The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelley is a charming holiday read that gave me all the cozy, Hallmark movie vibes I was hoping for. Riley, recently laid off from her Manhattan job, returns home to help her mother, who has broken her leg and is unable to manage their family-owned bed and breakfast. While back in her small town, Riley reconnects with an old high school boyfriend who is now a guest at the inn. Torn between her life in Manhattan and the potential for a new beginning in her hometown, Riley faces a heartwarming dilemma about where she truly belongs. This book was a delightful escape, and I loved every festive moment of it!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this e-ARC.

This was a lovely read! I enjoyed every bit of this! A very sweet and entertaining book. This is the first book I've read by this author and it won't be the last. It was well written and well developed. I loved the characters and the story so much.

TOTALLY new author for me - and boy oh boy was this a treat! Riley loses her job, goes back to help her mom who broke her leg run their Inn - and who is staying there - none the less but her old boyfriend and his son. This story will make you want Christmas to come even sooner no matter when you read it...

The Christmas Inn was the perfect way to kick off my holiday reading this year. From the start, I was drawn into the story, feeling the chill of winter right alongside Riley as she faces the harsh reality of her job as a content editor being replaced by AI, just days before Christmas. Her boyfriend, on the fast track to becoming a partner at his law firm, cancels their date, making the day feel even colder and lonelier.

If this were a made-for-TV Christmas movie, I could easily see today’s popular actors bringing these characters to life. But it’s not a movie—it’s a book, and that makes it so much better. Pamela Kelley has crafted a cast of likable characters who truly come alive against the charming backdrop of Cape Cod at Christmastime.

Riley’s journey doesn’t just unfold in the big city. After losing her job, she heads back home to help her mother recover from a broken leg. As she sends out resumes and searches for her next career move, she discovers more about herself than she ever imagined. Her life and boyfriend may be in New York, but as the story progresses, so does Riley’s understanding of what she truly wants. Like many before her, she faces some tough decisions—and soon.

Yes, the story is a bit predictable—it is a Christmas romance, after all. But there’s always something that keeps you hooked, with just enough twists to make this heartwarming tale impossible to put down. So, grab a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of Cabernet, and dive into your Christmas TBR list. The Christmas Inn is the perfect book to start with, filled with all the charm and warmth needed to make you smile.

This is a warm and cozy Christmas read, focusing on strangers who come together at a small inn before the holiday season due to loss of job, injury recovery, home renovation, or loss of a family member. Riley returns home to help with the inn and finds the welcoming environment that she didn't realize how much she needed. She is able to fill her creative niche and also connect with some of the guests. This story is a happy read for the holiday season.

What is sweet Christmas story. Loved the setting and ALL the characters (well maybe not Jack). The only time I like a story wrapped up so neatly, is when it’s Christmas time 🎄

The Christmas Inn is a delightful holiday escape. After losing her job in NYC just before the holidays and learning her mother has just broken her leg, Riley decides to return home to help her mother with her Bed and Breakfast and enjoy time with family while she navigates her next move. I believe this is the third book I've read by Pamela Kelley, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each one. The Christmas Inn transports you to a cozy Cape Cod inn, complete with a cast of characters easy to like characters, some passing through town, some from the past, and some looking for a future. I enjoyed watching Riley's character develop throughout the book as her feelings on her life adjusted, but I also enjoyed the other storylines of Fanny navigating her first holiday season without her sister, and Beth as she meets a new friend. The Christmas Inn as a perfect holiday read. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's for this advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Oh my goodness, this book was like a snow globe just perfect. I can not get over how adorable this love story, the setting, just the whole thing from start to finish. Loved it!

I’ve seen this premise in a book before, but you know what? It worked and I really enjoyed the book. A warm hug of a Hallmark type Christmas book. It’s clean, calm, not really any drama but It’s a book you’d want to share with your mother or grandmother.

When AI makes Riley Sanders redundant at her job it isn’t what she was planning on having happen, especially right before Christmas. I guess if there’s such a thing as perfect timing at the wrong time it would be now. Jobless right before Christmas Riley finds her mother has broken her leg and needs helping to run her Christmas Inn. Packing her cat and little else she welcomes the change of scenery as she’s now back in her hometown helping her mother.

Memories fade but don’t disappear as she sees her former high school love staying for the Christmas season at her mother’s inn. As the snow falls and the fire crackles at the Cape Cod inn, Aidan is happy to help Riley and her mother with some of the heavy work at the inn all the while remembering their high school romance.


Aiden is there with his son Luke and has a hard time at Christmas as his wife passed away a few years ago but he wants to make it as happy as possible for his son.


Riley is in a relationship with a financial guy, a mover and shaker who believes making partner and working long and then even longer hours is more important than any relationship.

When things seem to be going well with Riley and her rekindled relationship with Aiden she needs to step back and reevaluate not only her relationship with Jack but job wise as well.


I enjoyed meeting Beth, Riley’s mother a friendly woman who just may be getting a second chance at a romance as well, later in life. Warm, friendly and perfect for that hot chocolate with cookies reading.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a sweet story of coming home. The timeframe is a few weeks before Christmas and is set in a town on the shores of Cape Cod. Riley has just lost her job because of AI. She calls her sister for a shoulder to lean on and learns their mom has broken her leg. With no job to hold her in Manhattan, she goes home to help out. Her boyfriend is a lawyer in Manhattan who works all the time and she rarely sees him so leaving is no problem. Taking Lily, her cat, she spend the next few weeks helping her mom run the Inn she owns. Using her marketing skills, Riley helps her mom increase reservations. During this time, Riley finds her boyfriend from high school is now a widower with a young son. Love blooms as Christmas approaches for many of the people connected to the Inn. With Riley's hunt for a new job and the feeling associated with the town, she has to put her priorities in order. What is she to do? Grab a copy to find out.

I received a free copy of, The Christmas Inn, by Pamela Kelley, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Riley Sanders lost her job right before the holidays, she decides to go home to Cape Cod, to help her mom, who is injured, run her inn. I am sure that an inn in Cape Cod at Christmas time, is beautiful, and Riley gets to spend Christmas time with her mom, on the cape. This was a lovely story.

I just finished an arc for "The Christmas Inn" by Pamela Kelly. Like all of the other books I have read by Pamela I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Riley moves back to Chatham to help her mother who has broken her leg. Riley had just been laid off of her job, so she had the time to help her mother run her Inn. Riley's high school sweetheart is living at the Inn with his son while their house is being fixed. Franny is at the Inn because her sister passed and she came to say her good byes. The story is about how they deal with the holiday and their changes. The book is light and easy. I really enjoyed it, but I didn't seem to read it as fast as Pamela's other books. I would recommend reading this book.

Even though I read this in August, this was the perfect Christmas book. It wasn't an over-the-top holiday read, and I didn't feel weird reading it in August. The story is not really about Christmas but about family, hope, and friendships. I loved the characters and their struggles with life; that added a realistic element to this read.

3.5 STARS!
If you love Hallmark-type Christmas movies, then this book is calling your name. Set in a small town, this author dives into the feel-good, down-home story and she doesn’t miss a thing.

With three generations of women intertwined in this story, we get to dive deep into their lives while romances are budding around them.

Kelley is detailed in her descriptions and we experience every bit of the character’s lives, including who ordered what, who ate what, and received what gift. For me, that was a bit of overkill and it felt like fillers that could be trimmed for more exciting content.

The characters were likable and The Christmas Inn is a sweet, homey clean romance set in a darling small town setting.

While this book is entertaining, I was not overly drawn to any one character and some parts of the story seemed a bit flat. However, this story is loaded with all the things required in a Christmas romance.

This heartwarming story centers on the individuals who find themselves at an Inn around, you guessed it, Christmastime. Riley finds herself jobless after her entire division has been laid off from her job in Manhattan, so she decides to assist her mother, Beth, who own the inn as she has fallen and broken her leg.
At the inn, we find Aiden, Riley’s high school boyfriend, and his son who are there because their home flooded, and they will be spending Christmas with an entire cast of characters. One of these is Franny, who just lost her sister, Ella. Ella left her four notes she was to open each week that have reinvigorated Franny’s love for Chatham, the small town in which she and her sister grew up. Even Beth finds herself opening her heart as she meets this new group of friends and perhaps a new gentleman. This sweet tale will show anyone one who picks up this book how lovely it is to enjoy a winter storm, hot cocoa, and Christmas movies no matter the time of the year.
Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelley is a delightful story about a small town bed and breakfast, the family who run it and their guests. The author builds the characters beautifully and adds the perfect amount of colloquial charm and Christmas cheer. I enjoyed this book so much that I have decided to read all of Pamela Kelley's books. She has a great way of creating interesting story plots that enticed me to take a break from my day and travel to the Christmas Inn for a bit. Thank you to NetGalley, Ms. Kelley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

I received a free e-arc through Netgalley for my honest review. A somewhat predictable romance, but in times like these, you need something predictable to read. I feel like a third of the book was just talking about cheese and wine. I get it, you like cheese, but it kinda made me never want to eat cheese again just from all the cheese talk. I liked the mom and sister relationships. A mom with young kids not having any free time felt realistic.

An easy read, this was a feel good holiday story with minimal drama, but both predictable and respective. And this is exactly what you need sometimes in a book.

A cozy choice to read on a cold evening or weekend, at home, perhaps with a warm beverage and snack.

This was my first time reading the author and I will be reading more.



Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC

A strong 4+ stars for this fun, heartfelt book! I loved the setting and got a real feel for what it's like in the Cape Cod area - very descriptive and well written so much so that I felt like I was there with them. The storylines were well thought out and easy to follow. This sweet romance is the perfect Christmas read. I hope we'll be lucky enough to get more installments from these characters. I appreciate the Author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC - all comments are my own.

Riley works in content marketing at a big software company in NYC. She abruptly gets laid off with her whole department, being replaced by AI, just a month before Christmas. Riley is also dating a lawyer Jack, who she rarely sees, as he is up for partner and works 24/7. After, losing her job, Riley calls her sister Amy to tell her and Amy informs her that their mom just broken her leg and was on crutches. Riley decides that she would go home to Chatham in Cape Cod to help her mom out and her Inn ‘The Chatham Inn’. Riley didn’t know that the unexpected layoff from work would change her life completely.

This is the second book of Pamela Kelley’s books I have read. This one was a little bit of a slower pace than the other one I read. Overall, I love the characters and that she essentially wrote two other story lines of both Riley’s mom’s (Beth) life and a guest at the Inn’s life (Franny). I felt that this book did have a little more detail of each day than necessary for the story. I also did like the feature of a couple of characters from the other book I read of hers. I think Pamela has set herself up to have sequels with these characters. I would happily continue to read on.

Net Galley and St. Martin Press - St. Martin Griffin thank you so much for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.