A fun and sweet Christmas story. The characters and storyline is very good and hooks you from the first page forward. We all need to read a good Christmas book and this is definitely the one.

This is a sweet wholesome book that takes place during the Christmas season. It is set in a place called Shelter Springs and it is the type of place that everyone would love to have as their hometown.

Natalie is back home to help out her sister but is not super excited about being back due to some bad memories and grief of losing her mother at an early age. She helps her sister and is thrown into helping out at a senior home the Shelter Inn. The residents of Shelter Inn help liven the story and are so fun to get to know. Griffin is another key person in the story - he was a friend of the family but Natalie has not kept in touch with him over the years. Griffin is also a doctor trying to set up a practice in Shelter Springs he has a huge heart and wants to help the people in the community. This was a very light and uplifting story that I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not my favorite but it may just have been me this year. I was just not in a holiday mood which did not help. It did have a cute setting and some cute characters with a twist of romance. I still enjoy the author and will read more books by her.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Natalie and Griffin. Natalie travels the world and freelances for travel magazines. Griffin is a doctor. They have known each other for all their lives. Natalie has come back to hometown because her sister needs her help, she is pregnant. Griffin helps to get her car out of snow. They start to run into each other everywhere. There is an attraction. They fall in love.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a really sweet Christmas romance with a lot of fun side characters – both young and old – who give us a very enjoyable reminder of how festive the season can be in a small community who pull together.

Natalie left her small town as soon as she could, and spends her life travelling the world doing house/pet sitting jobs, writing travel blogs, and editing to earn a living. She has no interest in returning to the place where so much sadness enveloped her family. However, when her sister needs her to help with her girls whilst she is on pregnancy bed rest, Nat is straight home – even if she is not at all sure she can cope with two little girls!

Not only does she have to deal with the girls, but also the rest of the town who know all her family's stories. The person she does not expect to see is Griffin, her brother's best friend and now the local doctor. Her teenage crush on him has not waned, but as she intends to leave ASAP, and he is clearly here to stay, there is no point in getting involved. In fact, that is the major part of the lesson Nat needs to learn – that not everyone leaves, that there are people who can be trusted, and there are even people who will change and regret their previous actions, to the point that they need forgiving. These are all things which she has a chance to consider during her stay. It is partly the magic of Christmas, and the love of those around her who show her again and again that there is hope.

A really good way to get into the Christmas spirit and think of what is really important about family and friends.


Veronica – ☆☆☆
Natalie has returned to her hometown to look after her two young nieces while her sister is on bed rest. I have to say, listening to Natalie talk about her adult life where she works freelance/remotely while house and pet sitting for people all over the world, I thought that sounded like an amazing life. But it also sounded a little lonely.

Natalie bumps into Dr. Griffin Taylor, her brother’s best friend, and there is good chemistry between the two of them, which they try to resist because they both know that Natalie plans to return to her nomadic life once her sister is up and about. The growing feelings between Griffin and Natalie felt natural as did the ways they kept bumping into each other.

CHRISTMAS AT THE SHELTER INN was an enjoyable Christmas story that was very much like a Hallmark movie. The romance was lovely and had nothing more steamy than a kiss. It was easy reading and the sense of community among the residents of the Shelter Inn was heartwarming and I loved the ending.

This is the perfect type of romance for me. The setting, an inn at Christmas time. The characters, a family dynamic and a romance, and adorable kids. The dog could have played a bigger role :) And the romance. Natalie and Griff had great chemistry, and watching their love story unfold was wonderful.

To me though, the magic of this book was the relationship with Natalie and her family. Watching them heal and come together again was what Natalie needed to stay in one place and move forward with Griff, and I loved that part of the book the most!

I really enjoyed this book. It Was fast paced and I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the different interactions of all the character in the book, Young and old alike.
Thank you Harlequin and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

I received this book from NetGalley. I was completely captivated from the beginning. I am a very family-oriented person and would do anything for my family. Natalie grew up in Shelter Springs and when she was old enough, she left to travel the world. She drops everything to come home when her sister gets put on bed rest. Natalie returns and runs into a high school friend from years ago. Griffin is the local doctor. Natalie begins to take care of her sister, nieces and those who live at Shelter Inn. She begins to love Christmas and learns to forgive. Natalie learns a lot about herself and the things that are most important to her. You will fall in love with the characters in this book. I will be putting this on the purchasing order for our library.

This was such a feel-good holiday story. I am recommending to readers who enjoy a Hallmark movie style of romance. All of the characters were likeable with a range from sweet toddlers to sweet senior citizens. I believe another Shelter Springs book would be welcome!

I have read a few RaeAnne Thayne books and always enjoyed them. This was an enjoyable holiday book with all the cozy, Christmasy vibes. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a sweet story. If you like Christmas Hallmark movies, this will be for you!!

Out now.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne offered a sweet holiday story with a dash of romance, family and sweet holiday moments nestled in the small-town of Shelter Springs. The old Shelter Inn hotel has been turned into a retirement community. You’ll want to grab a cup of hot cocoa and curl up with this delightful tale.

Natalie Shepherd grew up at the Shelter Inn Hotel, but after her mom died and her Dad left, she took off and has made a career of writing and house sitting all over the globe. Her sister converted the hotel into a home for seniors. When a complicated pregnancy puts her sister at risk, Natalie returns home to help with the children and inn. She plans to stay until the baby is born, but fate might have other ideas, well, fate and some meddling seniors.

The story that unfolds had all the holiday charm, with a snowstorm and a budding romance to melt your heart. Add in lovely side stories, a devoted husband, meddlesome seniors and good clean holiday fun and you’ll be packing your bags for a visit to Shelter Springs.

Natalie is surprised to see Griffin Taylor, her best friend’s older brother in town. Like Natalie, he moved away, but now he’s back for good and has opened a medical practice. The two address feeling about each other and open old wounds from the past. We also get stories about Natalie’s sister, her parents, and the brother they lost. It was touching, as it allowed for healing and brought all the feels.

If you love small-town holiday romances with pups, hot cocoa and wonderful townfolk, you’ll want to curl up with Christmas at the Shelter Inn.

Thanks to Canary Street Press for my copy of Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne.

Cute contemporary romance. I love these Hallmark movies in book format, especially for Christmas books! Small town romance at its finest.

RaeAnne Thayne can always be depended on to bring us sweet, emotional, heart-warming stories. This year’s Christmas at the Shelter Inn, set near the fictional Lake Haven, ID featured in so many of her stories, is a friends-to-lovers, small town romance between Natalie, a digital nomad who writes travel stories, and Griffin, a family doctor who was her brother’s best friend and her long-time crush. When she comes home to help her pregnant sister who is on bed rest, it’s the first time since leaving for college following the deaths of both her mother and brother that she’s spent any measurable time there. She ran from the crushing grief and painful memories, and despite her growing feelings for Griffin and her love for her sister and adorable nieces, she’s ready to run away once her nephew is born rather than risk falling in love and being left behind again. Griffin also has ghosts and regrets from his past that he manages to compartmentalize so that he can be a great doctor and grandson to Birdie. It will take a Christmas miracle for them to shed the restraints from past trauma so that they can acknowledge what’s obvious to everyone else in their orbit.

Readers looking for a clean Christmas romance with all the charm and warmth of a close community will find it in this story. Add in a fun group of senior residents at the Shelter Inn and two precocious, darling little girls and it hits all the marks. Be warned that there are triggers: fatal accidents, cancer, miscarriage, and abandonment. However, Thayne writes with sensitivity and balance so that they don’t weigh down the story. Recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Canary Street Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This was a feel good Hallmark-esque book. Small town doctor is best friends with the brother of world weary hometown girl helping at her families inn for the holidays. Very Hallmark worthy. The writing was fresh and sweet. A good light hearted read for the holidays. Minus the nosebleeds from jingle bells.

When her sister gets put on bed rest towards the end of her pregnancy, Natalie heads back to her hometown to help run the Shelter Inn and care for her sister’s two daughters. She runs into her late brother’s best friend, Griffin, and unexpected sparks begin to fly between the two.

This was such a sweet holiday read, and the epitome of a Hallmark Christmas movie. The book delivers all the holiday feels—from a Christmas market, getting snowed in, and plenty of decorating. The story depicts a strong community and familial bond, and it was a feel good read worth squeezing onto your holiday TBR!

Thank you UpLit Reads, Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for my gifted copy!

The Christmas feel-good vibes are high and tucking into a comfy smalltown sweet holiday romance is responsible. Rae Anne Thayne is a superstar of holiday books, but wouldn’t you know it, I’d never dipped my toe into the waters yet. Christmas at the Shelter Inn was a fine way to acquire a taste for the author’s charming, with just the right sugar romances.



The set-up is one I enjoy. Natalie Shepherd (don’t you just how her name even as a holiday-esque connection—inn-shepherd-natal?)… anyway, our heroine has been away from her home town and kept nomading away by her own issues with abandonment, but a sister’s bedrest pregnancy causes a predicament and she has to heed the call of family need. She is there to run the retirement housing and look after her cute nieces. But, soon, she’s drawn back into reluctant feelings for her brother’s bestie.



Meanwhile, small town doctor and all around good guy Griff is eating his heart out about the return of Natalie and stressing over a long-held guilt-ridden secret. Even beyond his struggles, Natalie gives him an uphill battle toward love. But, as we all know, its holiday romance magic time and with festivities, snowy town setting, cute nieces and Griffin’s gran, and sweets, this pair don’t stand a chance. I appreciated how the author gave emotional depth to the romance with the need to deal with the past and grief and reconnect as older people and with family.



In summary, I adored Christmas at the Shelter Inn and it left me satisfied, but wishing I hadn’t waited to so long to experience the author’s books. Do yourself a Santa solid and snatch this one up with your comfy throw, a hot cocoa, and curl up in your reading nook for some holiday cheer.

Christmas at the Shelter Inn is a cute little holiday read. When Natalie "Nat" comes home during Christmas to help her sister she runs into her brother's best friend, Griffin, who believes he is responsible for some tragedies in the past. Can Nat and Griffin overcome the past and have a future?
The characters, main and secondary, make this a cute story and they are the highlight of the book. The story was pretty decent and I enjoyed it, but I did not find that I plowed through the book like I thought I would. Overall, it was a decent, cute holiday read.

"Christmas at the Shelter Inn" is a cozy Christmas romance that lands somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. While the holiday setting is charming, and the characters are likable enough, the plot feels somewhat predictable, lacking the element of surprise that keeps readers eagerly turning pages. The small-town atmosphere and festive traditions add a comforting backdrop, but the romance itself tends to tread familiar territory without offering many unique twists. Overall, "Christmas at the Shelter Inn" provides a decent dose of seasonal warmth for those seeking a familiar and easy read, but it might leave readers wishing for a bit more originality to truly set it apart in the genre.

She disliked the holidays anyway and she especially disliked being here, filled with memories and ghosts and regret.

After she receives a text that just says “Help” from her younger sister, Natalie knows she needs to go back home. McKenna has been put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy and with an aunt that is recovering from a leg injury, Natalie is needed to help McKenna with her two little girls and the family's business, the Shelter Inn. Ever since Natalie's mom and older brother died and their father abandoned them, Natalie has been a nomad traveling the world, finding it too painful to be at home with all the memories. Now, this Christmas season, she's going to have to confront those painful feelings and the growing ones for her brother's bestfriend who keeps finding ways to rescue her.

If she wasn’t careful, she might find herself falling head over heels for Griffin.

Christmas at Shelter Inn was a story that definitely delivered the festive atmosphere but it also definitely dropped trauma after trauma; I'm talking the old tv show Party of Five trauma levels. Any and all content and trigger warnings for what felt more like book club fiction (if your book club is full of holiday masochists) than romance. Natalie left home because of a painful childhood of having her mother die of breast cancer when she was sixteen, having her father take off to Alaska because of his grief and basically abandoning his three kids to their mother's aunt, and an older brother that became an alcoholic because of his grief and ultimately died in an avalanche. If you're not satisfied with that barrel of laughs, the love interest for Natalie, Griffin, is semi-shunned in town because his alcoholic father killed not only himself but four teens in a drunk driver incident and is divorced after he and his ex-wife went through the death of their baby being stillborn.

She laughed and he thought how lovely she was, there in the wintry moonlight.

So, yes, these two have a lot of baggage and emotional trauma to work through but Natalie gets the load of page time with Griffin's side not really coming in until the latter half of the story. Weaved around all these trauma issues are elements of that festive atmosphere I mentioned, shopping at a Christmas Market, watching a choir sing carols, snowy walks, the joy of putting up inflatable decorations, and hot chocolate and cookies. It was cozy atmosphere with holy god that's traumatic, especially when you add in the fear of miscarriage because her sister experienced two prior ones, Natalie thinking her sister's husband is wanting to abandon his family, Natalie's friendship issues with Griffin's younger sister who also dated her deceased older brother, and then Natalie's father showing back up to spend Christmas with them.

He looked down at her, his blue eyes suddenly warm. For one glittery, breathless moment, he looked as if he wanted to kiss her. He might have even leaned down slightly before he seemed to check the movement and step away.

I found the romance to be fairly weak without much depth, as the focus was more on Natalie's issues. Around the midway point, they kiss (only a few kisses for steam here) but Natalie doesn't see a reason to invest in the relationship because she can't wait to leave home and the pain it causes her to be here. Griffin does have povs but they're mostly him thinking about how to put a stop to his grandma trying to set him up with Natalie but also thinking he's attracted to Natalie. The second half becomes Natalie coming to terms with the past (catching her father kiss someone that threw her and me into a tailspin) and accepting that she has feelings for Griffin. The last fifteen percent has both saying they love each other but I can't say I bought into it, there was no real building blocks for their relationship.

People did change, she thought as they returned to the party. Maybe she had changed. Maybe the perfect life she had created for herself no longer met her needs as it once had. Maybe, just maybe, she was ready for something else—if she could find the courage to reach for it.

Along with the ending I love you, there's a snowstorm that creates some havoc, a situation that leads to our doctor Griffin being able to finally work through his pain of losing his child, and an epilogue that shows a future happily ever after. The romance felt a distance second place to the issues Natalie had to work through and there wasn't enough depth to the main couple's relationship for me. However, if you're looking for the combo of festive atmosphere and trauma (they could be out there!) consider this the snow globe of trauma you'd want to be in.

This author is magical. Any book she puts out, I’m buying. She’s amazing at all of the holiday feels and her books are like being in a Hallmark movie. Definitely recommend!