I love Christmas based books, and this one did not disappoint in that aspect. It was an incredibly slow build up into the story, and very hard to get into through the first few chapters for sure. I know for some readers it is almost impossible to want to continue reading a book if your attention isn’t grabbed quickly, and this would definitely be one of those books. Overall the story was cute and feel good, like you want out of a Christmas novel. However, the characters were somewhat annoying and the story was slow, I would rate this as an overall average read and not one I would come back to multiple times.

The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane is the perfect festive read! Lovely settings, likeable characters and cosy Christmas scenes, what more could you ask for ??

Nia has been cheated on - again. She can hardly believe it, yet at the same time doesn’t know how to not take it personally.
Loving Christmas and all of its magic Nia hopes a little bit of that magic will maybe rub off on her so she makes a wish on the towns magical Nutcracker.
This was a super sweet Christmas holiday read!

This book gave me such festive, magical, Christmasy vibes while reading it and that too in the month of February! Nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes, a modern day Scrooge, a Christmas shopping village situated in the wonderful and magical Nutcracker Lane whose future is at stake if the said modern day Scrooge has his way and two really cute leading characters Nia and James who decide to try and save the Lane and who just love grinning at each other at every given moment made this a treat to read. The author puts her own touch to the stories of the Nutcracker prince and Ebenezer Scrooge to create a sweet, magical and heartwarming Christmas story.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher HQ/HQ Digital and the author Jaimie Admans for the e-Arc of the book.

The book was published on 16th October 2020.

Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

I very much enjoyed this book. A young woman who’s dream of having a store featuring her Christmas designs finally comes true, but at a time when the owners a ready to end the tradition of the December Christmas Market called Nutcracker Lane. In this cute tale, we are reminded of the magic of Christmas, and even a Scrooge can find happiness on Nutcracker Lane.

The story of Nia and James pulled me in from the start!
The characters are so beautifully brought to life by Jaimie, it is impossible not to fall in love with them and fully invest yourself in their blossoming romance.
Nutcracker lane sounds so wonderful, and as the author goes in to such detail describing the scene, I could really picture it all so vividly in my mind, and I couldn't help but daydream about strolling along the street.
A perfectly written festive romance that I read in one sitting! A truly brilliant read that I could read over and over again.

This book is filled with Christmas goodness. It did not even matter that I read a month after Christmas, tomorrow is February, As it's freezing here, and I still have my tree up (oops?) I still thoroughly got into the Christmas mood and spirit reading this book. How could you not?

This story follows Nia, who finally gets approved to have a shop on Nutcracker Lane with her best friend (selling homemade crafts and jewelry). I wish my city had a Nutcracker Lane! Filled with small businesses who sell everything from holiday coffee and jumpers to chocolates and decorations. Unfortunately, as time goes on the atmosphere on Nutcracker Lane goes downhill and it;'s just not what it used to be. This is mostly because the budget has been cut by the owner of the Lane.

Enter James... the man who comes out of nowhere and owns the shop across from Nia. He hates Christmas, he hates everything surrounding it and the entire idea of it. I really enjoyed Nia's attempts to un-grinch him and the relationship that developed (albeit, TOO FAST! And one of the reasons this isn't higher starred from me, I'm just not into falling in love after 2 weeks. Insta love is not realistic to me).

I enjoyed this book! I just felt like the beginning/middle dragged a little. I was more into it in the 2nd half. I also guessed the twist, almost immediately. But, it was still a good one.

Loved the end and this was a nice cozy read.

A very sweet and very romantic Christmas story. The main characters are so lovable, especially the hero of the story. Imagine thinking that the wish that you made on the giant magical nutcracker to bring you a prince for Christmas could have possibly come true. This story has a Scrooge on one side and a extreme Christmas lover on the other side. The story will make you laugh, make you smile and pull at your heartstrings. It was perfect!

Highly recommended!

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this early! This was one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. It had everything I look for in a good book! Be sure to check into this one, you won’t regret it!

A little town reignites Christmas on Nutcracker Lane. The lane of was about to go out of business but with help from the main character, Nia it will survive at least another year. There is a love story between Nia and James that is very sweet I loved the last 50 pages but the middle of the book dragged on and on. I feel that at least 1 chapter of James not liking Christmas could of been cut. We get it..he doesn’t like Christmas. The author did a very good job of describing Nutcracker Lane throughout the entire book. I really felt like I was there. Great book to read over the holidays.

This has a real fairy tale feel to it and has a real festive feel. The Christmas village is gorgeous and I enjoyed all the references to the Nutcracker tradition. Nia’s story carries the story and she comes across as a determined and likeable character with a few vulnerabilities. Friendship is also centre stage and in James, you have a real Prince Charming. A lovely Christmas read full of magical wishes and optimism despite the odd Scrooge.
Thanks to the author for a copy of the book

“Nutcrackers are brimming with magical powers. It’s long been said that if a wish is made at the exact moment a nut is being cracked, when the stars shine bright and the wind rustles his beard, and you can almost hear the sparkling of Christmas magic in the air all around, the nutcracker will grant the wish. Try it!”

Nia Maddison has always believed that wishes come true on Nutcracker Lane. So, when she gets the opportunity to run her own Christmas gift shop on the most magical street in town, it feels like her wishes have been finally granted…
I loved this story, it was so full of Christmas cheer and full of that wonderful holiday festive feeling that I couldn't put it down. It really focused on the nostalgia of Christmas as a child before you grow up and lose that festiveness, it made me think of many of past Christmases full of love and joy.
It has the typical ‘unsuspecting’ romance that you find in a hallmark Christmas movie, but it just makes it that much better and I would have been disappointed if it wasn't included. The romance itself was a nice build up and I really liked that.
It was full of great characters and a wonderful sense of community and people coming together making everyone feel hopeful, it was easy to be swept up in their stories and love them all.
A bonus of the book was that I actually learnt a fair bit about Nutcrackers and their history which was lovely and very interesting. A perfect cosy, Christmas read.

“It’s about the build-up. This is the fun part of Christmas. It’s nothing to do with the day itself. That’s always full of stress and a total let-down. It’s about this – this exact time of year when everything’s bright and twinkly and people are just a little bit kinder than usual.”

An adorable Christmas book made for those who LOVE the holidays and wish their own lives could go from cheating boyfriends to Prince Charming - all for dreaming on a magical Nutcracker.

This cozy story was full of all the favorite activities & and right in the heart feels. Admans knew exactly how to give us a light, fluffy fun read to get us in the Christmas spirit! Thank you NetGalley & HQ Digital for allowing me to add this one to my holiday binge reading during this season where we all definitely needed an escape. 3.5 stars from me.

Can we all just appreciate how Jaimie Admans can literally do no wrong when it comes to her stories? This was every type of gorgeous and stunning, with the most beautiful romance! I wish I could live on Nutcracker Lane forever!

I don't know the tale of the nutcracker, but Nia lets us in on the main facts and references to this fairytale repeatedly (and to other festive characters as well). No wonder then that the whole story feels quite magical. With two protagonists that get on very well from the very start, without any major crisis between them. Both are such kindhearted characters, and although one of them is supposedly a Christmas-Grinch - he is also extremely nice and handsome. Like a Prince Charming! Men like that only exist in fairytales, don't they?

This is what Nia thinks, and if I'm honest I also think that James sounds too good to be true. But on the other hand I appreciated it very much that he is not cast in a "bad boy" role, where he acts grumpy for half of the book - for some concocted reason.
Instead, Nia and James connect with each other immediately, but then take things veery slooow. Mind you, I did like the fact that they become good friends first instead of having a rushed ONS and then feeling all the more awkward for it. Their whole relationship just seemed a bit off from reality.

However, since I did like both characters very much, I also enjoyed their story together. I liked being on Nutcracker Lane, which apparently is like a Christmas market in Germany and Austria, only that the stalls are bigger and more like small wooden huts instead of booths with a front window sale. Nias ideas to save Nutcracker Lane are actually great! Not for the first time Jaimie Admans has proven that she could have made a career in marketing & sales (with her great ideas of saving a bookshop / a café and a whole high street / a Christmas tree farm) as well as a writer.

I'm glad she chose the latter option! And I know she has never written a sequel to one of her books so far, but I sincerely hope she will do so for the Nutcracker Lane. I would really like to know where all of them are one year later!

This story has everything you’d want out of a Christmas Romance! This story has romance, magic and lots of humor. This author not only made me want to live in Nutcracker lane but made me feel as if I was walking through it myself. Throughout the story I felt as if I could smell the decadent chocolate shop, hear the glorious sound of the carolers & see the whimsical brightness of the little lane come alive. The lovely and unusual cast of characters make you never want to leave Nutcracker Lane. I loved getting to see love bloom between Scrooge himself and what seemed to be a Santa’s little helper with all her Christmas spirit, was truly a treat. I enjoyed this book so much, it will definitely be a Christmas staple.

Oh my heart, Jaimie Admans has went and done it again!!! I knew this book would not disappoint but it completely melted me, I went to bed late and up early just to read it!
The story of Nia and James completely sucked me in and made me fall in love with the characters throughout.
The way Jaimie described settings throughout the book made me really visualise it and get lost in the story, so now I don't know if I read a book or watched a film!
The part were they were in Nia's kitchen baking and James was making the gingerbread house, I can see that! I can see then walking hand in hand at Nutcracker Lane after the shopping trip, honestly this book totally absorbed my brain.
It was amazing! I would definitely re read this book each Christmas and never get bored of the story!
I want to move to Nutcracker Lane now!

Well done Jaimie you made me fall in love with more fictional characters yet again x

I loved this (as a Christmas read - which is quite different to my normal rest of the year criteria for a 5 star book!)

I am a sucker for a Christmas book and despite reading this one in January after the most unChristmassy Christmas ever (covid-19) I really enjoyed this one.
Perhaps because I could actually picture the Christmas shopping village, and the type of shops it contained. But mainly because it was a 30 something character who seemed far more real than the usual heroine of Christmas novels. It is also very definitely British and not set in New York or an Alpine resort the way most Christmas novels seem to be!

I was left wanting to know more and what happened next to the characters.

I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author, who I haven't come across before.

A wonderful Christmas book with several twists and turns. Quite sad in places but a real feel good factor overall. Made me want to read the Nutcracker story as I have never read it and would like to know more about the threads running through this book.

I thought this was such a cute and fun Christmas read! It will definitely help get you in the Christmas spirit.

Nia has just opened a Christmas shop at her dream location, Nutcracker Lane. These shops sell decorations, Christmas treats, ornaments, Christmas jumpers and pretty much anything you need for a fantastic holiday. Unfortunately, Nutcracker Lane has been going downhill over the past few years and Nia is devastated at the thought of losing a place that holds such nostalgic memories for her. Enter James, the guy who has the Christmas shop across from hers and who actually hates Christmas. They had such a sweet relationship and I had fun watching Nia trying to "un-Grinch" him with holiday movies and food. And all of her Christmas movies just happened to be mine. Ha. In the middle of her determination to make James love Christmas, they also hatch a plan to save Nutcracker Lane. I loved how this relationship was slowly built over time and that it wasn't rushed.

There were a few issues I had with the plot, however. There was one twist that I pretty much saw coming from the very beginning and it was frustrating that Nia didn't see it. I also got frustrated with the fact that these two people had both been cheated on and then suddenly didn't see any reason to trust again. That just seemed over the top to me. And Nia had mentioned being cheated on after a few dates -- if you have only been out with a guy a few times, I don't think that could be considered cheating, but whatever.

Despite the two very minor issues, I thought this was a fantastic holiday read and I would love to read more by this author.