Thea Ashcombe, a fiercely independent single mum, is about to face her toughest challenge yet: Christmas on a shoestring. As the festive season looms, Thea’s feeling a little like their old family Christmas tree – tired and lacking in sparkle!
Nick Saint, the quiet and devoted farm shop manager in the idyllic village of Lower Brambleton, has secretly liked Thea for years. Trapped in the friend zone since high school, he’s given up hope of Thea seeing him as anything more than reliable ‘Saint’ Nick…
But when Thea steps into Nick’s world to help at the bustling farm shop, something unexpected happens. Suddenly, her sensible head is spinning with a schoolgirl crush she never saw coming! Is it just the enchanting glow of Christmas, the twinkling lights playing tricks on her mind?
As they work side-by-side preparing for the magical Christmas market, and as Nick’s thoughtful gestures – like a perfectly fresh Christmas tree appearing at her door – begin to melt her defences, Thea starts to wonder – maybe all she really needs for Christmas… is Nick!
Such a charming holiday read. I’ve read other books by the author and I always look forward to her books. Now add in a Christmas story and it makes it even more delightful. I was so delighted to see returning characters we met in the previous book. I loved the setting with its small town charm, markets and festive decorations.
The book is very relatable, Christmas on a very tight budget can be very stressful. Loved the two main characters, Thea and Nick. Each has a great personality. She’s a great mom and wants the best for them, he’s a gentle and caring guy. Will he get a chance to act on his long secret feelings for Thea?
Christmas magic sprinkled throughout in this hard to put down read. Lovely book to get lost in for an afternoon.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Author Bio –
Fay Keenan is the author of the bestselling Little Somerby and Willowbury series of novels. She has led writing workshops with Bristol University and has been a visiting speaker in schools. She is a full-time teacher and lives in Somerset.
385 pages One More Chapter publisher Publication date October 31, 2022
ABOUT THE BOOK
Unwrap this gorgeous gift of a book for an escape to the snow-peaked caps of the Scottish Highlands and a romance that will melt your heart…
Izzy McBride had never in a million years expected to inherit an actual castle from her great uncle Bill but here she was, in the run up to Christmas, Monarch of her own Glen – a very rundown glen in need of a lot of TLC if her dream of turning it into a boutique bed and breakfast was to come true.
But when Izzy’s eccentric mother rents a room to enigmatic thriller author Ross Adair and the Scottish snow starts to settle like the frosting on a Christmas cake, it’s a race to get the castle ready before they’re all snowed in for the holidays.
MY THOUGHTS
October seems to be the month for a lot of Christmas books releasing and though I didn’t get a chance to read this when it released, I am so glad I got a chance to read it now. I also have the next book in the series and look forward to it as well.
You’re going to love your holiday trip to the Scottish Highlands through this book. A fun romantic holiday read it hits all the feels you need. An inheritance of a castle in Scotland is nothing to sneeze at and Izzy McBride would never have thought it would happen to her. Running it with her over the top mother can be a bit overwhelming, she does have others helping het to run it though she gets that help in a way she wasn’t expecting.
Though the flakes are flying outside things are heating up in the castle with thriller author Ross Adair as one of her guests. Loved reading the descriptions of the castle and gardens. The Scottish foods and descriptions of ingredients made me hungry. Lobed the two mothers and their plotting and planning, how much fun. Shall I pack my bags now? I’m ready for a visit to the castle.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Formerly a PR director, for many years Julie Caplin swanned around Europe taking top food and drink writers on press trips (junkets) sampling the gastronomic delights of various European cities. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
These trips have provided the inspiration and settings for the best selling Romantic Escapes Series which began with The Little Café in Copenhagen, which was nominated for a Romantic Novel of the Year award. Since then she has set books in countries including Iceland, Japan and Paris. The series has been published in 20 territories from Brazil to Sweden and have become bestsellers in the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy.
The next book in the series A Villa With a View will be published on February 29, 2024 and is set on the glamorous Amalfi Coast. Final edits have just been submitted to the publisher and the gorgeous front cover has just gone up on Amazon.
Julie also writes best selling novels as Jules Wake, which include Covent Garden in the Snow, Notting Hill in the Snow, The Saturday Morning Park Run, From Italy with Love and The Spark.
368 pages Random House Publishing Group Pub Date Oct 15 2024
ABOUT THE BOOK
When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday novel from the author of Always, in December and One Last Gift
When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.
Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.
Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.
There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.
MY THOUGHTS
I have read several other books by the author, and they are all very emotional books. The author really knows how to write a book that sticks with you and pulls on your heartstrings. The situations are so realistic that it could be your family or friends experiencing it.
Sometimes you wake up and have no idea your life is going to completely change from mundane and totally ordinary to something you’re not expecting at all.
This is what happens to our main character Lexie. Having her life thrown into chaos and uncertainty isn’t her idea of fun. Oh Lexie, she rides a rising tide of emotions throughout the whole book. I started out feeling sorry for her character but became empathetic towards her, she has a lot more on her plate than the average person.
Our main male character, Theo, I didn’t like him at first at all. His character is not made out to be likable from the way he treats Lexie to their arguments. A work trip with our main characters forced to go starts to thaw this frosty relationship into a mutual attraction.
I loved the dialogue between them when things started clicking, such humor and wit. With some tough decisions ahead of her will Lexie make the right ones to not only have workplace peace of mind but with family relationships and her brightly burning love life.
Love the close family relationships of healing and coming together. Lovely story!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Hello, I’m Emily! If you’ve found this page then welcome, and thanks so much for showing an interest in my writing.
I have written three books now, which feels surreal! My latest novel is Love, Holly in the US and The Christmas Letter in the UK. My books always revolve around the Christmas period, but span the course of a whole year and more. They also deal with love – and grief, in one way or another. I think I put a part of me in every book – as I’m sure every author does – and my newest book is no exception. The main character – Holly – often does the wrong thing for the right reasons, and that is a situation I’ve found myself in! And with three sisters myself, writing about the sister love – and difficulties – in this book felt personal at times!
My other two novels are One Last Gift – a story of finding yourself when you feel that’s impossible, and of the love between siblings – and Always, in December. As my debut novel, it will always be one close to my heart. Whilst very different from me, the protagonist, Josie is suffering with a grief that I know all too well – losing a parent/parents at a young age, and having to carry that grief into adulthood, long after it’s supposedly ‘gone away’. I lost my mum when I was seven, and I still think about her even now, in my thirties – and that’s something that Josie and I share. Max, too, is suffering his own kind of grief, and that’s something that he has to learn to deal with. But whilst the novel is about grief, and learning to live with that, it’s also about falling in love, and about learning to be brave, even when your life doesn’t feel quite right yet – even if it feels like it will never quite be right!
I wrote my first two novels in a glorious house in Chepstow, living with my sister and my two nieces. My third book I wrote on the English coastline in Cornwall – so I consider myself very lucky!
If you read any of my novels then thank you, and I really hope you enjoy! If you want to get in touch then I’d love to hear from you – I’m on Twitter and Instagram under @EmStoneWrites!
I wish you all a Happy New Year filled with all good things, health, comfortable living and many fabulous memories to be made. Read some wonderful books and enjoy them. Thank you to all my readers I enjoy talking to you and reading your comments. Thank you for subscribing, liking my posts and sharing what’s going on with yourselves. May you be blessed in every way this year!
338 pages Boldwood Books publisher September 17, 2024 publication date buy link
ABOUT THE BOOK
Turn a tumbledown Paris hotel into a perfect boutique, bookish retreat, and have it open for Christmas? What could possibly go wrong?
When Anais receives a near-derelict Paris hotel in her divorce settlement, her first thought is to tidy it up and sell it immediately. All she wants is to move on and forget her disaster of a marriage ever happened.
But selling it proves impossible, so she has only one option: to make it gorgeous and open by Christmas… when her funds will almost certainly run out.
She’s not counting on the grumpy American bar-owner next door, Noah, coming and interfering at every moment though. Nor is she expecting to find a mysterious room – which holds the key to a one-hundred-year-old secret – about a woman who chose love against the odds.
One thing’s for sure… as the fairy lights twinkle all over the city of lights and the first snowflakes start to fall… this will be a Christmas in Paris to remember.
MY THOUGHTS
A warm hug in a book. This one was lovely with lots of descriptions of Paris life and foods.
Renovation of an old, dilapidated Parisian hotel into a new and modern boutique and bookish retreat had all the bookish feels you can imagine. The book also deals with Anais’s writers block after a divorce from a man just a little too charming with the ladies.
There is a mystery attached to the hotel, and we get lots of hotel renovation details. I was drawn into the Paris life and the many literary references as I read.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Rebecca Raisin is an internationally bestselling romance writer from Perth, Australia. Her books are set in stunning locations around the world providing a touch of escapism for her readers and those who like to partake in a spot of armchair travel from the comfort of their own home. Rebecca writes quirky heroines who haven’t figured it all out yet but are perfectly relatable, flaws and all. You’ll find themes such as friendship, love, new beginnings, food, wine and travel. She’s known for writing books for book lovers. Her next book: The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted is being published by Boldwood Books on February 3rd 2025. It’s a heartwarming tale about the power of reading and the finding community in bookshops.
Rebecca’s novel, Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop has been optioned by MRC Films for film adaptation.
451 pages Barbour Fiction September 1, 2024 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Christmas Is Simply a Time for Love Enjoy a simple Amish Christmas in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, that is sweetened by second chances, trimmed in love, and wrapped in faith.
Lucy’s Christmas Sunbeam by Anne Blackburne When her parents suddenly died, Lucy stepped into the mother role for her infant sister with Down’s Syndrome. But Lucy’s boyfriend wasn’t interested in a readymade family. Living in the dawdi house on her brother’s farm, Lucy is happy with life—until she literally runs into the hardware store owner and desire for romance returns.
A Bird-in-Hand Christmas by Amy Clipston After learning her boyfriend, Wyatt, was seeing someone else, Makayla moved across state and married. Recently widowed, she visits her parents for Christmas, only to find that Wyatt is still single and working for her father. When her five-year-old son instantly bonds with Wyatt, Makayla starts to hope for a second chance at love.
Christmas Lily by Amy Lillard Seven-year-old Jacob Bontrager is working hard to help his lonely widower father find love again. He believes his pretty new teacher who has just moved to the community is perfect, but none of his matchmaking works until a snowstorm strands Lily Kate Troyer at the Bontrager farm. Could God and nature be on Jacob’s side?
Leaving Lancaster by Mindy Steele The Wicky sisters didn’t expect their father to sell their thriving deer farm with plans to move them to Kentucky. Always obedient Louise fears for her growing jam business. Beth cannot wait to start a new adventure while her twin, Leah, is running out of time for a happy-ever-after. They have only one Christmas left in Lancaster. Can God deliver a Christmas miracle for all three?
MY THOUGHTS
I enjoy Amish books and to have the theme of Christmas was such a fun added bonus.
This book has four romance novellas centered around faith and Christmas. Four well known Amish writing authors entertained me with light easy reading filled with Lancaster County, Pennsylvania couples.
These couples are courting, or it may be a second chance romance. Fun writing styles kept me reading. Sweet romance this book would make a fine gift for a friend.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHORS
Amy Clipston has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her fiction writing “career” began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery series with Zondervan, which is part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. An advocate for organ and blood donation, Amy donated a kidney in 2011 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Through her donation, her husband received a second kidney transplant. Amy and her husband matched another couple and swapped kidneys with them. Amy’s memoir, A Gift of Love, will be available in early 2014. She hopes her story inspires others to become organ and blood donors. Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats. You can find her on the web at http://www.AmyClipston.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmyClipstonBooks.
Raised in Kentucky timber country, Steele writes Amish Romance peppered in humor, using her rural surroundings as her muse. She is a best selling author and the winner of the 2022 and 2024 FHLCW Reader’s Choice award for sweet romance. Steele creates realistic characters for her readers and believes in engaging all the senses to make you laugh, cry, hold your breath, and root for the happy ever after ending. Readers can find themselves, somewhere within her pages.
Anne Blackburne lives and works in Southeast Ohio as a newspaper editor and writer. She is the mother of five grown children, has one wonderful grandchild, and a spoiled poodle named Millie. For fun, when she isn’t working on Amish romance or sweet mysteries, Anne directs and acts in community theater productions and writes and directs original plays. She also enjoys reading, kayaking, swimming, searching for beach glass, and just sitting with a cup of coffee looking at large bodies of water. Her idea of the perfect vacation is cruising and seeing amazing new places with people she loves.
Amy loves nothing more than a good book. Except for her family…and maybe homemade tacos…and nail polish. But reading and writing are definitely high on the list.
Born and bred in Mississippi, Amy is a transplanted Southern Belle who now lives in Oklahoma with her deputy husband, their genius son, two spoiled cats, and one very lazy beagle. Oh, and don’t forget the stray kitty that has taken up residence on her front porch. ^..^
When she’s not creating quirky characters and happy endings, she’s chauffeuring her prodigy to guitar lessons, orchestra concerts and baseball practice. She has a variety of hobbies, but her favorite is whatever gets her out of housework.
Amy also writes contemporary romances under the pen name Amie Louellen.
An award winning author, Amy is a member of RWA and ACFW. She loves to hear from readers. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest. For links to the various sites, check her website: http://www.amylillardbooks.com.
290 pages Kensington Books September 24, 2024 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
The first in a new cozy Christmas series where the 12 annual Competitions of Christmas in the, close-knit town of Noel, North Carolina are underway! This year horse breeder, and newcomer, Jordyn Banks decides to take on the resident Christmas tree decorating champion, who happens to be her handsome next door neighbor.
Barrel racer Jordyn Banks is thrilled to discover affordable land for sale in charming Noel, perfect for breeding her horses. But that’s not all. A nomad with no family—other than her beloved Quarter Horse, Star—she also hopes to find a home within the close-knit Appalachian Mountain community. Yet Jordyn didn’t bargain on inheriting a controversial Fraser Fir—or falling for a handsome single dad whose adorable little girl tempts her to dream of being far more than a property owner . . .
Since losing his wife in childbirth six years ago, Nate Reed has devoted himself to their daughter, Roxanna, and built up their thriving Frosted Firs Ranch. For nine years straight he’s won Noel’s contest for the most perfect Christmas tree for the Town Square. It’s a tradition he began with his late wife. But this year, Jordyn Banks is determined to harvest her Fraser Fir and compete—meaning Nate will finally be challenged—in more ways than one . . .
Throughout the event, Nate can’t help noticing that Roxanna is dazzled by Jordyn’s strength, beauty, and quirky sense of humor. Soon enough, Nate is falling for her, too. But can a feisty wanderer ever really settle down? Is Nate ready to open his heart to someone new? And is it possible that sometimes love does grow on (Christmas) trees? . . .
MY THOUGHTS
Jordyn buys sight unseen a home for herself and her horse, she’s a former barrel racer, now retired. She has a beautiful white horse, and she just wants Noel to be the first place she can relax and call home. Growing up going through the system she has never had that.
I loved the Nana’s, four women, the grandma type who run the Noel Christmas festival and contest every year. They swoop in and give her loving advice on how to win as the same person has won many years in a row.
Nate is a widower of six years and still desperately grieving his wife’s death. His six-year-old daughter is smart as a whip and precocious. The Nana’s are trying to matchmake between Jordyn and Nate but he’s not ready to move on.
There was an insta attraction between our two main characters, but I thought Nate was too slow and stubborn to move on. The book would have been enriched so much more if our MC’S had had a sweet Christmas romance right from the start.
I liked a lot about the book, the descriptions of decorations, the relationship Jordyn has with Roxie, Nate’s daughter, she’s so sweet and kind to her, the small-town vibes, the Christmas contest.
There were also some things I wasn’t crazy about, I didn’t particularly like Jordyn, she was too sugar sweet and didn’t seem to have a backbone and the book despite being in full gear with so much going on with the Christmas contests It dragged for me a good bit and I had trouble keeping my attention on it.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
About the Author
Janet Dailey was born and raised in the small farming town of Storm Lake, Iowa and attended secretarial school in Omaha, Nebraska before meeting her husband and settling in southern Missouri. After publishing her first novel in 1976, she went on to become one of the top-selling female authors in the world, with more than 325 million copies of her books sold in nineteen languages in ninety-eight countries. Dubbed “America’s First Lady of Romance” because her groundbreaking novels celebrate the triumphs and struggles of working class women with American values and themes, she is known for her strong, decisive characters, her extraordinary ability to re-create a time and a place, and her unerring courage to confront important, controversial issues in her stories. To learn more about Janet Dailey and her novels, please visit JanetDailey.com or find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/JanetDaileyAuthor.
White Christmas meets Nora Ephron in Jenny Bayliss’ latest wholehearted, ensemble-cast holiday extravaganza.
Christmas can officially get stuffed because Harriet Smith is not feeling bright and merry this year. She hasn’t for a while. So when her college-aged daughter opts for Manhattan’s winter wonderland instead of Christmas at home, Harriet finds herself seeking solace in a wine-soaked one-night stand.
But how Harriet will spend the holidays is swiftly decided for her after she takes the fall for some students who break into the town’s old Winter Theater. To get the students off the hook, the theater’s elderly owner requests that Harriet direct the washed-out stage’s final Christmas performance. And Harriet will do anything to help the kids . . . even work with the owner’s lawyer who, as it turns out, is her less than impressed one-night stand.
Directing the play with him won’t exactly change her life. But it might just reignite the Christmas spirit and remind her what makes life merry and bright again.
Harriet Smith is always on, on for her students when she takes the fall for them during a trespassing charge, on for her daughter who is spending her first Christmas away from home, on for the new man in her life and always on for her friends. If you need a shoulder or a friendly chat Harriet will always be there, until she’s not.
Harriet doesn’t want her daughter to know how much she misses her this Christmas because she doesn’t want to ruin her fun. Problem is Harriet has put all her eggs in one basket, everything she’s done for her whole daughter’s life has been for her; to say she dotes on her is putting it mildly. Without her around she doesn’t see the purpose of decorating this Christmas or cooking for just one.
When some of her students, five misfits who have each other but the others at school think of them as weird and not fitting in are caught breaking into the town’s theater she takes the fall for them saying it was her idea. They’d been there plenty of other times, not causing trouble just reading and practicing for a play.
As a punishment they are requested to clean the theater which turns into an exciting theater remodel. I loved seeing the confidence these kids got having a theater to practice in for a very special show they were about to put on.
She has to work with James, the owner’s lawyer which she had met previously and whom she made a fool of herself in front of. Of course, during the holiday season foolishness’s are forgotten as things heat up for this pair.
My favorite part of this book was seeing these kids not from the best backgrounds coming around and having such pride in having a place to practice and knowing their cleaning up the theater made a big difference in not only their confidence but for the betterment of the town as well.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
368 pages Berkley publisher October 8, 2024 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
Love comes home for the challah-days in this sparkling romance.
Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is pissed. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her café every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls. And, as the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town, Abby’s been charged with planning their fledgling Hanukkah festival. Unfortunately, the local vendors don’t understand that the story of Hanukkah cannot be told with light-up plastic figures from the Nativity scene, even if the Three Wise Men wear yarmulkes.
MY THOUGHTS
This is my first read by the author and I enjoyed the book so much that it won’t be my last. So many books are about Christmas and all it entails including the faith representation. While this is fine, I think this book was marvelous in its representation of Hannukah and the Jewish faith.
When a character tries to make a Hannukah festival more generalized towards Christmas and the general public it is not allowed to happen, and they stand up for themselves and their beliefs. Bravo!
A grumpy sunshine romance and a fake dating trope that naturally turns into the real thing kept me interested and laughing out loud. Really enjoyed this one.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Amanda Elliot lives with her husband in New York City, where she collects way too many cookbooks for her tiny kitchen, runs in Central Park, and writes for teens and kids under the name Amanda Panitch.
Happy Friday & welcome to First Line Friday! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Today I’m delighted to feature Gingerbread Danger by Amanda Flower.
Another Christmas cozy mystery I’m looking forward to reading.
If you have never had to clean taffy off a pig, consider yourself lucky. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones.
ABOUT THE BOOK
For fans of Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries and Ellery Adams’ Culinary Cozy Mysteries, the Ohio-set Amish Candy Shop series combines a fascinating look at Amish life with the fun of candy making, plus the romance between chocolatier Bailey King and her county sheriff fiancé.
Amish Candy shop owner and star of TV’s Bailey’s Amish Sweets, Bailey King has a lot to be excited about. She’s happily engaged to Aiden Brody, newly appointed county sheriff, and her candy factory is finally having its grand opening in Harvest, Ohio—just before Christmas! Bailey is ready to let the sweet celebrations begin . . .
With the help of local community organizer Margot Rawlings, Harvest will have a Candy Land themed Christmas on the village square—featuring Bailey’s recently perfected recipe for gingerbread men. When the big day comes, everything is going well—until bitter news arrives. One of Bailey’s Amish friends has been killed in an apparent accident just outside the candy factory. Aiden is promptly on the case—with more than a little input from Bailey . . .
Together, they soon learn that the victim was working for some powerful men in the county, and in doing so was spying on his own Amish community. Still, Bailey is determined to find the perpetrator. If she can’t cut out the killer from the rest of the suspects, her gingerbread men won’t be the only ones in danger of disappearing . . .
292 pages Publisher Kensington Cozies Publication date October 22, 2024
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