. Schaler. and I like the graphic audio style production quality with a full cast. This really makes the book come alive. I was definitely listening to a hallmark movie in my mind.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful, Heartfelt Christmas story

This is a favorite! So, glad I picked this short story. The theme is definitely a Hallmark movie. Love the instrumental renderings of the various featured carols throughout the book gathered at the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Short and sweet

Super sweet, super short and a great cast of characters. If you like a second chance novella, this one is for you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful