Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Celebration at Christmas Cove is a delightful romance that will get you primed for some holiday fun. As an introduction to the writing of Carrie Jansen, I am happy to report that I was immediately immersed in her story telling and delighted as to how the story unfolded (and ended ☺).

Celeste Bell – one of the main protagonists – is a travel writer, without family and /or loved ones that she wishes to be with over the holiday season. In fact, we learn that Celeste’s mother passed away just before Christmas the prior year – so you know this holiday will be very hard for her. Celeste is so looking forward to her winter writing assignment about the Christmas Carnival in the Caribbean… at least until she was bumped from her flight… and then decided to take a flight to the Caribbean with a brief layover on Sea Spray Island. When she took this route – little did she know that her plans would be royally foiled! Of course – plans are made to be disrupted and as it happens – the brief layover on Sea Spray Island turns out to be anything but brief. Here Celeste meets Nathan – the brother of the innkeeper where Celeste is staying while being grounded due to weather.

Nathan White runs the community center, which may or may not have to close after the current year due to funding issues. So of course, Nathan is focused on getting more funding AND making this Christmas the best for his daughter Abigail in the event that this is their last Christmas on the Island. And of curse – Nathan is also on the shy side when it comes to romance. There is a past…which the reader will find out about!

Needless to say, being a romance novel, Celeste and Nathan meet and … of course they are attracted to each other. And they have more than just romance…Celeste can help with Nathan’s challenges in garnering funding to keep the community centre open past the new year.

I really enjoyed the slow”ish” progression of the romance. It seemed that both Celeste and Nathan were careful and focused on the intricacies of a relationship with a child involved – for which I am very happy.

Also – this is a new arena for Nathan as he is a widower and finds dating hard to navigate, especially with a young child. The small town feel and closeness of the island inhabitants also gave the story a “warm” vibe – at least for me. The celebrations that happen on the island are so island inhabitant centric – bringing a close knit vibe to the story.

At first, I was wondering why the main female protagonist was such a grump towards the holiday season, but when I learned that she had only lost her mum a year ago and that she had no one else to share the holidays with – I understood. It did take her a wee bit to soften up towards the quaint town on the island. Luckily, there were some chuckle worthy moments while Celeste was getting comfortable on the island. I enjoyed wading through her stuff and seeing her transformation into the softer version of Celeste.

There are a number of other characters which truly make this story well rounded and interesting. For one – the other inhabitant of the B&B that Nathan’s sister and brother-in-law own. His story is interesting and crucial to the storyline! And let us not forget Nathan’s sister

If you are a fan of romance, especially during the holiday season then I suggest picking up this book and giving it a read. You will not regret the time spent on Sea Spray Island. I know I will be on the look out for more titles by Carrie Jansen.

Celebration at Christmas Cove takes place on a Massachusetts island, imagine being single, having to travel for work and being stranded there at Christmas time. The description of this New England Island sounds delightful, the islanders are in full Christmas spirit with decorating and baking and eagerly welcome in Travel magazine writer Celeste Bell . Her travel plans were not what she expected after she missed her flight and had to be diverted to the island. There are some humorous moments as one thing after another prevents her from getting off the island and traveling to the sun-drenched Caribbean, from terrible weather to the pilot getting food poisoning the delays just keep stacking up. The longer she's there the more she starts enjoying herself and getting acclimated to her surroundings, especially community center director Nathan White and his young daughter Abigail. They just seem to turn up everywhere. Throw in her very unreasonable boss who is not the least bit interested in why she's being delayed from her job, he just needs her there now!
Will there be a Merry and Bright Christmas when this charming and scenic New England Island sees more than its fair share of snow with a travel agent seeming to be enjoying her island delay more than she wants to admit? Fun premise for a holiday book.

Pub Date 26 Oct 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

DNF at 30%. I wanted to like this one, but it just struggled to hold my interest. It reminded me so much of a Hallmark Christmas movie which I love, but a third of the way into the book I still couldn’t connect with the characters or the romance. I loved the setting of Sea Spray Island and the community center, but despite that this book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the gifted copy.

Celeste is a travel blogger and she has agreed to take an assignment in New Orleans for Christmas. It is her first Christmas without her mother and she's not really in a mood for celebrating. So she 5wkes the assignment and plans on hiding from her memories. On paper it looks like the perfect plan until she finds herself stranded Sea Spray Island due to bad weather. And this time of year Sea Spray Island is renamed Christmas Cove and is all about Christmas.

At the beginning of Celebration At Christmas Cove, Celeste is a harsh character and takes a little bit to get warmed up to. She is still processing the loss of her mother and is no where ready to see Christmas celebrations - new or old. The person who takes much of the brunt of these initial emotions is local resident Nathan, who helps run the community center. He is a single father trying to make this a good Christmas for his daughter especially with potential financial loss in the very near future. Nathan is a good character but he also has alot to work through to be a better man and father. These two characters have a wonderful dynamic and help bring out the best in each other.

Celeste is staying at the local bed and breakfast which is run by Nathan's sister Carol. I adored the friendship that blossomed between them. Similarly I also adored the relationship which Celeste forms with Nathan's daughter Abigail. Abigail is so precocious and is trying to figure out how things work. There is so much growth for these characters throughout the book which I loved. As the reader, I also got to know the fellow visitors at the inn and the people within the community. I fell hard for this quirky town and its often quirky characters.

Christmas Cove is definitely a wonderful Christmas destination. From the decor to the activities and the emotions that are brought forth, it is so good. I wanted to visit Christmas Cove. Actually I would be willing to visit Sea Spray Island at any time of year. It just sounds like a beautiful place to visit or even live in. And the townspeople all have good hearts and want what is best for each other. In particular the towns people notice the connection between Celeste and Nathan and may just do a little matchmaking along the way. This leads to several adorable and some hilarious moments for all.

I'm not sure if Celebration At Christmas Cove is the first book in a new series but I sure hope it is. I would love to revisit these characters and this location. With so many people in town, there is so much potential for new romances and friendships. Plus I would like to see how Celeste, Nathan, and Abigail are doing and how the relationship has progressed too!

This sweet book had every thing I want in a Christmas book!
Oh look, a Travel writer misses her flight ✅
She is stranded at an inn over Christmas ✅ with a handsome single father ✅ as a Nor’easter brews ✅
.
There is a charming cast of characters ✅ A community center to be saved ✅ An anonymous donor ✅
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Charming cast of characters ✅ and small town Christmas events ✅ and finding out that Home is where your ♡ is ✅
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I was all in. Just the right book to put me in the Christmas week spirit!
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Thank you @berkleyromance and @NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review
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I tried to get into this story but I could not do it. I tried on several occasions and I just can't get started with it. It's nothing wrong with the book, it just couldn't capture my interest. I hope to try and read it again at a later date. I've heard great things about the story.

I really wanted to like Celebration at Christmas Cove by Carrie Jansen.

I found the story incredibly slow and I failed to really connect with the characters. There were a few funny or memorable bits, but for me this book was a miss. I did like the premise. I gave up on this book a little over half way.

I received an eARC from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Everything goes wrong for travel writer Celeste, dreading Christmas and angry because her plane’s been diverted to Massachusetts — far from the Caribbean vacation she’d planned.

Then there’s Nathan, a widower who wants to make Christmas extra special for daughter Abigail, still grieving her mother lost a year earlier. He also fears losing his job and being forced to leave the island he loves.

This is such a warm and redemptive holiday tale perfect for lovers of clean romance. Grab a cup of steaming cocoa, a plate of Christmas cookies, and head to your comfy chair for hours of happy reading by the fire. Enjoy!

Available now.

Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#CelebrationatChristmasCove #NetGalley

Celebration at Christmas Cove by Carrie Jansen was a cute quick read that opened with a great meet cute. I love how they met and how the tone was set for the story. So many hallmark vibes. There were so many scenes I can easily visualize playing out in a movie. I loved the island and everyone on it. Definitely a slow burn romance with some moments of frustration with their miscommunication and assumptions, but overall a super cute Christmas romance.

In this humorous and heartwarming romance, sparks fly between a woman who can't wait to leave a wintry New England island, and a widower who would do anything to stay.

Travel magazine writer Celeste Bell is in a terrible mood. Not only was her flight to the Caribbean diverted to a Massachusetts island, now it looks like she'll have to spend Christmas there. Single and still mourning the loss of her mother a year earlier, Celeste is desperate to avoid any emotional entanglements and all holiday festivities. She just doesn't feel like celebrating.

But that's exactly what community center director Nathan White and his young daughter Abigail want to do. Nathan is entirely focused on making sure that his daughter has a happy Christmas, especially with the knowledge that if he can't raise money for the community center soon, it will close and they'll have to leave the island. When he meets Celeste, Nathan begins to feel a connection and wonders if he's brave enough to risk his heart once more.

Thawing their frozen hearts, and saving the community center will require a Christmas miracle. But tis' the season...

n this humorous and romantic holiday tale, the author sends travel magazine writer Celeste Bell to a wintry New England island and into the arms of Nathan White, a widower and father. Romance, community, healing, and the magic of Christmas await you…

We meet Celeste Bell when she discovers she has missed her flight to the Caribbean. It’s a few days before Christmas where she will do a piece on the Festival of Lights. At the same time we meet, community center director Nathan White, who is in New York to learn his community center was not the recipient of a donation they desperately needed for operating expenses. The two end up on the same flight to Christmas Cove. He will be home but is determined to keep the bad news from the community until after the holidays. She expects to hop another plane which will ultimately get her to her destination. A snowstorm & high winds have other ideas and she finds herself stranded on the little island off the New England coast.

This was a sweet, feel good “Hallmark” romance from the events at the community center to acts of kindness and everything in-between. Can the city girl who just wants to skip Christmas find happiness and more?

I loved everything about Christmas Cove from the quaint bed-and-breakfast to the community center and its fun activities. Secondary characters added interest and made me curious about their stories. Nathan & his daughter Abigail will steal your heart as did the story of the other guest at the inn. Small-town charm from the quirky agent at the airport to the gals at the center made me feel right at home. You’ll soon want to plan a trip.

The romance was sweet and their feelings felt genuine. Since both were likable, realistic characters, I hoped for a happily-ever-after. The story would make a lovely Hallmark Christmas movie.

Amazon | Aud

This is a charming start to a new series. I loved life on the island - the small town charm, the quirky people, and the children. I felt badly for Nathan and for Celeste for their past heartbreaks but also their current struggles. The travel delays were comical. Abigail was adorable - funny, smart, and she made me laugh. I loved the community center and the smiles it brought everyone. Their programs sounded amazing. I loved all the Christmas celebrations! Looking forward to reading more in this series.

I am trying to read lots of Christmas books this holiday season, and of course assume a bit of corniness or cheesiness with the genre. Unfortunately this was a bit much for me in particular as I am not a huge romance reader.

CELEBRATION AT CHRISTMAS COVE by Carrie Jansen (#gifted @berkleypub) is a sweet Christmas romance about a travel writer and a small town (island!) widower. The good news is that the small town vibes here are great and Christmas is a central element of the story rather than sort of a throwaway setting. However, I ended up putting this down at about 70% because there wasn’t enough romance for me. The story dragged too much and unfortunately I lost my investment in the relationship at its center. I do think this could be well loved by someone who isn’t as interested in the romance element and really just wants to bask in island winter vibes. 🏝❄️

Imagine the disappointment when travel writer Celeste's flight plans to the Caribbean are changed at the last minute and she's rerouted to a small Massachusetts island. When weather prevents her from getting off the island she's forced to rethink and accept her situation. 

Nathan is the director of the island activity center that is days away of losing its funding. He feels the incredible stress of letting the community down as he applies for grant after grant. If he can't pull something together he and his daughter will have to move. 

Celeste and Nathan are not looking for a relationship but, as happens in a Christmas romance/women's fiction, fate has other ideas. Carrie Jansen added several supporting characters who enhanced the novel. I loved the New England island setting. Despite feeling a bit of lag in pace in the middle, overall I enjoyed the novel and recommend to fans of Christmas novels.

Celeste is a writer for a prestigious travel magazine. She's trying to reach her assignment, reporting on a Christmas festival in the Caribbean, but she has a series of mishaps. Celeste does not want to spend Christmas at home after the death of her mother just before Christmas the year before. She volunteered for the assignment rolling in a few days of vacation. First, she is bumped from her flight, then she takes a prop plane to Sea Spray Island to catch a connecting flight to New York ten down to the Caribbean, but weather has other ideas. She has one goal once she lands and that is to leave! Mishaps pile up and she continues to be stranded. Will she make it to "the other islands" on time to write the story about the festival?

Nathan White is on the prop plane with her. He is the manager of the local community center and is trying to get grants to keep it open. He is a single dad to Abigail (Abby) and brother to the owner of the local Inn. If he can't secure funding, the center will close and he and Abby will have to move to Boston, where Nathan has been offered a job. He sets Celeste up at his sister's Inn and Abby becomes her personal tour guide. It doesn't take long for Celeste to begin to enjoy all the Christmas Events set up by the community center staff and volunteers. It also doesn't take long for her to fall in love with Sea Spray Island.

Celebration at Christmas Cove by Carrie Jansen is a sweet, holiday romance that has everything I have grown to love in these stories. We have a protagonist that dislikes Christmas due to events in her past, a small town that goes crazy for Christmas, a single dad with an absolutely adorable child, lots of fun and silly Christmas Activities, some quirky characters, small town gossip and everyone trying to push the two of them together. There is some angst due to misunderstandings and lack of communication and two people who are afraid to tell the other how they fell. I loved the setting of an island cut off from everyone during a storm and the camaraderie of the town pulling together. Throw in a last minute solution to problems and this was an all round winner. I would love to see this one made into a movie.

BOOK REVIEW: Celebration At Christmas Cove by Carrie Jansen

Series: A Sea Spray Island Romance | Book 1

Most Anticipated Books of 2021

Everything I am looking for in a Christmas themed book! Great characters, great setting, great community, great holiday events, great romance theme... And a fabulous "young girl on the rise" character that I will love forever!... ✨😎✨

Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sub-Genre: Christmas Romance
Time Period: Contemporary
Location: Massachusetts

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: Dear Santa by Debbie Macomber
Movie: Four Christmases

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All my reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Books, Lifestyle & Home Ideas for Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at www.thisismyeverybody.com

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Celeste Bell is still the mourning the loss of her mother who died a year earlier and is not ready to confront the holiday season, so she takes an assignment that will give her a few days of vacation in the Caribbean, but this trip is interrupted by flights and weather and all sorts of things! She lands on an island off Massachusetts and is enveloped in this small town and the Christmas season is far different from what she could have predicted. Nathan White lives on this island and runs the community center that really is the center of this island and hosts a number of activities both during the holiday season and throughout the year. He lost a big funding opportunity and is worried about the future of the center and of him and his daughter when Celeste blows into his life.

One of my favorite things about the cooler weather is being able to dive into the many Christmas holiday books, especially the romance ones! I love the sweet journey these books take you on while also adding in the perfect amount of Christmas cheer. Nathan and Celeste were the perfect characters to play opposite each other in this small town that was a character in and of itself. It felt as though they each had something the other needed in order to heal and get through the things that they were each going through during the holiday season.

From what I can find this is a debut from this author, but I sure hope she has more books to come and maybe even more that take place on this sweet island. I wouldn't mind reading a book that takes place during the summer months and see how different this island can be when the summer months create different activity.

The premise of this book is a travel writer ends up being rerouted through an island town in Massachusetts on her way to do a story in the Caribbean right before Christmas. While frantically trying to get off the island to get to her job mainly because of her boss who needed an attitude adjustment, she falls in love with the town, its people, and even with Christmas again.
This book was far too slow, there were wonderful parts that I adored but grew weary of Celeste’s need to rebook her travel when it was clear she wasn’t going anywhere during a storm, her hate of Christmas when it had always been a special time for her and her late mother, and her general attitude especially at the beginning of the book. The problem was Nathan wasn’t much better, facing the community center he was the director of closing down due to lack of funding and being down to the wire looking for funding elsewhere instead of asking for help he took it all on himself thus becoming a grumpy jerk on several occasions in this book. I believe it was the stress because he seemed like a genuinely nice man, but the fact he didn’t even realize he was hurting his daughter’s feelings when all he talked about was making sure she was happy following his wife’s death three years prior, it just seemed out of place. Both the main characters stressing out about work obligations for the majority of the book just put a huge damper on it, and while there was some fun there wasn’t enough to make me love this book.
This book read exactly like a made for TV holiday movie including the fact that they barely kissed in the book but had all these feelings when honestly they didn’t spend enough time together to really know each other.
What shined were the people of the town the way they were woven throughout this story and the mysterious (or not so for me as I figured that part out early on) Arthur. I loved the description of the town, it felt magical unfortunately the story didn’t live up to that magic.
Celebration at Christmas Cove wasn’t the joyous holiday story I was expecting which was disappointing.

Christmas is a hard holiday for many people and for a variety of reasons. Celeste is not in the mood to celebrate Christmas at all as she is still mourning the loss of her mother when her plane is rerouted to an island in Massachusetts. Instead of the Caribbean, now Celeste is stuck here for the Christmas holiday with people like Nathan and his daughter, Abigail. Seems like they are convinced to share the Christmas spirit with Celeste, whether she is up for it or not.

Having been on both spectrums - both dreading Christmas and overflowing with Christmas love... I can so related to Celebration at Christmas Cove. What author Carrie Jansen does best: well written characters with solid character growth, slow building romance and a wonderful setting that truly does remind me of a Hallmark movie.

Definitely a great read, just in time for the holidays!!

#CelebrationatChristmasCove #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley, author Carrie Jansen and Berkley Publishing for this digital advance review copy for me to read and enjoy! As always, my reviews are voluntary and my opinions are my own.

This story was everything that this Hallmark-loving girl wanted and more. This sweet island has not only swept Celeste off her feet, but mine as well. Jansen has created a warm, welcoming town with heartwarming habitants. Especially our leading man Nathan. There’s something about that widower dad that is appealing to me, especially in these types of stories. This story provides humor, a sweet romance, and a Christmasy feel that will leave you smiling. I could see this on the Hallmark Channel in a year or two, or even the new GAC Channel. I’d watch it in a heartbeat.

Hallmark fans and sweet romance fans will enjoy their visit to Sea Spray Island. I know this reader did! I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review.