A group of old friends from school reunite around the holiday season at a castle in the English countryside. That was pretty much it. I ended up deciding not to finish the book around 20%. There did not seem to be much of a plot to invest in and the characters ranged from awful to annoying. Other than the title, I didn't find this to be a great holiday/Christmas book recommendation. Disappointingly, this just was not a book for me.

I did not finish this book. I was 30% through and nothing had happened. I felt like the story could’ve been cute but the character and story development was dragging on. It could t keep my interest.

Our Sweet Jenny Bayliss has done it again! She has not only created a female protagonist who we can all see a bit of ourselves in, but has surrounded her with an authentically compelling cast of friends and family with a ton of heart and history. Add in a smidge of art provenance and a whole lot of Christmas and you have the ultimate recipe for a great holiday book! (Bonus points for a curmudgeonly cat!) Jenny Bayliss is a must-read for any holiday season, and is at the top of the contemporary British ensemble romcom!

I really enjoyed this one by Jenny Bayliss - possibly my favorite of hers yet! The characters felt fully developed and I quite enjoyed all the banter. The scenery was amazing and I felt like I could really put myself in all of the dreamy Christmas locations. The drama was different and interesting and I think wrapped up quite nicely.

Nory didn't plan on falling in love with anyone on her trip back home for her friend's wedding. All she wanted to do was avoid Guy, try to enjoy the week before the wedding without a mistake from her past coming back to bite her. Then an incident with a wheelbarrow full of manure in the freezing cold garden brings her face to face with Isaac, her teenage crush and brother's best friend. Could this week get any worse?

3.5 stars rounded up.

Elinor Noel, aka, Nory, agrees to leave her second-hand bookstore to spend a week in a castle with old-school chums. She sees, Isaac, the gardener, a blast from the past, and sparks fly. But can they overcome their past to find happiness?

I enjoyed this book, although it lacked the whimsy and magic of Bayliss' first two Christmas novels. There were too many characters, and there are some trigger warnings (consent, suicide), that made the story a bit heavier than the previous two. But I did get my Christmas whimsy at the end.

Nory lives a quaint life owning and running a secondhand bookstore in London, enjoying the distance away from her hometown. so when her high school friends’ wedding weekend approaches, Nory is hesitant to leave the comfort of her everyday routine in exchange for a week of pre-wedding festivities back home.

while staying with the wedding party in a castle near their old school, Nory encounters a childhood nemesis, who now works as the head gardener at the castle. quickly putting their childhood differences aside, he and Nory realize that their feelings for each other have changed quite drastically as adults. as Nory pursues this new love interest, she finds herself dodging old flings, family tension, and status conflicts that still run deep.

❄️overall thoughts: cute, but not my favorite romance or Christmas story. loved the cozy setting of Nory’s bookshop, especially as it was set up for Christmastime. I also loved picturing the castle they all stayed in for the wedding, along with the various things they did as part of their homecoming. it made me nostalgic for my winter breaks in college, where everyone from high school would come home and get together to reminisce.

I found the random little conflicts & tiffs between Nory and her brother to be pretty unnecessary in terms of developing the plot. I’m sure most brothers may find it weird for their sister to date a friend of theirs, but there was also random tension between Nory going to private school and her brother choosing public? I just didn’t really find that to be a super realistic bone of contention, but I guess sibling relationships can be uniquely complicated.

overall, I enjoyed both the friendship reunion & the love interest in this story, but the book was pretty long and felt like it dragged on a bit towards the end.

thanks to @netgalley for my advanced reader’s copy!

There’s something to be said about some books needing to be read in certain moods. When I first picked this up months ago, I wasn’t feeling it, but this time, weeks before Christmas, I could barely put it down. Jenny Bayliss does cozy romances so well and this was no exception. Her romantic leads are often the people who would be supporting characters in other books, and I love that she gives the shy best friend character types their well deserved time in the spotlight. Beyond her characteristic luckless in love older romantic heroine, I appreciated how Bayliss incorporated race and class struggles into this novel. It was a bit heavy handed at times and didn't quite reach clear resolutions across the board but kudos to her for having at least some of the characters achieve breakthroughs and address their past prejudices in albeit halting ways that reflected the complicated reality of unraveling inherent biases.

I hate to say this but this book was incredibly boring for me. It reminded me of the Friends episode where they are all trying to get ready in the apartment, but the ENTIRE SHOW takes place in that one location… this entire book takes place in this one location and halfway through I was so bored! It was also too heavy for me for a holiday read. I was lighter and more fun this time of year.

I throughly enjoyed this book! I devoured it in a few hours. It was a great holiday read. I appreciated the interconnections between the characters. I liked the ending of the book immensely. Thank-you for this arc.

I really really wanted to like this book but I was pretty underwhelmed. nory is a likable enough lead, and Issac is a fantastic character and love interest. But oh man, most of the other characters were terrible people. Nory’s rich school friends are so entitled and snobby, and it was awful to see how they even occasionally looked down on her for not coming from money. A few of them were great, but for the majority, it felt like there was a rush to redeem their character in the end. It was too little too late for me, after a novel of Nory making apologies for them when they were truly heinous to Issac.

Also, this could have taken place at any time of year, aside from one mistletoe kiss. There’s very little Christmas in what I expected to be more of a holiday romance.

I stopped reading after 36%. It wasn’t bad but I was just bored. It felt like there was a lot of unnecessary details and I need more from the romance. Nothing really compelled me to continue moving forward

I love a good holiday romance, so when I saw this on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it. Nory runs a secondhand bookshop in London (hello, dream job!) and is invited to spend the week at a castle with her old friends preparing for the upcoming wedding of two of them. I'm going to be honest, it took me a while to get into this book. I'm talking a good 20-25% of the way through. I don't know if it was just because of the author setting the foundation, but I found the beginning to be a bit slow. However, once I hit that point, I didn't want to put the book down. I really enjoyed Nory and the dynamic she had with her friends and family. And Isaac was absolutely swoon-worthy. There was a pretty big cast of characters, but most added something interesting to the story. All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable holiday read. It touched on deep topics, but was still able to give that good holiday vibe.

I really liked the characters! If I owned a second gang bookshop, I would be exactly like Nory- I would be sad every time I sold a book cause that would mean I can’t keep it.

But the story and romance were just meh.

A book with a Christmas feel that also tackles some tough topics and makes you want to hug your closest friends. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to feel that Christmas magic without it being too Hallmark-y.

I think for anyone who wants a sweet romance with Hallmark movie vibes then this is the book for them this season. It was a little slow at times, but overall enjoyable and definitely puts you in the holiday mood!

2.5-3 stars

The Twelve Dates of Christmas was one of my favorite holiday reads last year, so I was excited to read another book by this author. Our main character Nory owns a secondhand bookshop and I could relate so much to her. I think if I owned a bookstore, I would have a hard time parting with the books as well, haha.

I loved the idea of her spending the week with her old friends to celebrate the wedding of two of them. I mean a week at a gorgeous castle right before Christmas sounds like the perfect setting don't you think?!? It was interesting learning about the friends and their history and the budding relationship with Isaac was very heartwarming. A couple of the characters got on my nerves a bit, but that I could overlook.

Until the third act breakup. It just didn't sit right with me. After everything we read before that it seemed out of place for Nory to do what she did. Also the fact that her friend's put the blame elsewhere for how Isaac was reacting didn't work for me. So even though this book started out fun and had its moments, in the end it was a little disappointing.

I enjoyed this story about 2 old enemies that became lovers. I liked that there was a group of people involved and that the focus was around a wedding; it added to the storyline rather than just having the traditional back and forth banter and love story. The Heba angle was also an interesting aspect to the story, though I did find it odd that Nory didn't have more of a reaction when first hearing that she was the true artist.

I have to say, this was not my favorite Jenny Bayliss, especially for Christmas. I didn't dislike it, it's a solid read, but it didn't knock my socks of like 12 Dates of Christmas did last year. I felt a little too much of the rich vs poor was shoved in the readers face, which is ultimately my big complaint about it. Add some extra Christmas vibes, and tone that down a bit, and it would have been a better fit for me. But, I would still recommend it to others.

I loved The Twelve Dates of a Christmas so I was very excited to read another Christmas romance by this author.

While I did enjoy the book, the Christmas atmosphere was missing. It took a back burner to the romance. I wouldn’t have minded this in any other romance, but I like to get all the cozy Christmas feels in my Christmas romance books.

I enjoyed the group of characters and the romance. However, I did feel the ending was a little convenient and rushed.

Overall an enjoyable romance. 3.5 stars