If you haven't read The Christmas Bookshop, also by Jenny Colgan, this book will make zero sense to you. I desperately wanted to know more about these characters after finishing the initial book, but this was just not engaging at all. The original book would have been better as a standalone than followed up by this, in my opinion.

Fans of Colgan will surely like this next installment. I liked it a bit less than the first in this duology and I missed the true Christmas setting (this one is set during summer while they're filming a Christmas movie) but it was an enjoyable read never the less.

Do you have any favorite Christmas shops that you frequent? I love shopping at Christmas stores, but I don’t have one favorite. I do love to buy people presents at Seroogy’s Chocolate shop and they have nice Christmas items in that store every year that I like to pick up.

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is a follow-up to last year’s The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan. Carmen’s happily ever after has not quite turned out as it seemed it would. Her boyfriend, Oke, has returned to Brazil with many questions about the future of their relationship unresolved. She has worn out her welcome at her sister Sophia’s house and needs to find a new place to live. Her boss is thinking about selling his shop to have money to fulfill his travel dreams. With all of this going on, will Carmen be able to get her life back on track and have a merry Christmas?

I enjoyed getting back to the characters of the Christmas Bookshop series and seeing what they’ve been up to. I love Colgan’s characters, especially the children in this one. The setting is also wonderful, and I really want to visit this part of Edinburgh someday. I always love the humor in Colgan’s books as well. This novel was not as good for me as the first one, mostly because Oke is just gone for most of it with the total loss of contact with Carmen. Carmen was struggling through most of the book. There wasn’t as much Christmas spirit in this book. I did love how she was able to live in what sounds like a fabulous apartment in the upper levels of the bookshop and she did make some new friends. I’m hoping there will be a next book where Carmen has things more together and it’s more focused on Christmas.

It would work best to read Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop after reading the first book The Christmas Bookshop. I don’t think it would work well as a standalone novel.

Book Source: Review copy from NetGalley and William Morrow Books. Thank-you! Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I’ve previously loved Jenny Colgan’s novels, particular her Christmas ones - so I had high hopes here. However, I’m the kind of person who absolutely forgets most of the details about a book after I finish reading it, and I for sure needed a little recap of the previous a Christmas bookshop to feel like I had any context going in. To add to that, I just found the characters a bit unlikeable and the Christmas magic just… missing. It wasn’t what I wanted or needed from a Jenny Colgan read and left me wanting. I’ll still continue to pick her books up, but this was a miss for me.

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan. Pub Date: October 10, 2023. Rating: 3 stars. I read the first book in this series last year and absolutely adored it. The second installment was just okay to me. I really enjoyed the setting of a bookstore during Christmas, but I felt the character development was flat and lacked substance. It's an interesting concept of a "failing" bookstore, a woman who is at multiple crossroads in her life and what the future holds for her. I guess I just wanted more of the Christmas spirit. Regardless, I will still be reading this author's novels because I really enjoy her writing style and humor. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #midnightatthechristmasbookshop

Jenny Colgan's book "The Bookshop on the Corner" is one of my favorites, so I was really hopeful that I would enjoy this book, too. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I loved all the parts about the bookstore and was very interested in hearing how it would all turn out. I didn't really connect with the main character, Carmen, or any of the others characters, really. I really hoped for more romance, but the "romance" part of the book was a bit odd and disjointed. I didn't understand the connection between Carmen and Oke at all, and the parts from Oke's point of view kind of took me out of the story. I really was hoping for a cozy Christmas read, and I think if it had just been about the bookstore and it's success, I would have enjoyed it more.

Carmen manages a bookshop in a small town in Scotland, but the shop isn’t doing well and may get bought out by a developer who wants to turn it into a tacky souvenir shops like he’s done with other shops on Main Street. Meanwhile, Carmen is living with her sister and her sister’s family in a beautiful home, but has been mooching off them for months with no sign of leaving; when her sister hires a nanny, Carmen finally gets the hint that it’s time to go – so now she has to worry about her own finances in addition to the bookshop’s – but she hates her sister for putting her in that position. I hadn’t read the Christmas Bookshop (not sure how I missed it), and didn’t realize this was a sequel when I picked it up. Maybe I would have liked it more if I read the first one, but I found Carmen to be fairly shiftless and and whiny, and couldn’t get into the story that much or root for her. I normally love all of Jenny Colgan’s books, but this one really missed the mark for me.

I was so excited to receive a copy of this Christmas book. I love Colgan and her holiday books are always such a treat. You do need to read the first in the series before this one. Anything by Colgan is a win!

This one missed a bit for me. The characters were not very likeable, and I felt it lacked what I am looking for in regard to Christmas magic.
Clearly, Jenny Colgan knows how to write amazing books, but this just didn't hit the mark. I think I may have liked it a bit more if there was a recap for readers briefly covering the first book since some much relates to those characters.
I can see how this will be an instant hit for a lot of readers, and if you are thinking of checking this one out and it fits what you are looking for then great!



Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is book #2 in Jenny Colgan’s Christmas Bookshop series. It picks up just about where book 1 left off. Carmen is still working at Mr. McCredle’s bookshop and still living with her sister, Sofia, who is on maternity leave after having baby #4.

Carmen’s still trying to keep the doors open on the bookshop, and trying to get closer to her Brazilian botanist boyfriend, Oke.

Neither of those are doing well and when Sofia needs to get back to work, Carmen also loses her room at Sofia’s.

Jenny Colgan writes quirky characters really well. She also writes children well. And since she lives in Edinburgh, she writes Edinburgh so well you feel like you’re really there.

This book got a little silly at parts for me, and I found myself skimming some. But overall, I enjoyed this story. It was a perfect last Christmas book for me for 2023.

Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for the advanced e-copy of #midnightatthechristmasbookshop . This book published in October 2023.

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is a sequel to The Christmas Bookshop. , which I loved. I was so excited to read another novel by Jenny Colgan, but I did struggle with this one. I was not able to connect with the characters this time around, the story dragged for me as well.

Although I found this story just okay, I do look forward to future books from Jenny Colgan as she has written some gems in the past.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this novel.

While I really enjoyed the previous book in this series, I struggled to get into Midnight at the Christmas Cafe. I may have been a little Christmas'd out at the moment so I am closing it for now but am willing to give it another go at a later day. I have found that while I love Jenny Colgan's cozy writing style and settings, some of her books are simply misses for me but again, I truly adored the previous book in this series.

This was a great, sweet book! I.thought the characters were likeable and so cute! Another great book by the author!

If there’s one little tradition I have each December, it’s reading Colgan’s newest holiday release.

However, I’m choosing happiness and I refuse to spend the rest of 2023 trying to like all of these insufferable characters.

I love Jenny Colgan and I’ll definitely keep reading her but this one was not for me!

This book wasn’t for me and I added it to my DNF list. It wasn’t attention grabbing from the start. The title drew me in, but the story did not.

This sequel to the much enjoyed The Christmas Bookshop was a nice warm hug for the holidays. Following on with Carmen and Oke, we watch their lives for a year when they are separated due to an exploration in the Amazon (amongst other things). This book wrapped up in a very satisfying way, though I will say I had a harder time getting into this one than its predecessor.

Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!
This book is out and available now!

I always love the Jenny Colgan holiday books. Always so cozy and quirky and they make me want to go to Scotland. Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is the newest installment. It brings us back to Carmen and the bookshop, this time it is about to be sold and Carmen has to stop the sale. Same cute village, same cast of characters, same Colgan charm.

While I really enjoyed The Christmas Bookshop this sequel fell short to me. While Jenny Colgan does sooooo well describing the city of Edinburgh and the bookshop the rest of the plots were just eh. Carmen was just as annoying in this book as book 1. I found the story of saving the bookshop repetitive as well. That’s what we read in the first book. And once again she wasn’t really paying attention to Oke or Sophia and what was best. She’s just so self focused. I don’t see her and Oke lasting at all!

This book has a lot of what I loved in the first book, that being Carmen's adorable and precocious nieces and nephews, her ongoing squabbles with her sister, Sophie, and of course, Mr. McCredie's bookstore. As Carmen tries to fend off a souvenir shop mogul from taking over the street (and the bookstore) she's also having troubles with Oke, her Brazilian boyfriend.

The story wasn't as heartwarming as the first with Carmen and Mr. McCredie's interactions being on the backburner in this one. Enjoyed it, but it just didn't feel "Christmassy" enough.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love books that are set in bookshops and this one was a great one! I enjoyed it a lot!