
336 pages Publisher Ballantine | Dell Publication date October 7, 2025
ABOUT THE BOOK
Could a fake relationship with your ex over Christmas in Scotland be the perfect opportunity for revenge—or a second chance at love? One woman is about to find out in this charming holiday romance from the author of Always, in December and A Winter Wish.
Melanie hasn’t had a good year. Her work life isn’t what she dreamed it would be, her best friend has moved to the other side of the world, and Finn, the man she was sure was the love of her life, dumped her. In front of everyone. At his sister’s engagement party.
So when Finn shows up at Mel’s doorstep two weeks before Christmas, asking if she’ll help him, her first instinct is to slam the door in his face—or punch him.
But he has a proposal for her: Spend the week of Christmas with him and his family in a vacation cottage in the Scottish Highlands. His mother is obsessed with the idea of a perfect Christmas—and to make this dream come true Finn told his mother that he and Mel are dating again. All Mel has to do is come with him and pretend they’re back together.
Mel may hate Finn, but she loves his mom. So she agrees—on one condition. At the end of the week, Finn will allow Mel to publicly dump him so that she can get her dignity back and he can experience the same humiliation she felt.
It’s only a week. Mel can pretend to still be in love with Finn for one week, surely. Except as the festivities bring her closer than ever to Finn and his family, Mel starts to lose track of which feelings are fake and which are for real.

Who stayed up until 1:30 a.m. reading this last night? Yep, read it in a few hours and just couldn’t put it down.
One thing I’ve noticed about the author’s books are they’re so darn emotional, and that’s what makes them so good. Books you can connect with, books that make you want to come back to them and definitely look forward to the next one.
As far as I know the author writes one book a year and they’re always Christmas books and I’m okay with that. I love Christmas books!
Maggie still has feelings for Finn, not that she’ll admit it to anyone including herself. He broke up with her though at his sister’s engagement party in front of everyone with no explanation to her and she feels made a fool of.
When he shows up at her door six months later asking for a favor, she wants to punch his lights out and slam the door in his face.
He proposes fake dating so his family will have a perfect Christmas, his mother is obsessed with Christmas and he’s doing it to make her happy.
She loves his mom, so she agrees.
This involves staying at a cabin in Scotland with his family over the Christmas holiday week. Touching is allowed only when the family is looking, sweet nicknames too.
What if this brings back a flood of memories for both and they start to really fall in love all over again in this second chance at love story?
Now the emotional part, there’s secrets his family is keeping from each other because they want everyone to have the perfect worry-free Christmas.
When one family member’s secret becomes unkeepable how will this affect everyone’s Christmas fun?
Can this be a love to stay this time or will it end after Christmas is over?
Sweet, Charming and Emotional.
Great read!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author
Emily Stone is the author of Always, in December, One Last Gift, Love, Holly, and A Winter Wish. She lives and works in the UK and wrote her first novel in an old Victorian manor house with an impressive literary heritage.















































