TW: Suicide
Although it is not explicitly described, there is mention of suicide in this book and it is central to the story.

Elinor Noel, better known as Nory, runs a secondhand bookshop in London. She was a scholarship student at a prestigious school in her hometown and as a result she is mostly surrounded by affluent, rich friends. Something she feels her brother has never let her live down as she was chosen for this opportunity over so many other people. When two of her friends decide to get married in the castle, which was on the grounds of their old school, she is convinced to join in on the festivities consisting of a week long reunion of the friend group followed by their friends big ceremony. Nory is reluctant to go as last time they were all together she slept with Guy, who she later found out was married with kids. Nory feels guilty though her friends insist it wasn't her fault since they were all grieving from their friend's suicide. They all felt some type of guilt for not realizing that things were as bad as they were. When Nory arrives on their first night at the castle, Guy gets drunk and tries to make a move on her so she escapes the castle and bumps into Issac, the gardener's son who is now head gardener. They always sustained a rivalry will she was at school while at the same time, he was her older brother's best friend. Through a series of mishaps, Issac and Nory end up falling for each other, argue because of Guy and end up getting back together. Issac and Nory get married and Nory's friends have a baby who they name in honor of their friends, Tristian. It was a very sentimental read.

Finished this book in a single day. The story weaved both old and new tales of old and new friends. At times it took me a second to remember who was who, but overall was a very good read! There's something to relate to in almost every character and you'll cheer them all on as the book progresses. Romantically it was as expected, pretty mild on the steam. Would recommend!

Thank you to Putnam books for giving me a free digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really hard book to rate. There was a lot that I liked: the coziness, the friendships, the setting. I really liked Isaac’s character. I thought that some of the socioeconomic commentary was good.

Nory was harder to like. She made a lot of dumb choices. Like letting Guy get away with his lie for literal years and everything about how she handled Issac’s art situation.

Overall, while parts of the story were cute and whimsical, this book was difficult to get through. It was too long. There were too many story lines. And it tried to handle too many heavy issues for a Christmas romance novel.

I was SO excited to read this story! I have read Jenny Bayliss' other holiday novels and have LOVED them. I had Christmas in October vibes and was so happy about it. I loved this British story just as much as I expected too. It was a bit longer than necessary in my opinion, but I still had so much fun!

This was a great holiday read, reminded me of watching a cute and maybe a little cheesy Lifetime movie. Another cozy romance perfect for the upcoming cheery season!

I was drawn by this cover and author. The storyline was charming, and ordinarily I love a British holiday second chance storyline. However I struggled with the pace of the story - it felt like there was so much context and framing before the story started, and even then there was a distance to the narration that felt too unrealistic for my personal taste. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Nory runs a used bookstore called Serendipitous Seconds. She's invited to a reunion with an old group of friends before one of the friends' weddings. She runs into an old friend of her brother's named Issac at the castle where the wedding will take place. They begin a relationship and they made a cute couple. The friends in her group are all well-developed, each with their own story. Overall it was a great quick read, and with the holiday setting, perfect to read during your own holiday season. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

A British holiday romance following Elinor (Nory) as she reunites with old friends (and enemies) from her posh boarding school!

Nory is a secondhand bookstore owner who prefers to keep to herself these days...until she's faced with an invitation that she can't refuse - two of her friends from her boarding school days are getting married and she's invited to the festivities at the castle near their alma mater. Upon arrival, Nory runs smack dab into Isaac, the enemy of her youth. It turns out that they may actually have more in common than they initially thought and that their instant attraction may be undeniable.

I absolutely loved the setting of this novel - it was charming and lovely! The castle and Nory's bookstore were simply *chef's kiss*. I did feel that the love story was a bit more of an afterthought and the the complexities within the friend group really took center stage for me. With that said, I immensely enjoyed the different personalities, stages of life and trials and tribulations happening within the group and thought it was brilliantly portrayed through the author's way with words. Overall, I would recommend for fans of women's fiction with a romance brewing throughout!

Thanks to @netgalley and Putnam Books for my gifted copy of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, by Jenny Bayliss. This book is out now.

I was, unfortunately, very disappointed in this book. I thought there would be more of a holiday theme, given the title, but there wasn’t. I couldn’t get into the plot either, it felt like every dragged onto unnecessary points. So, I DNF-ed this one.

I adored this book! It's love in an english country-side, filled with books, holidays, and CASTLES! What is not to love about this lovely romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an e-arc to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nory, a bookshop owner in London, has been invited to the wedding of some of her old schoolmates. The wedding festivities turn into an impromptu week-long school reunion, which Nory must work through her complicated feelings about. While Nory is taking some time to herself walking the gardens to get away from some of the noise of the event, she runs into her childhood "enemy" who she hasn't seen in years.

I really liked the 12 Dates of Christmas so I was really looking forward to this novel. However, this was a very middle of the road read for me. It's marketed as a Christmas romance, but there isn't too much Christmas (or any other holiday) woven through the events at all. The romance between Isaac and Nory is definitely cute, as well as having some depth while they navigate the previous suicide of a mutual friend, racism, and Nory's cheating ex continuing to pop in and out of the story. However, I really didn't think that Guy (read: cheating ex) needed to be so integral to the story? I understand he's part of this friend group but these friends are mostly kind of... awful.

I also didn't quite understand why Nory needed her brother's blessing before being able to date Isaac. I don't have siblings so maybe it's an only child thing, but these people are adults in their 30s... just go tell your brother that you'd like to date his friend and the feelings are mutual!

3 stars, a bit slow to start and a little too much filler going on with the schoolmate side plots, but I'm sure this will be a hit during the holiday season.

Hmmm where to start with this one. The holidays and Jenny Bayliss just go together at this point so I was expecting a home run winner. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed this one, it wasn't my favorite like her others have been. I found the main character frustrating and the book was pretty slow to start. I will say I did enjoy all of the other characters and I think if you can look past some annoyances you will really enjoy it too. It's not full on holiday either like I expected but I still think it's a good read for that time of year. While this one wasn't my favorite, I still enjoyed it and wouldn't hesitate to pick up something from Bayliss in the future.

Coming from a working class family Nora always felt slightly on the outskirts of her friend circle so she is hesitant to attend the week long wedding extravaganza that one of her boarding school friends is throwing at a castle near their old stomping grounds. Reminding herself that life is short, ultimately, she decides to attend. She and her friends reminisce about the good ol' days and come to terms with some of their less than stellar past behaviors/acts. While there she also falls for Isaac, the head gardener and "enemy" from her childhood.

Overall the story felt like a contemporary fiction and due to the cute cover I was hoping for more a Christmas romance. There were small elements of Christmas and romance strewn in but they definitely took a back seat to all of the other storylines attempting to be addressed. At over 400 pages this one could have been a lot shorter and I may have enjoyed it more.

Rating: 3 stars

Special thanks to @netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the advanced copy of this book.

I loved Jenny Bayliss's The Twelve Dates of Christmas and A Season for Second Chances in on my list to read this winter, so I was excited to read this novel. Elinor "Nory" Noel runs a secondhand bookshop in London and is content with her life. Still, she's always a bit torn between her working-class upbringing and her friends, who she met at a private school she attended on scholarship. Two of the friends invite the old school group to attend a weekend away leading up to their wedding. The trip is exciting but stirs up emotions that Nory has never really dealt with and she prepares for a complicated few days. Then Isaac is there... the guy she used to know and like, but who never seemed to fit with her friends. Nory must decide what she wants out of life and who.

This was a solid three-star read for me. It wasn't quite as cozy as The Twelve Dates of Christmas and parts of the story were a bit slow. I enjoyed Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, but I think this is a case where my expectations for the story didn't exactly align with what it was really about. Nory was frustrating at times, but I liked Isaac and that he pushed Nory to figure out what she wanted. I appreciated the focus on the women's friendships and the nature of a big college group of friends who change over time.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but it wasn't as Christmasy as expected. TW -- suicide, grief

In Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Elinor Noel, an unassuming bookshop owner and lover of secondhand books, heads back to her hometown in the English countryside for a pre-wedding celebration hosted by two of her high school friends. Her private school classmates have taken over a castle for the week, but, as is sometimes the case as friends grow older, friendships and relationships have changed and things that once seemed acceptable turn out to be not. And Elinor, the former scholarship student of the bunch, still struggles to find her place in this group, her family, and among the members of her childhood hometown.

Expect to find some discussions of class in this one, a reunion with a childhood crush / brother's best friend / sort of former enemy, plenty of Christmas trimmings, and some rightings of wrongs.

The setting was lovely; the dynamics were interesting; and I rather enjoyed the epilogue. But I found myself not as engaged in the main storyline as I had hoped to be. I was more invested and interested in the outcome of Ameerah and Dev's storyline than in Elinor and Isaac's. Unfortunately, I found the reading of this 400+ page novel to be a bit slow going at some points.

That being said, the antics in the snow, the town tree lighting, the shop window decorations, and the copious garlands at the castle are sure to put you in the Christmas spirit.

I received an advance copy from Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Nory, a used bookstore owner, is back in her hometown staying in a castle for her posh friend’s wedding. Reunited after years apart, this group of high school friends have lots of secrets and shared memories.

But during the week-long festivities, Nory is drawn to her former childhood nemesis, Isaac, who now runs the castle grounds and gardens.

I thought this would just be a charming Christmas romance, but it deals with the fallout from one of the friends in their group who had committed suicide a few years prior. Mental health, adultery, and classism are just a few of the heavier topics discussed in this book.

This one is the perfect Christmas book club pick for 2022.

Jenny Bayliss just truly KILLS the Christmas Romance, however this one was not quite the winner that I was hoping for! I really struggled to get going with this book, and I found myself putting it down a lot. We have Nory who runs a second hand book shop in London, and as a book lover this grabbed my heart. However, we follow Nora's she is struggling with going to her friends wedding in a castle, and this brings up old memories and she starts to realize that she has feelings for an old friend. Overall, it was cute, but not a binge able read that i was looking forward to.

MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE is a standalone contemporary romance by Jenny Bayliss. This story definitely gives off The Big Chill and Four Weddings and a Funeral vibe. Elinor “Nory” Noel is preparing to leave her beloved London bookshop to spend a few days at a castle with old school chums. Most of these friends she hasn’t seen or had any meaningful encounter with in years. They’re getting together for their mutual friend’s wedding extravaganza to another of their old friends. Nory has mixed feelings. Part of her is looking forward to it, and part of her is dreading seeing her old friend guy after he screwed her over (literally). Her BFF Ameerah finally convinces her to take a chance. I found MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.

One thing I really appreciate about this story is that the female protagonist doesn’t spend time agonizing over the “nice guy” and the handsome jerk or wind up having a fling with the jerk in order to finally realize the defects in his character. Nory pretty much knows whom she likes and doesn’t like, and the obvious reasons why. The friends are all realistically flawed – some more than others. Nobody’s entirely good or entirely bad. Ameerah is my favorite of the friend group. She’s a hoot and always supportive for Nory. Isaac is a delightful and unexpected blast from the past. While at school, Isaac was on the outside of Nory’s friend group – having not attended her posh school – and a misunderstanding kept them from ever forming any type of deep attachment. Now Isaac has taken over for his late father as head gardener and the two of them are thrown together in all sorts of delicious ways. They find they have many similar interests and are wildly attracted to each other. Sigh. The sexual tension and flirting is superbly written.

MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE has a healthy mix of holiday magic, the messy minutia of everyday life, and a swoon-worthy romance. I loved it! The dysfunctional family dynamic between Nory and her brother felt very authentic and added another layer of depth to these characters. Jenny Bayliss does a wonderful job of creating complex characters and having relationships that seem to evolve very organically. I look forward to reading Jenny Bayliss’ next book.

Super cute holiday romance in an English castle. Some of the English slang was very unusual to my American ears, but I think I enjoyed that part the most! There were a few too many side characters without enough differentiation—Pippa and Jenna were basically the same person to me, and Jeremy was gone for most of the book. But the main two characters and their romance was fun, and I’d recommend it!

I find myself going back and forth for my rating between 3-4 stars so I'll settle on 3.5.

Am I the only one that feels like Bayliss books feel really long? It took me about 30% to finally get invested. It also could've done without 75-100 pages. This is actually my one gripe about all of her books. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. The group of friends were delightful to be around and each one brought something to the group dynamic. I loved that Bayliss didn't shy away from heavy topics between them all such as: suicide, discrimination, infidelity, alcoholism, social inequality. It definitely felt based more on the wedding and the group more then Nory and Isaac. Their romance took the back burner with how many characters there were. I would classify this as more of a contemporary/general fiction. Also, I didn't really get a Christmas vibe, because the wedding overshadowed most of the "season vibes" but it still helped set up the castle image for me. Which leads me to my final thoughts: feel free to read this anytime of year.

I think Bayliss books might be moving to library holds for me. Not in a negative way but only because they are hit or miss with me. Still enjoyably though!