I love Jenny Bayliss’ sweet, heartfelt, enchanting Christmas novels!

A beautiful British countryside and dreamy secondhand book store settings fit with the magical castle wedding, friends’ reunion. The depictions about the places are always detailed and well described.

Elinor’s struggle to balance her life between her middle class upbringing and lifestyle of her posh friends from school is realistically told.

She’s happy with her cozy life, burying her heads in her books, enjoying small town life.
Two close friends’ wedding ceremony at the castle will push her to face her past: sweet and bittersweet memories, bumping into a ghost from her past: he frenemy Isaac the gardener.
She cannot resist her feelings, developing a crush on him. The chemistry is magical between them. But… Elinor makes a mistake even though she has good intentions to help him out which puts the future of their HEA in danger.

I loved her previous books more than this book!
Main characters’ unnecessary drama made me a little irritated: Elinor acted naive and wrongful by doing something behind Isaac’s back and Isaac was way too much stubborn from the beginning.

Interestingly I adored the supporting characters more! For their sake and beautiful, dreamy bookshop/ Christmas setting, I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 let’s meet under the mistletoe stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/ G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Elinor "Nory" travels to meet old school friends for a wedding at a castle, and ends up connecting the the grounds gardener, Issac, more than any of those she is there to meet.

I didn't really connect with Elinor or Issac, or any of the secondary characters.

I received an ARC of, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, by Jenny Bayliss. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I could not. All the "f" words got in the way. I could not get into the story at all.

I loved this until the third act. I couldn't get past the main character going against the hero's direct wishes, and her promise to him, because she thought it was for the best. I couldn't root for her after that and it ruined the book for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Rating this was hard , while i liked the gist of it , the begining of the book with all those charcaters and then nick names on top of it was so confusing ! it was a lot to keep up with.

Now, trying to read a Christmas book in June was hard…BUT man oh man do I love that season. It was the perfect fun cozy romance I was looking for!

This gave me ghost of girlfriends past vibes, it was about childhood friends who come back together for a wedding. Nory, a second hand bookshop owner(we love books about books) meets the gardener Isaac outside the venue and sparks fly.

Not only did I like the main characters, the supporting characters were amazing as well. Also, just me or does anyone else want to visit Norys bookstore?

This was. cute sweet read that I think readers will enjoy come the holiday season!!

I really wanted to like this story but it just wasn’t for me. Elinor wasn’t a strong enough character to keep my attention and some of the other story details made it unlikeable to me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

From the title and the name of the protagonist (Nory Noel), I expected this to be a Christmas romance. It's really "Christmas-adjacent," as it takes place from late November through December, and the holiday is not the focus. Nory owns a secondhand book store in London, where she enjoys finding the perfect book for each customer, but that's not the focus of the book either. Most of the action is set at a castle near Nory's childhood home and her exclusive boarding school. It's a week-long house party with her friends from boarding school leading up to a wedding, and there are lots of parties, events, and drama.

One undercurrent is that her wealthy schoolmates look down on the local townspeople (with the exception of Nory, although she was a scholarship student), and the latter (including Nory's older brother) distrust those who have inherited their money. Her brother, who works in the family nursery business, also objects to Nory's burgeoning relationship with Isaac, the estate's head gardener. Isaac and Nory knew each other back when his father was head gardener but now there's a new spark between them.

My favorite part of the story is the relationships between the old school friends--some fond and friendly, some fraught and alienating. I felt the romance resolved rather abruptly, and I wish there had been more about both the holiday and Nory's bookstore, but I appreciated the writing and especially the epilogue.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of the book.

When I read A Season for Second Chances by Bayliss I instantly loved her work.
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is just as great as her last novel!

One of the things I can always count on in a Jenny book is exceptional storytelling.
The characters are always well defined and realistic.
I didn’t want to put this book down, I loved the setting, the community spirit, the characters Isaac and Nory. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is such a cosy read to curl up with.
A great balance of humour, feel-good warmth and great story-telling.
This is a sweet, charming, and the perfect winter read.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

G.P. Putnam's Sons,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

An emotional and romantic book that I thought was warm and sweet. Loved the story! Thank you for the ARC!

A castle wedding turned highschool reunion has working-class Elinor “Nory” Noel thrown back in with her wealthy private school classmates. The get together brings back a complicated variety of emotions. She quickly finds herself escaping to the gardens for some alone time and ends up running into the son of the head gardener who used to torment her and her friends as students. As they get to know one another, they find they have more in common than first thought and Nory finds herself falling for Isaac (more than just literally).

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is a sweet, closed-door romance. Although the book takes place around Christmas, the holiday is not the main focus. Nory and Isaac knew each other when they were younger but I would not necessarily consider this a second chance romance. I really liked the side plot pertaining to Isaac’s family. It added some depth to the storyline and gave a more realistic “misunderstanding” than what is usually presented in romance plots. I do think the book could have been a little shorter. It starts out slow but the second half of the book through the epilogue is very fast paced.

This is the second book that I have read from author Jenny Bayliss. I also enjoyed and highly recommend reading her debut novel, The Twelve Dates of Christmas.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam!

This was a sweet book about a second chance romance that many readers will enjoy... but it wasn't the book for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm usually a seasonal reader, but it's been a rough week and I needed a cozy romcom pick-me-up. I really enjoyed The Twelve First Dates of Christmas last year, so I had high hopes for Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

This book is about a group of childhood friends, now in their 30s, who come together for a wedding. The main character is Nory, who owns a second hand book shop. She meets Isaac, the gardener at the wedding venue, and sparks fly.

I really liked the broad cast of characters in this book, both the friends and family. I also loved the setting, and I wish I could visit Nory's bookstore! I was interested in the commentary about classism, but I felt the message was diluted by the gardener being not "just a gardener" but also a lecturing professor.

Overall, this is a cute, sweet read that many readers will enjoy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the review e-book copy.

Thirty-four-year-old Elinor owns a used bookstore in London but grew up in the village of Hartmead, about 2 hours away. Her parents work with plants and own a business, but Nory wanted away and tried marketing and hated it, but now loves her bookstore and has a good friend in her employee Andrew and his mate. Growing up Nory had won a scholarship to a posh school near Robinwood Castle. This led to a rift with her brother, but she makes friends with a group of students that have sort of stayed in touch, especially Ameerah, her closest friend. Now a month before Christmas she is invited for a house party and a wedding between two of her old classmates. Old hurts and class distinctions come up, but Nory also starts a friendship with the gardener's son, Isaac, who is now head gardener and who she had a little crush on while at the school. The relationship deepens, but then in mistakenly thinking to help Isaac, she betrays his trust. Will all these past relationships and new relationships survive a wedding and Christmas stress? The characters are all believable and Nory is a kind person readers can root for. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Group and Putnam Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I gotta be honest it was a little weird reading a Christmas holiday book in May :)

I was super happy to get the approval to read Meet Me Under the Mistletoe after reading Twelve Dates of Christmas last holiday. I did enjoy Twelves Dates more than MMUTM. I think both are very sweet, heartwarming reads and worth giving a chance but I did skim some chapters in Mistletoe. The pacing felt like it dropped after an incident happened between Nory and our love interest Isaac. I kind of wish the story was a chapter or two shorter.

I did like the characters in the book and their personalities didn't blend in together which sometimes happens when there is a large cast. I adore the romance! It was worth finishing the book to find out what would happen between Isaac and Nory. I liked the family dynamics, the relationships, the flaws everyone had, and their development was written super well.

The story is cute and leaves you filling warm and happy at the end.

3.5 stars (rounded to 4)

This one was super cute. I really enjoyed it! It was emotional and light all at the same time and it kept me hooked.