Loved it! It's the perfect book for the holiday season, even if I read it in September. This is my favorite book in the Little French Café series. You can read the book without reading the previous ones. Nina and Ryan were my favorite couple. Loved when Ryan meets Nina for the first time. How can you not love a woman dancing around in a koala onesie while making weird non-koala meowing noises???!!! All the usual characters from the previous books make appearances. Ryan and Nina discover the extracurricular activities of Madame Bisset and probably wish they could forget what they witnessed. Dolly's back matchmaking, although it's more like meddling. By the time the story starts, Dolly's wedding already occurred. There were updates about Natalie, Jay and Elle. I'm sure there will be many weddings in the future.

Definitely recommend the book. It was a fun read with a great story and characters.Look forward to reading more books by the author. I can't wait to find out what will happen next in Chamillon. Loved the book cover.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bookouture through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I'll Be Home for Christmas is just as described, a sweet, heartwarming Christmas story. Even though I'm not usually a fan of first person narrative in a book this one pulled me in as soon as I started reading. The characters are real and the story moved along at a great pace. I'd recommend it if you are a fan of warm and squishy type Christmas stories.

Really enjoyed this festive book,Nina and Ryan are great and Paris with snow is wonderful
Christmas,Romance,humour all wrapped up in one book
Excellent

The story of Nina and Ryan.

Both of them have escaped to France, separately, after calling off their weddings. Thrown together by Nina's Aunt Dolly who is matchmaking yet again. But they both have issues to work through, so will the plan to get them together work?

A great festive read.

A delightful festive story. We meet Nina, who decides after a romantic let down,to give Christmas a miss this year and goes to stay with her aunt Dolly at her cafe in France. We also meet Ryan who is also taking time out and staying at Dollys. The pair meet and sparks start to fly as they both seem to like winding each other up. Neither one of them is looking for romance,but Dolly has other ideas.

Loved reading this heartwarming story, especially seeing Nina embrace her new career and move on from her disastrous previous relationship.
I loved the setting, it completely creates the image of Christmas with all the snow and decorations, not forgetting the gorgeous bakery food on offer!
It was fabulous to catch up with some characters from Karen’s previous books too.
Such a gorgeous Christmas book that kept me enthralled throughout and despite to go walk in the snow ❄️

Ah, another cosy read which made want to forget my thrillers and stay within the warmth of Christmas and love.

And this time we have Nina, our feisty heroine, jilted by a louse of a fiancé, stuck in the crossroads of life and love, where everyone knew what she wanted more than her. Escape to the pleasant locale of Chamillon in France into the arms of Aunt Dolly, her life soon changed. And entered Ryan our hero, in search of inspiration for his novel. Their first meeting was a hilarious meet-cute. And then sparks flew...

Karen Clarke has started a new series with this book, wherein the characters were bold and sparkly. They were real and funny. They showed emotions and brought out mine. Her writing flowed effortlessly like a gentle breeze, slowly enveloping me and reminding me to never give up hope.

The description of locale and the quirky Aunt Dolly with her matchmaking skills had me longing to delete Nina and plop myself right in the middle of things, in her stead. But alas, I had to make do with my imagination.

The two characters grew in strength as the pages flew, their love finding the depths. Charming characters, beautiful landscape, snow and hot chocolate, pastry and love, humor and romance. What more could I ever want in a Christmas book?!! A fun read in October, indeed.

This was a cute and cozy Christmas read. The characters were enjoyable and the setting was fun. My only complaint is that the ending felt too abrupt.

Really wonderful christmas story. Full of charm, romance, great characters, and magic settings this book will get you in the mood to put your christmas tree up early, it did me anyway. Lovely story, i would really recommend it.

This is a perfect Christmas romance book, an easy read which is perfect to get lost in the story. I have loved every page and finished in just one sitting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A cozy Christmas read.

Nina and Ryan, both newly out of complicated romances, decide to spend Christmas with Charlie at a cafe in Chamillon. They have been expertly set up to fall for each other by Dolly Nina's aunt. But will they be able to get past their initial prejudices and find true love?

This novel was slow to begin with, yet ended on a high note. I would love to see the northern lights myself, so the ending was very gratifying. All the characters were charming and entertaining. This mystery plot though, it didnt have a strong emotional connection with me. Maybe if something more substantial had come out of it, the payoff would be better.

This was a good read.

Thank to Netgalley for sending me this book, all opinions are my own.

Luanna

I loved the cover to this book. It just drew me in. A lovely festive romance which left me with a warm glow.
This book has some amusing parts. It was lovely to see Paris in the snow
A great book

The awkward second read....having recently read and absolutely loved The Beachside Sweet Shop I was keen to read another by this author but it's always with some trepidation  - will it be as good or was it just a one off? I needn't have worried - I loved this one too.

Firstly, lets get the obvious out of the way - yes it's a Christmas book and yes its September but that doesn't matter. Yes this story was set at Christmas and had the usual references to snow, mince pies, and tinsel but unlike some it was a subtle undertone which means that whilst it would undoubtedly be a great read in the run-up to the festive season, really getting you in the mood, it is basically just a funny feel-good story totally enjoyable at any time of the year.

Romance is definitely the last thing on Nina's mind when she arrives to stay at her Aunt Dolly's cosy cafe in a picturesque French village after calling off her wedding - instead she needs to work out what she's going to do with her life. But, Ryan, her cousin's infuriatingly annoying but handsome best friend, is also hiding out at Dolly's.

What I loved most about this book was it's relatability. Whilst thankfully I've never been caught by a really cute guy doing a koala-dance complete with koala noise whilst dressed in a koala onesie, I can't be the only one who can totally relate to those type of cringenly embarrassing situations. It wasn't just the humour though that I could relate but also Nina's predicament of wanting a job she loves but not knowing what that is.

As well as a strong entrepreneurial female lead character, this book had all my other favourite ingredients necessary for a good romcom. There was the super hot, really nice single guy with a complicated past and a charming village setting providing a whole host of great support characters such as Mathilde the mafia granny and Delphine the cat.

Once again I loved Karen Clarke's style of writing - witty and modern but also refreshingly PG, describing connections and spine-tingling kisses rather than x-rated sex scenes. She has a knack of describing things and characters, without being overly explicit, so that you can easily imagine (and fall in love with) them yourself. In fact so much so that I wanted to be in this book - to visit the cafe, date Ryan and be friends with Nina.

My only criticism (if you can call it that) is it that for me it couldn't quite rival The Beachside Sweet Shop, which unsurprisingly is about running a successful and innovative village sweet shop - whilst getting over a heartbreak. This one was similar but as I'm a sucker for a story about female characters running entrepreneurial village businesses I would have loved more about Nina's House Whispering business idea which sadly took a bit of backseat to the romcom in this one.

Never mind, I loved it all the same and it has totally cemented Karen Clarke as one of new favourite authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a delightful read for Christmas. Nina decides to escape Christmas at home in England and lands in a perfect Christmas village in France while visiting her Aunt Dolly. Escaping from a cancelled wedding and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Dolly has her café decorated over-the-top for the holidays. Dolly is also a notorious matchmaker. She's deliriously happy with her new husband and wants everyone else around her to be the same. So she has her designs on setting Nina up with her son Charlie's best friend Ryan. Whether Nina (or Ryan) want to be set up.

This is a perfect romantic comedy for the upcoming holiday season.

Lovely festive read. It was a heart warming romance. It was a wonderful book to read. It was well written and flowed well.

This is such a cute and feel-good romance, filled with great humor that I recommend reading during the holiday season! I finished it in just one sitting because I could not put it down.

If you love books that are set in a foreign setting, you'll love this book. To imagine being in France with the snow was a lovely thought. Also, the character of Nina is strong, so if you love an opinionated woman - you will fall in love with her. If you've enjoyed Karen Clarke's other books - this one is just as good.

What a lovely gentle festive romance, and another great addition to the Little French Cafe series.

This is a new standalone story, focusing on Nina, who is Charles (from the previous books) cousin, and Ryan, Charles' best friend, who both happen to be in France this Christmas.

Despite both of them having broken engagements, and a whole lot of baggage, it doesn't stop Aunt Dolly to engage a series of not particularly subtle matchmaking efforts between the pair.

Nina really isn't sure what she wants from her life, and seeing her thoughts on how she might be a travel blogger were amusing, especially given she isn't that keen on flying, and by the sounds of it she was struggling to take in focus photos!! However it soon becomes apparent to everyone apart from her what she should be doing as a job!

Whereas Ryan is struggling for inspiration for his new novel, and his first encounter with Nina was amusing and continually referenced throughout.

I enjoyed seeing whether Ryan and Nina would ever stop fighting the inevitable, and there are some really amusing part to the story too. This was a really enjoyable addition to the series, I loved being back with familiar faces, and generally was good fun to see France in the snow.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

We are transported back to the small village of Chamillon in France just in time for the festive season. Chamillon is just as enticing in winter time as it is in summer and as with the authors other books, I could easily envision it all in my head.

We get to meet some new characters as well as catch up with ones of old that have been in the previous books but it easily reads as a stand alone if you haven’t read them.

Nina is quite a feisty character who doesn’t seem to have quite found her niche in a career or in her love life for that matter. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to get away from it all for a while and what better distraction that a different country and a handsome man to help take your mind off things?

As the story features characters in some of the authors previous novels, you get a warm and familiar feeling with them. It was like being reunited with good friends. There are a couple of threads within the novel to do with Nina and also her gran which I really enjoyed also.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas is a charming story that will make you feel all warm and cosy inside. Who doesn’t love a bit of romance to cheer up your day? I know I do and I love seeing the two main characters relationship develop over the course of the story. It’s like your standing on the side line cheering them on. A perfectly festive, feel good read.